Product Description

Fast, compact and formidable, destroyers were in the thick of the action in every theatre of operations during the Second World War. Demands made upon the flotillas were enormous: not only were they to escort the main battle fleets into action, but they were also called upon to escort convoys, protecting their charges against the depredations of aircraft and submarines. The torpedo role diminished and, increasingly, destroyers were called upon to perform a wide range of duties, often of the most hazardous nature. Losses were high. Illustrated with more than 480 photographs and line drawings, DESTROYERS OF WORLD WAR TWO is the first large-scale, comprehensive encyclopedia to detail in one volume all the destroyers extant, completed or laid down during the period 1939-45 by the navies of the world. Each class is described under three headings - Design, Modifications and Service - while full data tabulations are also presented.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #765687 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Mike Whitley has established himself as the leading historian of Second World War German naval power, with a series of reference books packed to the gunwales with solid information, all based on his own meticulous original research.

Customer Reviews

The only reference work on this subject you will need.
As a scuba diver of almost 30 years experience and something of an expert on "shipwrecks," I have visited a small number of Destroyer wrecks over the years. Just as soon as this book arrived on my desk, therefore, I went straight to one very specific ship that is well known to me. I found she was portrayed by a photograph I had not seen before and my first reaction was to say to myself "so that's what I was looking at."

"Destroyers of World War Two - An International Encyclopaedia" is a large soft-back book measuring 9½" x 9½" containing over 300 pages packed with solid information about each type of ship laid out country-by-country. If you want to know anything about a Destroyer from WW2 - then that information is right here.

Commencing with an informative introduction in which the author explains the origins of the Destroyer and it's brief history up to the end of WW2, we then find the navies from that period laid out alphabetically from Argentina to Yugoslavia. Within each of these countries, their Destroyer fleets are then listed by type of vessel with full specifications and an illustration. Each country is then neatly finished off with the details of any ships which were either captured or transferred from elsewhere.

This is a work of reference will which stand the test of time. It is a scholarly work and extremely well illustrated throughout - with at least one image on every page. Though previously published in 1988, I am sure there will be plenty of people who missed this book first time around and who are now only too pleased of the opportunity to purchase once again. I know I was.

I congratulate the author on such a thorough job of work.

NM