U. S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman soon to be presented for sale on the terrific BookLovers of Bath web site!
Published: London, Melbourne: Arms & Armour Press, 1983, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Diagrams; Tables; Plans;
From the cover: Aircraft carriers have been the mainstay of U. S. sea-power for the past forty years. They remain both the most impressive and the most controversial of warships, often criticized for their size, but always valued for the image of power they can project throughout the world.
Norman Friedmans account of U. S. carrier development, based on the internal files of the U. S. Navy, goes beyond a simple discussion of naval architecture to present a complete evolutionary design history at a level of detail and accuracy not approached previously. U. S. Aircraft Carriers uncovers the issues, technical and conceptual, behind the emergence of the modern carrier, including the growth in the size of contemporary ships and the navys intermittent attempts to trim back the dimensions of carriers. This book, then, has considerable relevance to current and future plans for new carrier construction.
The author, a recognized authority on U. S. warships, shows how certain features of carrier design recur over the years. For example, recent interest in the conversion of merchant hulls to the limited-capability ASW carriers harks back to a major conversion programme of the 1930s, as well as the escort-carrier programme of World War II. Both are fully described here, along with the proposed VSTOL carriers, the sea-control ship, and the VSTOL support ship (VSS).
From the gigantic warships of the Nimitz-class to the smallest escorts, U. S. Aircraft Carriers supplies the reader with detailed Information on and illustrations of every U. S. carrier class, including even the side-wheeler training carriers that operated on the Great Lakes during World War II. The reader will find flight-deck plans, outboard profiles, sketches of major design studies, and descriptions of several unique carrier proposals that never got beyond the designers table, yet nevertheless have influenced contemporary design thinking. Here, too, is an explanation of the changing function of the U. S. carrier, from its origin as auxiliary to its expanding role as the main component of the battle force, as well as a discussion of the post-World War II controversy over the conduct of carrier operations. Extensive appendices provide further data on all the carriers, including synopses of advances in the design of modern catapults and arresting gear.
The talented draftsman A. D. Baker III has provided carefully detailed scale profiles and plan views for each major class of carrier. Numerous photographs, many never before published, also complement the text.
U. S. Aircraft Carriers is essential reading for naval historians, architects, and all those involved in planning the future of todays navy, as well as a fitting companion to Friedmans earlier U. S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History.
Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Dust wrapper sunned at the spine and pulled at the foot of the upper panel with a resultant short, closed, tear. Text complete, clean and tight.
Blue boards with Silver titling to the Spine. 427 pages. Index. 11¼” x 8¾”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I persuade you to have a look at more books hither or maybe further, hand picked, books in my Military Naval catalogue?
BookLovers of Bath 