The Imperial Japanese Navy

Hardbound 16x24 cm, 424 pages. This is a reprint of the original edition of about 1905--the eve of the Russo-Japanese war. Fred Jane, who had earlier created the annual JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS, among other titles, based his study on extensive primary source material as well as his own expertise on naval craft. The amazing thing is that Japan had grown to the status described here in but a handful of decades--after centuries of isolation and lack of industrialization. Chapters discuss different classes of ship, with numerous photos and profile diagrams by the author. Jane did a companion book on the Russian Navy (two editions) and a study of the British Royal Navy a few years later. The reprints are top-quality, well reproduced on coated paper stock. They offer a valuable and informed contemporary review of world-class navies in the midst of the global "navalism" arms race. 9780851772967 Conway