I was delighted to see this book arrive in the mails a week or so back. I've always been interested in this particular event, not so much because it was a stunning Japanese victory, but because of the ships and the men involved in the battle. Not only that, but the events surrounding it are simply fascinating to a student of modern warfare. Not only was the 1905 war with Russia the first truly modern war, but it was the last major naval battle fought with pre-dreadnaught ships.

Somehow I missed seeing the first volume. This one starts on chapter 30 and covers the Russian cruiser raids on Japanese shipping by the Vladivostok fleet. In fact, the next chapters cover additional raids and the Japanese response. Then the book goes into the background of the final battle of Tsushima, which begins a year before. I very much appreciate how the chapters are set up and divided. They make it so that one can read just a single chapter is time is short, or read several of them in a row when one has more time to get into the book.

This includes the short lived auxiliary cruiser ops and the gathering of the Baltic fleet on its very long journey to the Far East. It also fully covers Japanese operations during this time in preparation for this battle. Once the battle is underway, the information gets more and more detailed. In all, it is probably one of the best accounts of events that I have read.

All of this is superbly illustrated with period photos of the ships involved as well as the major personalities. There are well drawn and easy to understand maneuvering charts covering all the various minor and major actions. This includes what has to be a most comprehensive series of appendixes that go into things like the gunnery abilities of the various ships, a description of each ship in terms of equipment, speed, complement, as well various other appendices.  This is all topped off by many pages of line profile drawings of all Russian ships in either 1/500 or 1/350 scale.

It is yet another of Mushroom Model Publications' must have books for the ship fan. A book that most thoroughly enjoyed reading and one that I am sure you will want as well. Most highly recommended.

November 2010

Review book courtesy of Mushroom Models Publications where you can order your copy. Australian readers can get theirs from Platypus Publications, and US reader from MMD.

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