One of the first warships that any modern navy gets if it wants to have true ocean-going capabilities is the destroyer. This has been true since the start of the 20th Century and is still true today. These small ships have a variety of tasks including screening larger warships or even being in the front of the battle when larger ships are not available. Despite their small size, they are generally well armed, providing that extra punch needed in a naval engagement.

This edition concentrates on the 169 'treaty' destroyers built in the 1930s and early 1940s. This includes all of the 1,500 ton classes (Farragut, Mahan, Dunlap, Bagley, Gridley and Benham Class) and the 1,850 ton destroyer leaders (Porter and Somers Class) as well as the post treaty 1,620 ton Benson and Gleaves class and the 1,570 ton Simms class ships.

Most of these ships saw a great deal of action early in the war while the larger Fletcher Class destroyers were being developed. As a result of being all that were available, the greatest number of losses were of these classes, but they participated in most of the really big naval engagements of the first year or two of the war. Later, as they were replaced by larger destroyers, they were used in secondary roles or converted to minesweepers.

Author Dave McComb covers these ships with the design and development of each class, modifications made to the various ships, and how they were used in both the Atlantic and the Pacific wars. This is all superbly illustrated with period photographs and the excellent art work of Paul Wright.

It is an outstanding volume and a great primer on these important ships. I found it quite interesting and I know you will as well. It is a book that I can highly recommend to you.

February 2010

For more on the complete line of Osprey books, visit www.ospreypublishing.com. In the US, it is Osprey Direct at 44-02 23rd St, Suite 219, Long Island City, NY 11101., where you can get a catalogue of available books.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has over 350,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.