US Navy Dreadnoughts 1914 - 1945
Author: Ryan Noppen
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
US Navy Dreadnoughts 1914-1945 from Osprey Publishing is another book, number 208 in fact, within the New Vanguard range. These short books are rich with illustrations, period photographs and technical details. The book covers the evolution of the American Navy Dreadnought fleet, looking at design and procurement at the beginning of the book and culminating with an account of their activities in both the First and Second World Wars.
The book is 48 pages long and initially deals with the construction and design compromises that resulted in the, often unique, American Dreadnought fleet. For example, the strategic need to build ships with a longer range than their European rivals and the impact of Congressional weight limits resulted in innovations such as wireframe conning towers. These alternative designs are explained in both the text and illustrations and give a real insight into the problems facing the naval designers.
Every page is illustrated with black and white photographs or coloured illustrations. Each photo has a clear caption and has been selected for a purpose. The illustrations are a mixture of dramatic artist's impressions and schematics that include detailed cutaways and annotations. Paul Wright's illustrations, whether technical or more creative, are painstakingly detailed and beautifully coloured. Sometimes the schematics could do with better labelling. For example, the schematic of the Arkansas and Wyoming class shows two very different ships and, whilst there is an explanation that this shows the Arkansas in 1917 and then, following a refit, how it looked in 1945, there is no explanation as to why the hull is missing in one of the pictures. Whether this anomaly is by omission or design is unclear but if intended this could have been resolved with an explanation.
Noppen’s text is clear, well-written and develops the story logically from inception through to the Second World War. It is as well that the author chose to cover this timespan within the scope of his book as the American actions in World War 1 were few and far between! However, once the Second World War is encountered, the story develops real interest as those Dreadnoughts that survived inter-war scrapping's are plunged into a war for which they were not designed. Noppen is clear that the ships would have been outclassed in a fight against the modern German ship “Bismark”. Similarly, the account of the Texas nearly being sunk by a U-Boat highlights the probable obsolescence of these ships as naval assets.
It is clear that the US Navy's Dreadnoughts never really fulfilled the role for which they were designed; their minimal involvement in the First World War and relative obsolescence during later operations pushed them into alternate roles such as training and ground bombardment. It is their role as a heavy gun platform and the tasks they undertook in this role that makes the really interesting part of this book. Whether providing artillery support to the D-Day landings or using their spotter planes to drop landmines on Vichy French armour in North Africa, these ships were eventually able to prove their worth.
Noppen's writing during the section on the Second World War is fast paced and enjoyable, almost as if he is warming to his subject; one can almost sense his sadness that the final fate of these ships was to act as gunnery targets or as subjects of nuclear weapons tests around Bikini Atoll. However, it is pleasing that the “Texas” survived and now lives on as a floating museum and the only surviving Dreadnought in the entire world.
US Navy Dreadnoughts makes a useful contribution for those who want to get a short overview of the early 20th century American fleet mixed with detailed technical specifications. In the congested field of naval literature, this book may not have the scope and depth of a detailed naval history but the illustrations and niche subject provide enough of a difference to other books to justify a place on the bookshelf.
The book is 48 pages long and initially deals with the construction and design compromises that resulted in the, often unique, American Dreadnought fleet. For example, the strategic need to build ships with a longer range than their European rivals and the impact of Congressional weight limits resulted in innovations such as wireframe conning towers. These alternative designs are explained in both the text and illustrations and give a real insight into the problems facing the naval designers.
Every page is illustrated with black and white photographs or coloured illustrations. Each photo has a clear caption and has been selected for a purpose. The illustrations are a mixture of dramatic artist's impressions and schematics that include detailed cutaways and annotations. Paul Wright's illustrations, whether technical or more creative, are painstakingly detailed and beautifully coloured. Sometimes the schematics could do with better labelling. For example, the schematic of the Arkansas and Wyoming class shows two very different ships and, whilst there is an explanation that this shows the Arkansas in 1917 and then, following a refit, how it looked in 1945, there is no explanation as to why the hull is missing in one of the pictures. Whether this anomaly is by omission or design is unclear but if intended this could have been resolved with an explanation.
Noppen’s text is clear, well-written and develops the story logically from inception through to the Second World War. It is as well that the author chose to cover this timespan within the scope of his book as the American actions in World War 1 were few and far between! However, once the Second World War is encountered, the story develops real interest as those Dreadnoughts that survived inter-war scrapping's are plunged into a war for which they were not designed. Noppen is clear that the ships would have been outclassed in a fight against the modern German ship “Bismark”. Similarly, the account of the Texas nearly being sunk by a U-Boat highlights the probable obsolescence of these ships as naval assets.
It is clear that the US Navy's Dreadnoughts never really fulfilled the role for which they were designed; their minimal involvement in the First World War and relative obsolescence during later operations pushed them into alternate roles such as training and ground bombardment. It is their role as a heavy gun platform and the tasks they undertook in this role that makes the really interesting part of this book. Whether providing artillery support to the D-Day landings or using their spotter planes to drop landmines on Vichy French armour in North Africa, these ships were eventually able to prove their worth.
Noppen's writing during the section on the Second World War is fast paced and enjoyable, almost as if he is warming to his subject; one can almost sense his sadness that the final fate of these ships was to act as gunnery targets or as subjects of nuclear weapons tests around Bikini Atoll. However, it is pleasing that the “Texas” survived and now lives on as a floating museum and the only surviving Dreadnought in the entire world.
US Navy Dreadnoughts makes a useful contribution for those who want to get a short overview of the early 20th century American fleet mixed with detailed technical specifications. In the congested field of naval literature, this book may not have the scope and depth of a detailed naval history but the illustrations and niche subject provide enough of a difference to other books to justify a place on the bookshelf.
Reviewed by Chris Stevenson
Follow Chris on Twitter @WW1TheGreatWar
Follow Chris on Twitter @WW1TheGreatWar