Ironclad: The Epic Battle, Calamitous Loss, and Historic Recovery of the USS Monitor Review

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(More customer reviews)Warning; once you start this book cancel your other plans. This is definitely a cover to cover read. Clancy skillfully weaves the tale of Monitor from its conception to the Battle of Hampton Roads, through its untimely demise to its remarkable recovery. His approach it unusual in that he weaves the two tales of the 19th century Monitor against the drama of the recovery of the ironclad's turret.
While Clancy is admittedly not an engineer he is an accomplished sailor with a sense of history. He draws extensively on this knowledge to explain the Battle of Hampton Roads, why the ironclad sunk and how it was recovered (not salvaged). His descriptions of the rising seas and pending storm off Cape Hatteras and how the 19th century sailors judged the weather gave one an insight as to why this area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
Equally as insightful is the story of the recovery which was woven directly in with the history. This part too is a tribute to brave and dedicated sailors and archeologists whose willingness to commit everything to the task made you race through one chapter if for no other reason than to find out how the "other" story was unfolding.
It's a masterful book, full of information well told. Look out Tom, there's another Clancy on the radar screen.


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The true story of the Civil War ironclad that saved the Union Navy only to sink in a storm--and its remarkable salvage 140 years later

Ironclad tells the saga of the warship USS Monitor and its salvage, one of the most complex and dangerous in history. The Monitor is followed through its maiden voyage from New York to Hampton Roads, its battle with the Merrimack, and its loss off Cape Hatteras. At the same time, author Paul Clancy takes readers behind the scenes of an improbable collaboration between navy divers and cautious archaeologists working 240 feet deep.

Clancy creates a memorable, fascinating read, including fresh insights into the sinking of the Union ship and giving the answer to an intriguing forensic mystery: the identities of the two sailors whose bones were found in the Monitor's recovered turret.

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Ironclads At War: The Origin And Development Of The Armored Battleship Review

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(More customer reviews)While the subject matter of this book was of great interest to me, I found it to be so poorly written that it was unreadable; the prose is dull and redundant, there are numerous grammatical errors, and the information provided is utterly superficial. The same material is covered in much greater detail in H. w. Wilson's "Ironclads in action" (1895), a book of which this seems to be but a poor repetition. Even the graphics in Conway's "All the worlds ships 1860-1905" are far superior. If you are a serious scholar of naval history - or even a casual wargamer - find another book.

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This detailed treatment of Civil War ironclads in the broader context of world naval developments has sparked a debate among U.S. Naval strategists. Many readers will learn for the first time of the influence on both Union and Confederate observers of Crimean War and other European armor, and learn the subsequent history of many Civil War naval vessels that later saw action in Peru, Paraguay, and Japan.

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Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an update of Conway's formerly 2-volumes (Western and Warsaw Pact navies), first published in 1982. This is now 1 volume, large format size of the other Conway's, 1860-1946. It is an impressive book, covering the cold-war era, describing in minor detail, the survivors of WWII, and in more detail, new construction from 1947. It's the only book of its type because it covers all types of vessels and all navies; each entry has a brief description (sometimes insightful) but usually just a recitation of public info (because very few of these vessels saw combat). They are accompanied by a medium-size photograph, and often a line drawing (but the drawings are of medium quality, and plainly "hand drawn"). The book is not a thorough treatment of any particular ship or type of vessel; for that, you will have to use other books such as Norman Friedman's (now dated) series on US Navy battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines, etc. It lacks the descriptive nature of H. Lenton's books on the British WWII navy, or the graphic intensity of the dedicated battleship, cruiser, etc. books. Nevertheless, no other book is as comprehensive as this one, and remains the seminal work on naval vessels in the cold war era; it's richly illustated and has sufficient text.

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Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design 1923-1945 (Chatham Pictorial Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)When I was small I inherited my Father's WONDER BOOK OF THE NAVY. Written probably in the mid 1930's THE WONDER BOOK gave me a comprehensive overlook at a vanished fleet: lots of pictures, clear, comprehensive text covering every class of Royal Navy warship & all aspects of service life. I get the feeling that Brown may have tried to do a WONDER BOOK for grown-ups, and if so he has failed. What we have here is a nice "coffee-table book" with lots of black and white photos of a broad range of ships, but there is little in-depth coverage of anything (the two title warships are particularly slighted -NELSON gets one shot-from-a distance and two partial photos, VANGUARD maybe three or four) Battleships as a whole get only 15 pages of text and photos, destroyers by contrast get 20. While it can certainly be argued that neither NELSON nor VANGUARD had particularly stellar service records, they did represent important (and at least in the case of NELSON, peculiar) examples of warship design, and it would have been nice to hera a good deal more about them. Also missing from the text is any real discussion of the effectiveness and/or limitations of deign in action -we would have benefitted from hearing more about the fates of given warships. While there is a chapter on "battle damage" it tends to focus exclusively on physical damage to structures with little attention to crew or performance. Nowhere do I find much discussion of the human element, and, especially given the RN's remarkable ability to stay at sea for long periods under often hideous conditions it would have been very interesting to hear more about how the nature of the ships made this possible if not exactly "fun". The chapter on inter-war modification of existing ships is a real teaser -there are various coy references to what might or might not have been learned from WWI or post-war tests, but I felt that I would have to go elsewhere for any real understanding. Again, more detailed discussion of the fates of specific ships would have been most instructive. In summary: Interesting? yes. Comprehensive? by no means.

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This third and final volume in the best-selling series on British warship development recounts the Royal Navy's response to the restrictions placed on it by the Washington Naval Treaties in the inter-war years and the construction of the fleet used to fight World War II. Noted naval architect David Brown brings this crucial era into focus as he analyzes the principle pre-war developments, including the first purpose-built aircraft carriers and the growing perception of the threat of air attack to warships. In addition, all the wartime construction programs-such as the massive amphibious warfare fleet used on D-Day are covered, as well as the lessons learned from wartime damage and the top-secret pre- and postwar damage trials. This heavily illustrated sequel to Warrior to Dreadnought and The Grand Fleet completes Chatham's highly praised British Warship Design and Development trilogy. It is an essential reference and provides a wealth of information on British maritime history.

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Battleships: United States Battleships, 1935-1992 Review

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(More customer reviews)Bill Garzke and Bob Dulin have outdone themselves again. When I was the structural project leader to direct the hull and armor redesigns for the reactivation of the Battleship NEW JERSEY at Long Beach Naval Shipyard (the planning yard for the Battleships), we used their earlier edition of this book as our general guide. Two members of my design team brought in their personal copies and kept them handy so I could include excerpts from them for official Navy memos and instructions. The Naval archives were sorely lacking detailed chemical and heat treating records of the Class A and Class B armor of the Battleships. A quick phone call to Bill Garzke gave me an armor expert on the west coast that had all the data our designers and welding engineers needed. Thanks, Bill. I owe you one. The only thing I have found missing from this edition is the fantastic Gibbs & Cox scheme D Battleship that was half Battleship and half Aircraft Carrier and was actually bought by the Soviet Union in WW II, but never built. In this edition, perhaps the most important section is the one devoted to the disasterous incident of turret II on the IOWA where 47 men were killed. The authors go into meticulous detail as to actual facts and almost every conceivable theory as to what caused the deflageration (not an explosion). However, they are properly cautious as not to force their personal opinions on the reader. Yet they give enough detail, including histories of past turret incidents on other Battleships, so the reader can draw his own conclusions. There are a few typos and descrepancies between the text and the illustrations. For example, the text correctly identifies the powder in the propellent bags as D846 where the illustrations identify it as B846. Also, the elevation sketch indicates that the heavily armored turret bustle hatch was blown off when in fact it was the turret bustle hatch ACCESS PLATFORM below the bustle (overhang) that was blown over the side. But these are miniscule descrepancies only an "insider" like me would know (I was tasked to write a repair procedure). All in all, it is unthinkable that any true Battleship historian or lover would be without this book. Actually, both the 1976 and this 1995 edition should be in every Naval Architect's library. Richard A. Landgraff DREADNAUGHT CONSULTING Long Beach, California

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War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor Review

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(More customer reviews)One reviewer called this book, "a gem of a book... promises to be one of those small classics in the history of technology that sets a new standard for how the core questions of the field are framed and addressed." Right on! It's also a small classic in that it brings carefully documented history in the reach of the ordinary literate reader. This book is so well written that it reads like an adventure story rather than a dry history. It also debunks the myths about the Monitor that we learned as children, showing that the designer, the seamen, the politicians all contributed in their own ways to the myths. By referring to the diaries of one of the officers of the ship, the book brings every detail to rich and human life. We share the insights of the famous political and literary figures of the day, from Abraham Lincoln to Nathaniel Hawthorne to Herman Melville. We learn what really happened at Hampton Roads and what it all means for us today. And we learn about how "Smart weapons displace heroism from the field to the laboratory, from warriors to engineers, and from spectacle to secrecy." Everyone interested in the history of technology, the history of war, and the ways writers interpret events of the day will want to read this fine little book.

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Introduction of the Ironclad Warship (Classics of Naval Literature) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a must-read for anyone interested in ironclad development. Well written and thorough, it provides a great foundational read for anyone interested in the field. Newer books cover specific ships or technologies in more detail and are frequently based on newly found archival information, but this book provides the sweep and scope they miss. It is not highly technical. Great history well written.

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British Battleships: Warrior 1860 to Vanguard 1950 : A History of Design, Construction and Armament Review

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(More customer reviews)Although written for naval buffs, this book will be of interest to anyone involved in the design of systems. With the coming of steam propulsion, naval architects and technologists had to find the right balance between the three elements of speed, gunpower, and armoured protection. It took them a hundred years, and - the common fate of all systems - as soon as they reached perfection the whole conception of the batleship was obselete. This book (huge, 700 pages in 11 x 9inch format) details the successes, the blind alleys, the debates and personalities - and every British battleship ever built, and the designs of the ones that weren't.

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German Warships of World War I: The Royal Navy's Official Guide to the Capital Ships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines and Small Craft, 1914-1918 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a fascinating book, because it is essentially what the subtitle says - the British Royal Navy's recognition and intelligence guide to the Imperial German High Seas Fleet. Friedman write the introduction to this reprint of that work, and ties in the history of such guides through WWII and to intelligence today, which is a fascinating little essay of its own.
The main points of this book are the details - including some operational details - of the German warships. Some ships already lost at the time of this volume (1917) have negligible coverage, so if you want to know about SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU do not look here. But the details on the extant ships of 1917 are surprisingly detailed, SEYDLITZ especially - it appears that the claim that the British had acquired her blueprints is true, based on the extremely thorough and accurate coverage of that vessel. There are also details such as the forward guns of German dreadnoughts not generally being fired at night (to avoid blinding the bridge crews in the days before flashless powder); how firing orders were transmitted to destroyer gun crews, and much more. Thus this is a most useful book for the serious student of the WWI German Navy even if the data is seen through a British filter.

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The Confederate Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization, 1861-65 Review

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(More customer reviews)Although intended as a companion book to Lincoln's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization, 1861-65 by Donald L. Canney, this book is also very useful in conjunction with A History of the Confederate Navy by Raimondo Luraghi, which is the definitive book on the CS Navy.
The book is organized by topics (such as shipbuilding, types of ships) and presents these topics in more detail that is generally found in Luraghi's book. While I was hoping that it would include a Jane's-like section with drawings or photographs of every ship, this book is well illustrated. (For even more illustrations see The Confederate Navy - A Pictorial History by Philip Van Doren Stern.)
Highly recommended.

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THE "WARSPITE": THE FIGHTING LIFE OF THE ROYAL NAVY'S BRAVEST BATTLESHIP (WARSHIPS OF THE ROYAL NAVY) Review

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(More customer reviews)I really enjoyed this book. The author did a fine job of giving us insight into the career of a very distinguished battleship, perhaps the most active fighting battleship ever. (A battleship is a large heavily armored steel warship with big guns in turrets, built between 1873 and 1944). I recommend this book for anyone interested in battleships. I found it to be a good value.

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Before the Ironclad: The Development of Ship Design, Propulsion, and Armament in the Royal Navy, 1815-60 Review

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(More customer reviews)David Brown provides the reader with a wealth of insight on the workings of wooden ships. He emphasizes wooden warships. An extensive bibliography is provided for further reading.
Brown focuses on the works of Sir Robert Seppings, an early 19th century shipwright who wrote about the deficiencies of wooden shipbuilding. This eventually led to the use of diagonal planking. In an appendix, Brown compares wooden and iron ships: "In a wooden ship, it was the distortion of the sides of the hull which was the major problem. Seppings' analogy of a five-bar gate without the diagonal bar is a good one. Resistance to this change of shape came from friction between the planks which, up to a point, could be increased by hard caulking. Seppings' diagonal trusses were a great improvement but the rows of gun ports still weakened the side structure." (p. 204). Owing to the working of planking, it was impossible to incorporate effective watertight bulkheads (p. 74).
The labor requirements (man-days) for wooden ship construction are provided (p. 170). Brown also gives us statistics on various wooden ships (length, beam, draught, depths, armament, armor, speed, length/beam ratio, mid-section coefficient, prismatic coefficient, etc.) He also includes a graph of bare-hull weight as a function of the ship's dimensions and type (pp. 194-195). The reader may be amazed about how much wood went into wooden ships!


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Battleship and Cruiser Aircraft of the United States Navy 1910-1949 Review

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(More customer reviews)I love this book because it fills a missing niche in my aircraft library, even my refrence books only gloss over this aircraft types.
This book is full of photos of the various types of aircraft, quite a few shots of the ships they were on, plenty of action shots in recovery, landing, takeoff, etc. Lots of data tables on what type was assigned where at any given time. Experimental types are shown as are those on smaller ships.
The one thing it lacks is 1st person accounts. Specific stories about pilots doing this or that. It is more of a technical reference than a historical reference of that type. The photo captions do more of telling the tale than the main chapters of the book.
The way it's laid out is a 3-6 page introduction to the chapter. Here are a few of the 1st person accounts. Then depending on the chapter 10-20 pages of aircraft assignments, etc and then 20-30 pages of black and white photos. There are no color photos in the book. I'd estimate that half or over half the book is photos.
This is a very nice reference for a subject usually neglected.


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The World Encyclopedia of Cruisers: An illustrated history of the cruisers of the world, from the American Civil War to the Royal Navy's last ... warships with 500 identification photographs Review

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(More customer reviews)MR.BERNARD IRELAND is indeed a BRITISH NAVAL SCHOLAR of the world.He has
a lifelong interest in naval history and development, having spent more than 30 years in ship research for the Admiralty in ROYAL NAVAL SCIENTIFIC SERVICE. MR. IRELAND is a REAL EXPERT of WARSHIPS.(please
read my other review of AIRCRAFT CARRIERS by MR.BERNARD IRELAND.)
The CRUISERS is an eye-opener for novice like me about HISTORY, DESIGN,
CONTRUCTIONS, SEA-WARFARES, of the world CRUISERS from Pre-WW I, WW I,
WW II and even to certain period of present time.
It is very interesting to cover such a broad scope of the detailed history of the development of cruisers including so many countries'
naval defense. It is not a easy job!! Mr.BERNARD IRELAND did a great
job for such a good reference for general NAVAL ENTHUSIASTS and in
particularly for young men who might be interested to persuit a career in
NAVY, no matter which country, you are born. Love of SEA, JOIN the NAVY
for NATIONAL SECURITY at SEA. No wonder, the ROYAL BRITISH NAVY is so
advance with the help of brilliant scholar like MR. BERNARD IRELAND!!
However, I would like to suggest Mr.BERNARD IRELAND to publish another
update of this great book in future.(Even the present edition is 2008).
The BOOK: CRUISERS will be more interesting if Mr.IRELAND will cover
more NEW CRUISERS of modern days in COUNTRIES such as: CIS(RUSSIA), there is only one to two pages about USSR, and it's outdated. Then JAPAN's
modern day SELF-DEFENSE NAVY's modern day CRUISERS will be interesting,
then PEOPLE's REPUBLIC of CHINA's MODERN DAY CRUISERS in PRESENT PRC's
NAVY, also TAIWAN's(part of CHINA) also has a NAVAL FORCE. And of course
the most important issue was USA NAVY's coverage was not up to date in
this book!! Mr.Bernard Ireland stopped at the CRUISERS of USA in this book at the:
LONG BEACH (CGN.9) and the CALIFORNIA and VIRGINIA classes only!!
The most important USA CRUISERS such as the GUIDED MISSILE "TICONDEROGA" class CRUISERS which are the Aegis cruisers. Also, the GUIDED MISSILE
"ARLEIGH BURKE" class DESTROYERS which are actually a smaller CRUISER, are
missing in this edition.
Of course, there are the IMPROVED VERSIONS of the both classes too. All these details are missing in this edition of MR. IRELAND's BOOK: CRUISERS,
which making the book outdated and incomplete!!
Again I have strong conviction that MR.IRELAND's books are good books as a primer for HIGH SCHOOL students who are interested with
WARSHIPS!! I strongly recommend every library should keep a volume of
Mr.IRELANDS BOOK!! It is very interesting!!
I am looking forward for MR.IRELAND's future update of this book:
THE WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA of CRUISERS, 2009 or 2010 perhaps??
I shall share with you my reviews for future editions if you don't mind
my humble opinions!! Until then, I remain your friend from HONG KONG,
CHINA!!
Cheerio!!
BEST REGARDS,
STEPHEN M. YUNG,
HONG KONG,CHINA.
TEL:(852) 97541382 Email:steveyung8@gmail.com

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The cruiser evolved from a variety of powered sailing warships, employed in independent operations. The impact of rapid technological advance during the Victorian era saw the cruiser quickly assume familiar forms.

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U.S. Small Combatants, Including Pt-Boats, Subchasers, and the Brown-Water Navy: An Illustrated Design History Review

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(More customer reviews)This book has the most detail on the subject of any that I have found. Many line drawings. I only wish that it also had drawings of some of the ship's hull lines suitable for scratchbuilding models. I'm researching my next boat (vietnam 100' PGM) and this book confirmed that it is just an extended USCG 95' patrol boat with additional armament. It is truly the best $42 resource I have ever purchased. Get it, you won't be disappointed.

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Navies in the Nuclear Age: Warships Since 1945 (Conway's History of the Ship) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book provides excellent overview concerning development of every category of postwar warships. Moreover, the development of naval weapons, equipment and propulsion systems is described. It is necessary to note that the aim of this book is not to describe individual classes of warships, but to inform readers about main trends in their development. Very useful part of this book is the section concerning naval literature.
Because authors are well-known experts in the field of naval affairs, the information provided by this book are serious and exact. This books was written not for naval experts, but for naval enthusiasts. As a result, the text can be recognized as "friendly" for those readers who are not educated in naval matters.
There are many books concerning development of specific categories of warships only (for example submarines or aircraft carriers). There are also many books which describe development of warships in whole (including sailing warships, steam warships and so on). The development of warships since 1945 is usually described in such books very briefly. However, progress in warships' design during this period is very significant. This book is probably the first book which describes postwar development in warships' design in more detail. This feature can be considered as the most valuable.
Conclusion: This book should not miss in library of each naval enthusiast.

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By 1945 the threat to warships from above and below the water's surface had come to dominate naval strategic and tactical planning. Although many of the traditional ship designation, like cruisers, destroyers, and frigate, continue to be used, they no longer imply a specific role. This volume - the seventh in an ambitious series - therefore emphasizes such broader themes as anti-submarine warfare or electronics, which involve many ship types.

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United States Navy Destroyers of World War II Review

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(More customer reviews)I was pleasantly impressed out of my wits when I received this book, which I purchased used on Amazon.
First, let me describe what I was looking for, to give you a point of reference, as we naval readers don't always have the same expectations. I am an avid WWII modeler first and an amateur historian second. To me, naval engineering or weaponry facts are secondary, as you don't really need a pictorial book such as this one to obtain that kind of data; what's more encyclopedic works from authors like Polman are better suited for that purpose. I do want to know exactly what the general configuration of a particular ship was at a given time, which marks of the various equipment were installed (ie. mark 33 versus 37 director, 5 inch guns enclosed or open, etc).
And now for the book: it is one exceptional book. The author starts with the 1898 era briefly, then moves on to the 4-stackers of WWI, then after just a few pages on to the main subject: WWII destroyers, with the Farragut class making the first step, then the Benhams, and so on. Along the way we are treated to gorgeous, large size for the most part, super sharp photos showing the ships in detail, up-close, quarter views, at sea side profiles, etc. Author has relied heavily on official naval yard photos (i.e. the ones with the white circles showing additions) as well as period in-action photos. Some are quite poignant in what they represent, sometimes very subtly. For example, on page 29 a picture shows gunners manning a 5-inch wearing asbestos gloves, which would later cause many health ailments to our dear vets.
The author really earns his keep at explaining the reasons for the updates between each class. He does so in a way I haven't read elsewhere. Easy to follow and very logically he explains what issues the designers faced and how the either solved (majority of cases) or accepted compromises. Each chapter has a caption, usually a piece of wisdom for the time, for example, chapter 11 has "We must become intolerant of delay. We must tear our way through red tape. We must pillory bureaucrats who stupidly sacrifice time in the pursuit of an impossible perfection", which is right on as far as introductions go for the subject being explained, the build-up period of 1941, right before Pearl Harbor. It is little added insights offered that add a dimension not found in other books. For these and many, many more I give this book an enthusiastic 5 stars! Get it, if you don't already have it. Easily worth $50 or more, I will trade mine for a copy in a better condition, which is something I only do with books I intend to keep forever.

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