Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1860-1905 (Conway's naval history after 1850) (Hardcover)

Conway Maritime Press are well known for their factual books on ships - especially warships, in which they provide the finest technical documentation. "All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905" is hard-back measuring 12½" x 8¾" with 440 pages of detailed and factual information. After a brief foreword and an explanation of abbreviations used, the navies of the world are divided into three main headings; The world's great powers, coast defence navies and minor navies. Under each of these headings all the relevant ships are then listed by country. Displayed by "class," each section then commences with the largest battleships and progresses all the way down to the smallest torpedo boats (or whatever) with the oldest vessels mentioned first. For each class there is one or more of those profile line drawings which have become Conway's trademark. These are followed by all the usual technical details such as; Displacement, dimensions, machinery, armour, armament and complement followed by the names of each ship within that class - it's builder, date laid down, date completed and fate. These are accompanied by a very "readable" text from which we learn of the political intrigue of the day, variations between vessels, refits, new equipment, whatever defects or other problems that beset either the class or a specific ship and a short résumé of the fate of each vessel.

Altogether, the book is well illustrated with an excellent selection of historic black and white original photographs throughout with at least one picture on almost every page.

In summary, this is an excellent technical work of reference and one which will continue to stand the test of time. Put another way, this is one of those books you will wish you had bought - after it becomes out of print.

NM

The terms of reference of the work are set out clearly in the Foreword, but the section on the 'Scope' of the work presents the first of a very few disappointments, as it lists the types of vessel ommitted from the book. Among these are submarines (because they were experimental at this stage - the CSS Hunley notwithstanding!), riverine craft and converted merchant ships (neither of which are considered as being true warships). I think this was an error - these omissions, for example, render many combattant ships of the American Civil War unworthy of mention!

The main body of the text is laid out in a sensible fashion. The naval powers of the world are dealt with in order of perceived naval power during the period starting with the major fleets (Great Britain, France etc) down to those nations with small coastal defence navies such as the Baltic States. Rather than a alphabetical glossary of ship classes, this helps to put naval power of time into a neat geo-political context, especially as the author takes the time to explain the naval policy of each country. Omissions aside, there is a wealth of information here. Each class , from capital ships down to gunboats is explained with each ships' technical data, fate, and a short history of the vessel's class. There are also a wealth of photographs and some lovely technical drawings; more of the latter would have been nice, particularly with some sort of labelling to say which weapon went where!

This again is a minor grumble. All the World's Fighting Ships delivers exactly what it promises, a first step into understanding this key period in warship development, which saw the end of the wooden man o' war and the beginnings of the true battleship. Can't wait to get the next volume!