Cruisers: An Illustrated History 1880-1980

Hardcover 22x30 cm, 192 pages. As described in the title, the book describes the cruiser designs of the world’s navies in the period 1880 – 1980. Chapter 1 provides a general description of the cruiser design concept in the late 19th / early 20th centuries. Chapter 5 discusses the effects of the Washington Treaty of 1921 on cruiser designs. Chapter 6 describes the various international cruiser designs of the 1930s. Chapters 7 and 8 describe combat actions in World War II and wartime designs, most of which were not completed during the war. Chapter 9 describes post -war modernizations. Finally, Chapter 10 describes the new missile-armed designs of the 1950s and 1960s. The book does a reasonably good job of combining the evolution of general design concepts and features, detailed design descriptions, and combat actions. The text is accompanied by many black and white and even color period photos.9780853681052