Though a relic of a bygone age, the battleship still fascinates both enthusiasts and those with only a passing interest in ships. Arguably the pinnacle of the class were the US Navy's Iowa class battleships. Six were started with the last two, the Illinois and Kentucky scrapped before completion, leaving the Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and New Jersey as the ships of the class that were finished. Experience in WWII put air power to the forefront as the major offensive weapon, relegating the battleship to what was basically floating long range artillery, a job they performed with distinction.

After the war, with no need for these ships, they were mothballed for future use. And a good thing as they were used in their role as artillery during both Korea and Vietnam. In the latter conflict, they were so effective that their withdrawal was specified in talks between the US and North Vietnamese. During the Regan military expansion, the return to service of the Iowa class ships with upgrades were part of his '600 ship' Navy. Thanks to this, your editor was able to visit the USS Missouri when on active duty during the 1980s when she docked in Diego Garcia and in San Diego a few years later. Impressed with their size, it was also interesting to note that compared to modern aircraft carriers, these were not large ships.

Eventually, they lasted long enough to participate in Desert Storm, firing Tomahawk missiles as much as using their main battery. That was the last gasp of the big gun ships as they are now museum pieces in various parts of the US, where folks can walk their decks and wonder what it might have been like to serve on them.

Author David Doyle provides a short background history and then the rest of the book is photographs. This covers the construction of the ship, the major external features, some of the internal areas of the ship, and, of course, many images of the ship, a goodly number from US Navy sources as well as from the current museum ships. This allows for the vast majority of images in the book to be in full color, something that Squadron/Signal likes to do with its detail books.

In all, it makes for a fascinating book that many will read with some nostalgia and others with great interest. It is a book I can easily recommend to you.

July 2011

My thanks to Squadron Products for the review copy. Get yours today at your favorite shop or on-line retailer.

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