The World Encyclopedia of Battleships Hardcover – January 1, 2007

Book was great for my son

The book details the development history and summarizes the battles that many of the ships from the various navies fought. It is striking to see how very much time and resource went into producing these ships that were for the most part sunk or eventually scrapped. The used copy I received had been relieved of a few pages, perhaps for the photos therein. Nevertheless it is a remarkable record of various country's expenditures for what was mostly, in the end, political posturing. Still, it shows how much went into employing the multitudes of ship builders and the large complements of men who served.

Covers a lot of ground in a big field concisely but for my taste, I'd rather more info on each type of ship and a better variety of photos. Some photos were perhaps rare but not as informative as more commonly available "traditional" images showcasing the overall design and interesting aspects.

Contains images for almost every pre-dreadnought, dreadnought and modern battleship. A decent amount of detail for every class and in some cases a thorough study of individual ships.Ideal for a quick reference, but it has several caption mistakes. Plus it manages to miss out the American Tennessee class battleships entirely!