This
next title in Osprey's New Vanguard series is on what are commonly known as
'treaty cruisers'. These are ships that were limited to 10,000 tons and guns
that did not exceed 8" in size. There was no limit on the number of guns as long
as the ship met the displacement limits. These ships were designed primarily to
combat the Japanese fleet. The Japanese, however, did not strictly limit
themselves to the required tonnage, providing ships that was in some ways, more
capable that American ships.
There was also the issue of funding for the ships and while many ships
of each class were requested, not all of them were actually funded. As the
saying goes, one fights a war with what is on hand and America went to war with
these ships as the bulk of its heavy cruiser force.
These ships were carefully designed to meet specs, but interesingly, the
first series of ships were all 'underweight', coming in at around 9,000 tons. In
addition, the gun turrets on the first few series of ships were not turrets as
they were not really armored, but more like gun housings to keep out the
weather. A shell of any size could easily penetrate the 1.5 inch frontal and .75
inch side and top armor. Despite this, these ships were also topheavy and so
were not the best sea-keepers in rough weather.
The book covers the strategy behind these ships, their design, the
weapons they carried and the radar systems that they used. These classes are;
Pensacola class, Northampton class, Portland class, New Orleans class and
Wichita class. This is a total of 15 ships. Their war time record is also
covered as well as the disposition of those ships that survived the war. Nearly
half of these ships were lost, most of them in the first year of the war. Just
about all served in the Pacific.
Full of period photos, profiles and a cut-away, it is a must have book
for those who are interested in the subject and want to know more about these
ships.
Highly recommended reading.
May 2014
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