US Fast Battleships 1936-47: The North Carolina and South Dakota classes

by Lawrence Burr, Peter Bull (Illustrator)

Overview

This volume details the design, construction, and operation of the first six of the ten US fast battleships, two of the North Carolina class and four of the South Dakota class. These six battleships were all authorized in 1936 and were the first vessels built in the US since 1923. Consequently, these ships benefitted from enormous technological leaps, with improvements in ship design, power, armor, armament and the single most important improvement the use of radar guided fire control helping to change the course of the war in the Pacific. Packed with first-hand accounts, battle reports, and specially created artwork this book tells the story of these war-winning vessels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846035104
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	11/23/2010
Series:	New Vanguard , #169
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	7.25(w) x 9.75(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Lawrence Burr has had a lifelong passion for naval history. He was recently the British specialist on a Channel 4 documentary about the battle of Jutland. He has also been part of a team who has conducted underwater explorations of the Battlecruiser wrecks and has visited a number of the key battleships detailed in this volume. He lives in the USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

The Washington Naval Treaty - 1922 4

Design and Construction 7

The North Carolina class

The South Dakota class

Fire control

Radar

Aircraft

Fast Battleship Operations 15

The Atlantic

The Pacific

Conclusion 42

Bibliography 44

Books

Internet

Appendices 45

South Dakota class

North Carolina class

Index 48