It's the most complete--and immensely readable--operational history yet published of the German Navy's seven great World War Two capital ships: the Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Admiral Graf Spee, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Bismarck, and Tirpitz. Even greatly outnumbered by the Royal Navy, these fast, powerful, well-armored and armed ships created havoc. Researched from the original German sources and from postwar Allied analyses and reports, profusely illustrated with line drawings, maps, and photographs, the technical chapters cover planning, design, construction, and modifications.
At the beginning of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy operated a light cruiser force of 20 ships, and added another five during the course of the war. These fast ships, carrying seaplanes and heavy torpedo armament, generally were used as flagships for destroyer flotillas and submarine squadrons. Of these, nine were sunk by U.S. or British submarines, 11 were sunk by U.S. aircraft, two were sunk by U.S. torpedo boats or destroyers, and three were still afloat at the end of the war.
HMCS St. Laurent was the Navy's first postwar antisubmarine vessel, designed and built entirely in Canada, commissioned in 1955. Classed as a destroyer escort, she was the most advanced of her kind, and caused a considerable stir in world naval circles. She was the first of twenty very similar ships whose sleek lines quickly earned them the nickname "Cadillacs."These ships were followed in the 1970s by the different looking Iroquois class of destroyer-helicopter carriers, and since 1992 by the ultramodern City class patrol frigates. The development and careers of each of these classes of ships is illustrated, with before and after photographs of the many whose appearance has been altered by rebuilding.
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