Naval Institute Press
Catalog
The Battleships of the Iowa Class A Design and Operational History BY PHILIPPE CARESSE; TRANSLATED BY BRUCE TAYLOR Format: Hardcover | 534 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591145981 Price: $120.00 | Member Price: $72.00
Built as the ultimate American battleship and designed to engage the major units of the Japanese and German fleets, the vessels were commissioned in the closing stages of World War II, the beginning of half a century of service during which individual units saw action in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Lebanese Civil War and finally the Persian Gulf War. As such, these ships are symbolic of the primacy of U.S. seapower during the Cold War. The preservation of all four members of this mighty class as museums is testament not only to their enduring fascination for successive generations of Americans, but also to the immense technical, financial, military, and political resources wielded by the United States during the second half of the twentieth century.
U.S. Battleships
The Big E
An Illustrated Design History
The Story of the USS Enterprise, Illustrated Edition
BY NORMAN FRIEDMAN; SHIP PLANS BY ALAN RAVEN AND A.D. BAKER III
BY EDWARD P. STAFFORD
Format: Softcover | 480 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591142478 Price: $56.95 | Member Price: $45.56
Format: Hardcover | 576 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591148029 Price: $90.00 | Member Price: $72.00
Naval historians and enthusiasts alike will find U.S. Battleships to be the most comprehensive reference available on the entire development of U.S. battleships, from the Maine and Texas of 1886, through the Montana class of World War II, up to the recommissioned Iowas. Like the other books in Norman Friedman’s design-history series, U.S. Battleships is based largely on formerly classified internal U.S. Navy records.
A lasting tribute to the USS Enterprise, this heavily illustrated, new edition tells the classic tale of the carrier that contributed more than any other warship to the naval victory in the Pacific. The original book, published in 1962, has remained one of the most celebrated World War II stories for more than four decades. This superb study of a great ship, her crew, and the action they saw has been called one of the finest pieces of naval writing to emerge from the war.
The Battleships Yamato and Musashi Selected Photos from the Archives of the Kure Maritime Museum EDITED BY THE KURE MARITIME MUSEUM AND KAZUSHIGE TODAKA; TRANSLATED BY ROBERT D. ELDRIDGE Format: Hardcover | 144 pp. ISBN-13: 9781682473856 Price: $75.00 | Member Price: $45.00
Destroyer Selected Photos from the Archives of the Kure Maritime Museum, The Best from the Collection of Shizuo Fukui’s Photos of Japanese Warships EDITED BY THE KURE MARITIME MUSEUM AND KAZUSHIGE TODAKA, TRANSLATED BY ROBERT D. ELDRIDGE WITH GRAHAM B. LEONARD Format: Hardcover | 232 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591146308 Price: $75.00 | Member Price: $45.00
Aircraft Carriers and Seaplane Carriers Selected Photos from the Archives of the Kure Maritime Museum; The Best from the Collection of Shizuo Fukui’s Photos of Japanese Warships EDITED BY THE KURE MARITIME MUSEUM AND KAZUSHIGE TODAKA; TRANSLATED BY ROBERT D. ELDRIDGE Format: Hardcover | 236 pp. ISBN-13: 9781682474211 Price: $75.00 | Member Price: $45.00
Originally published in Japan in 2005, each album in the Japanese Naval Warship photo album series contains official photographs from the Kure Maritime Museum, as well as those taken by private individuals. These pictorial records document the main types of Japanese vessels, from battleships to submarines. They are especially valuable because of the massive destruction of official documents at the end of the war. For more books in the series click here.
Battleship Bismarck A Design and Operational History BY WILLIAM H. GARZKE JR., ROBERT O. DULIN JR., AND WILLIAM JURENS WITH JAMES CAMERON Format: Hardcover | 624 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591145691 Price: $95.00 | Member Price: $57.00
The result of these nearly six decades of research and collaboration is an engrossing and encyclopedic account of the events surrounding one of the most epic naval battles of World War II. Battleship Bismarck has finally resolved some of the major questions such as: Who sank Bismarck, the British or the Germans? Drawing on survivors’ accounts and the authors’ combined decades of experience in naval architecture, Battleship Bismarck is a marine forensics analysis and engineering study of the design, operational career, and loss of Germany’s greatest battleship.
Battleships of the Scharnhorst Class
Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class
The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau: The Backbone of the German Surface Forces at the Outbreak of War
Admiral Hipper, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, Lützow
BY GERHARD KOOP AND KLAUS-PETER SCHMOLKE
Format: Softcover | 208 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591141686 Price: $15.98
Format: Softcover | 176 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591141778 Price: $15.98
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were the products of a long, involved, and politicallydetermined design process that witnessed this class of battleships develop from an improved Pocket Battleship to what many described as a battlecruiser. These ships were the most active, and successful, of the Kriegesmarine’s major warships, took part in numerous famous operations, including the infamous ‘Channel Dash.” and played a key part of Germany’s struggle to wrest control of the sea at the outbreak of World War II.
BY GERHARD KOOP AND KLAUS-PETER SCHMOLKE
This volume covers the Admiral Hipper class, among the largest heavy cruisers to serve in World War II. Intended to be a class of five, they enjoyed contrasting fortunes: Seydlitz and Lützow were never completed; Blücher was the first major German warship sunk in action; Admiral Hipper became one of the most successful commerce raiders of the war; while the Prinz Eugen survived to be expended as a target in one of the first American nuclear tests in 1946.
U-505
The Stringbags
The Final Journey
WRITTEN BY GARTH ENNIS; DRAWN BY P.J. HOLDEN; COLORED BY KELLY FITZPATRICK; LETTERED BY ROB STEEN
BY JAMES E. WISE Format: Hardcover | 224 pp. ISBN-13: 9781591149675 Price: $34.95, | Member Price: $20.97
The U-505 was a German submarine that was captured in battle by the US in June of 1944. James Wise (a former US naval intelligence officer) narrates the life of the vessel from its 1941 construction in Hamburg to its more recent home at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Including numerous photographs throughout, Wise describes the u-boat’s fortunes in World War II, the circumstances of its capture, and the long journey down the St. Lawrence River and through four of the Great Lakes to Chicago. He also offers two appendixes discussing operating and living on board the U-505 and the historical evolution of the submarine.
The Battlecruiser HMS Hood An Illustrated Biography1916–1941
Format: Hardcover | 192 pp. ISBN-13: 9781682475034 Price: $29.95 | Member Price: $17.97
BY BRUCE TAYLOR; ILLUSTRATIONS BY THOMAS SCHMID; FOREWORD BY VICEADMIRAL SIR LOUIS LE BAILLY
Based on the true story of the Royal Navy’s Swordfish crews, The Stringbags is an epic tale of young men facing death in an aircraft almost out of time.
Format: Softcover | 272 pp. ISBN-13: 9781848322486 Price: $44.95 | Member Price: $35.96
From their triumphs against the Italian Fleet at Taranto and the mighty German battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic, to the deadly challenge of the Channel Dash in the bleak winter waters of their homeland. They lived as they flew, without a second to lose—and the greatest tributes to their courage would come from the enemy who strove to kill them.
Representing five years of research, Bruce Taylor shares her entire story— from the laying of her keel on the Clyde to her destruction by the Bismarck—in words, photos, and color artwork. The unique assortment of photos assembled in this book includes stills from a recently discovered piece of color footage. The new information on the Hood’s operation and structure make this book essential reading for any enthusiast, modeler, or historian.
British Town Class Cruisers
The Last British Battleship
Southampton and Belfast Classes: Design, Development and Performance
HMS Vanguard 1946–1960
BY CONRAD WATERS
Format: Hardcover | 128 pp. ISBN-13: 9781526752260 Price: $44.95 | Member Price: $26.97
Format: Hardcover | 288 pp. ISBN-13: 9781526718853 Price: $64.95 | Member Price: $38.97
Entering service between 1937 and 1939, the ten British “Town” class cruisers were the most modern vessels of their type in the Royal Navy when World War II began. Built in response to large 6-inch gunned cruisers in the U.S. and Japanese navies and primarily designed for the defense of trade, they saw arduous service in a wide range of roles, playing a decisive part in victories such as the Battle of the Barents Sea and the destruction of the German Navy’s Scharnhorst at the North Cape. The cost was heavy: four of the ships were lost and the other six all survived heavy damage, in some cases on more than one occasion.
BY R. A. BURT
The ninth HMS Vanguard, bearing one of the most illustrious names in the Royal Navy with honors from the Armada to Jutland, was the last and largest of Britain’s battleships and was commissioned in 1946. Her design evolved from of the King George V class and incorporated much of the fully developed design for the two battleships, Lion and Temeraire, that were laid down in 1939 but never completed. In this new book by R A Burt, her design, construction and career are all covered. Armor, machinery, power plants, and weaponry are examined in detail and the author has produced some 35 superb plans, profiles, and other line drawings for which he is renowned.
Battleship Warspite Detailed in the Original Builder’s Plans BY ROBERT BROWN Format: Hardcover | 128 pp. ISBN-13: 9781526719379 Price: $46.95 | Member Price: $37.56
The technical details of early 20th century British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the “as fitted” general arrangements, these drawings documented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service. Today these plans form part of the incomparable collection of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, which is using the latest scanning technology to make digital copies of the highest quality. This book is the first of a series based entirely on these drafts which will depict famous warships in an unprecedented degree of detail—complete sets in full color, with many close-ups and enlargements that make every aspect clear and comprehensible.
Artwork courtesy of World of Warships massive multiplayer PC game by Wargaming.