There is something more than just a little bit creepy…

 …maybe even kinda skin-crawley-freaky…

 …about an aircraft carrier which was never put into service  (never even steamed under its own power).

·        having several books written about it

·        models available of it

·        and having its own (ever-growing) cult following (including dedicated websites).

 However, the Kriegsmarine aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin is German and World War II, so it ‘rightfully’ receives the nautical flavour of alluring mystique freely lavished upon ‘Luftwaffe 46’ aircraft and “Panther IIs’ and the PzkpfW Maus and….

 And the latest book about Graf Zeppelin is one of the better naval type construction and history volumes one will ever see on ANY single nautical subject.

 Don’t come here if you’re looking for criticism of author Siegfried Breyer.

 Go ‘way, shoo, shoo, go play with your Barbies. Herr Breyer is a German Navy scholar par excellance with gobs of credentials. This book does nothing but pile them on thicker.

 Cover artist Gregorz Nawrocki and illustrator/ draughtsman Withold Hazuka provide SUCH a great variety of artwork in a 23-dollar book, it’s like nuts. A cool bonus is a foldout copy (properly browned) of 1939 Kriegsmarine hull plans. Full colour isometrics and great detail line drawings just add to the ‘wow!’ factor.

 This IS a hip book and outstanding value for the $22.95 paid there for. Set this bad boy next to any $18 Osprey or $13 Squadron and many, many $50 naval books, and the AJ effort just blows them away. Everybody involved did everything right and the book will undoubtedly sell bouku better than more deserving-subject but less cult-appealing title naval books.

 As with past AJ Press offerings, the foldout plans with lavish colour details are absolutely striking, worth the book-price all by themselves. Binding is tight, paper good, print quality spot-on. Photos are period and while not always the (nebulous sharpness factor) quality some readers ‘demand,’ are authentic and virtually priceless.

 There’s even a wrap-around cover painting (of Graf Zeppelin under steam in blue water, with a big twin-15cm-turreted DD off to the starboard quarter. Actually, the cover art is so striking, it’s arguably worth buying an extra copy to strip and frame the cover.

 Kinda surprisingly highly recommended for naval historical types of all persuasions, as the subject is so weird, though the book is correspondingly well done. Selfishly for we Anglophones, text is bilingual, Polish / English (insert ‘happy dance’ here). After a serious read and getting an understanding of the Graf’s characteristics and design ‘features,’ those familiar with the layout, operations, aircraft and nuances of US, RN and IJN carriers will cock their heads sideways like a confused cat to ponder how the DKM basically reinvented the wheel (or aircraft carrier) rather than following the others’ successful, decades-developed formulae. Some features are just downright weird / primitive / ‘huuuh?’, especially for a 1940s-building aircraft carrier.

 More confusion; of the 100+ named US aircraft carriers of the WW  II era, not to mention the British Royal Navy’s 30 or so, the all-but-unknown Japanese ones, the French Bearn and the Italian almost-Aquila…

 …darn few have dedicated books about them, so here’s one where you can dig into the details…and enjoy for its own sake.  

 Revell of Germany has a 1/720 plastic kit of GZ out and there are at least two paper models, one in the mutha-huge scale of 1/200. Aircraft modelers can readily find kits in 1/72 and 1/48 of the Bf 109T carrier-based fighter. ‘Don’t know of any kits of the folding-wing Ju 87C ‘Sea Stuka’, but it’s probably only a matter of time…air wing decals…you are on your own.

 Review copy courtesy of the reviewer’s chequebook, purchased at Venture Hobbies, Wheeling, Illinois, United States of America

 Reviewed by James Hood

{author site updated November 2005}  See Scott Van Aken's m2 and other reviews of James Hood's novel Adventure--Into The Neverland, of exploring a parallel, Alternate world (concept based on the Superstring theory of physics) using WW II surplus ships, aircraft and vehicles (and preview of Adventure—Volume II, Dragons Of The Neverland) at:    <http://users3.ev1.net/~bjmonkeyandcj/James_Hood.htm>

Book can be ordered at <http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/SearchCatalog.aspx>  or from your local bookstore (ISBN 0-7596-9062-6 Hardbound or ISBN-0-7596-2646-4 Softcover)

M2 Book review #39  

November 2005

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