World War II at Sea: A Naval View of the Global Conflict: 1939 to 1945

An interesting combination of episodes, strategies and battles, this book emphasizes the naval war on and under the surface, and gives short shrift to a facet of WW II at sea that typically get lots of attention – carrier group operations. On the other hand, the author goes into some detail about other aspects of the naval war (e.g., German commerce raiders) that usually get no mention at all. As is usually the case with books by Brits, the emphasis understandably tends to be on the European theater and the naval war in the Atlantic, but it's the first volume I've seen in years that provides a decent account of the Royal Navy's successful campaign against the Italian Navy in the Mediterranean.A couple of glaring errors in photo captions caught my eye. One refers to the American battleship USS Washington as a "Colorado-class" battleship. That USS Washington (BB-47) was launched in 1921, left incomplete with the signing of the Washington Naval Treat in 1922, and sunk as a gunnery target in 1924. The USS Washington the author meant to refer to (BB-56), was the only American battleship to sink an enemy battleship in a "one-on-one" engagement during World War II – the Japanese battleship Kirishima in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. A second error is in the description of an attack by the Japanese on the Essex-class carrier USS Bunker Hill. The caption's description may be correct, but the carrier in the photo is an Independence-class light carrier, not the Bunker Hill.So, the book isn't perfect, and it tends to dwell on the European/Atlantic side of the war, but strategically, that was the more important theater, and the author includes enough slightly unusual and little-known episodes to make the book better than a standard re-hash of Allied victories and Axis defeats that students of WW II at sea have already read many times. I don't regret buying it.

continuing with the errors, the author calls the British cruiser Belfast a heavy cruiser...she is a third group of Southampton class light cruisers.She has 6" guns not 8". in a small insert describing the USS Yorktown He lists 5" guns twice with different quantities and says she had16 28mm anti-aircraft guns...I think that is a typo should be 20mm not 28. This is a very good book, well done..the few mistakes are becausethe author is a scholar not a sailor...

I thought for several days to purchase this book, and finally decided it purchase the book. It was a mistake, this book does have some good text, but the pictures are not very detailed or provide a new look at the naval battles or campaigns for the second world war. I have kept the book to my collection, but I would never purchase again. I would spend my money on a different book.Michael

Bought this for father in law 92nd birthday and is a WW2 vet. He proved he loved it by spending the remainder of his birthday party reading and sharing his war stories.

Even though used, it was in perfect condition. The book has great pictures and useful information about what WW II was all about.

a little disappointed with the picture content unusual for a zenith press book

Maps, write ups and photos. Fantastic stuff.

Hit and miss battles. Most depicted showing how great the enemy was and how pitiful the allies were.

Book is quite interesting, however some errors here and there.Cruiser Blucher did not sink in Oslo Fjord because it was shelled, it was actually torpedoed from a coastal fort.

第二次大戦の海事関連を時系列で扱う歴史書です。その中で例えばラプラタ沖海戦、ガダルカナル海域などのトピックを項目別に扱い、各項目ごとに関連写真数枚と地図を中心とした記述説明という構成になっています。珍しい記事としてはアセニア号事件、英ロイヤルオーク撃沈、ダイナモ作戦、ハスキー作戦、ノースケープ沖海戦などを扱っており、太平洋戦域よりも欧州戦域に重きを置いた編集内容になっております。画像、図面などの個別艦艇ビジュアル資料を目的とされる方にはお勧めしません。