When one thinks about capital ships in today's world, the one that comes to mind is the aircraft carrier. Of course, this was not always the case as change often moves slowly and I'm sure that at some time in the future, this will change again. However, when one thinks of big military ships, it is the carrier that pops into one's head.

MBI has produced what is an outstanding reference book on this type of ship and its aircraft. Its 256 pages are full of  a bewildering number of photographs, profiles, and cutaways, the vast majority of them in full color. Roughly half of the book is devoted to the ships and it starts from the beginning with early attempts to fly planes from and onto make-shift platforms tacked onto various capital ships. It moves from there to the first ships converted to carry aircraft and then to specially built aircraft carriers. The historical ships of all nations such as the Furious, Langly, Hosho, Lexington, Ark Royal and Akagi are all there as are all of the modern ships like the Eagle, Charles DeGaulle, Nimitz, and Kuznetsov.

But that is only half of the story. The other half are the aircraft that are the reason for being of these ships. Again, an extensive array of famous aircraft are covered that include the Wildcat, Zero, Seafire, Demon, Sea Hawk, Phantom, Tomcat, Harrier and Hornet. Strangely missing from this coveted listing are anything that was operating before WWII.

Also thrown into the mix are the ships of what in the US is called the 'Gator Navy'. These are those ships whose missions are tied more to landing troops such as the LHA (assault carrier), LSD (landing ship dock) and others that carry aircraft. These aircraft are those that are more suited to vertical take off and landing such as the Harrier and a wide variety of helicopters. These helicopters like the Sea Knight, Puma, and Merlin are all covered.

So what you end up with is a rather comprehensive look at nautical aviation and their ships. It seems like a nearly impossible task to include all this material under one set of covers, but the authors have done a commendable job of it, providing what has to be the best all-in-one reference on the subject yet published. Best of all, this is all available at an incredibly reasonable price for a book of this size and scope. It is one that you really have to have on your shelves, and will be one that you use over and over again for a reference.

Available in bookstores everywhere, through Classic Motorbooks at (800) 826-6600 or at www.motorbooks.com

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