Zerstörer - USA: Bücher - Geschichte und Modelle

USS Kidd (DD-661): From WWII and Korea to Museum Ship (Legends of Warfare)

USS Kidd (DD-661) is the only Fletcher-class destroyer preserved in WWII configuration. With 175 total ships launched, the Fletchers were the most numerous and most impactful class of destroyers in the US Navy during the Second World War.
DD-661 was named for RAdm. Isaac C. Kidd, who was killed onboard the Battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor. USS Kidd saw action in both the Atlantic and in the Pacific. In April 1945, the ship was seriously damaged by a Kamikaze strike. Kidd was recommissioned during the Korean War, and finally decommissioned for the final time in 1964.

The interior and exterior of the ship have been painstakingly restored and preserved in Baton Rouge by the Louisiana Naval War Memorial Commission. This work uses color photography to provide readers an illustrated tour of the ship, above and below deck.

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U.S. Destroyers - An illustrated design history (Revised Edition)

This is one the most comprehensive references available on the entire development of U.S. Destroyers, from their early torpedo boat forebears to the mass-produced Fletcher-class of World War II, through the Spruance and Perry classes of the Cold War, and to the workhorse Arleigh Burke-class of the contemporary Navy. Like the other books in Friedman's design-history series, U.S. Destroyers is based largely on formerly classified internal U.S. Navy records.

Friedman, a leading authority on U.S. warships, explains the political and technical rationales of warship construction and recounts the evolution of each design. Alan Raven and A.D. Baker III have created detailed scale outboard and plan views of each ship class and of major modifications to many classes. Numerous photographs complement the text.

The Norman Friedman Illustrated Design History series of U.S. warships books has been an industry standard for three decades and has sold thousands of copies worldwide. To mark and celebrate this achievement, the Naval Institute Press is proud to make these books available once more.
Digitally remastered for enhanced photo resolution and quality, corrected, and updated, this series will continue to serve - for scholars and enthusiasts alike - as the foundation for U.S. naval warship research and reference for years to come.

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US Navy Destroyer Escorts of World War II (Osprey)

The Destroyer Escort was the smallest ocean- going escort built for the United States Navy - a downsized destroyer with less speed, fewer guns, and fewer torpedoes than its big brother, the fleet destroyer. Destroyer escorts first went into production because the Royal Navy needed an escort warship which was larger than a corvette, but which could be built faster than a destroyer. Lacking the shipyards to build these types of ships in Britain, they ordered them in the US.

Once the US unexpectedly entered World War II, its navy suddenly also needed more escort warships, even warships less capable than destroyers, and the destroyer escort was reluctantly picked to fill the gap. Despite the Navy's initial reservations, these ships did yeoman service during World War II, fighting in both the Atlantic and Pacific, taking on both U-boat and Japanese submarines and serving as the early warning pickets against kamikazes later in the war.
They also participated in such dramatic actions as the Battle of Samar (where a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts fought Japanese battleships and cruisers to protect the escort carriers they were shielding) and the capture of the U-505 (the only major naval vessel captured at sea by the US Navy).

The destroyer escorts soldiered on after World War II in both the United States Navy and a large number of navies throughout the world, with several serving into the twenty-first century. This book tells the full story of these plucky ships, from their design and development to their service around the world, complete with stunning illustrations and contemporary photographs.

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US Flush-Deck Destroyers 1916-45 : Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson classes (Osprey)

Four pipes and flush decks - these ships were a distinctively American destroyer design. Devised immediately prior to and during the United States' involvement in World War I they dominated the US Navy's destroyer forces all the way through to World War II.
They were deployed on North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea convoys, and virtually everywhere in the Pacific, from Alaska to Australia.

Fifty were given to Great Britain in its hour of need in 1940, and many would serve in other navies, fighting under the Soviet, Canadian, Norwegian, and even the Imperial Japanese flags.
They also served in a variety of roles becoming seaplane tenders, high-speed transports, minesweepers and minelayers. One was even used as a self-propelled mine during Operation Chariot, destroying the dry dock at St. Nazaire.

Fully illustrated throughout with commissioned artwork and contemporary photographs, this volume reveals the operational history of these US Navy ships that fought with distinction in both World Wars.

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USN Fleet Destroyer vs IJN Fleet Submarine : The Pacific 1941-42 (Osprey)

Im Vorfeld des Pazifikkrieges gingen japanische Marinestrategen davon aus, dass es zu einer entscheidenden Flottenschlacht gegen die US-Marine kommen würde. Da die Kaiserlich Japanische Marine der US-Marine zahlenmäßig unterlegen war, plante sie, den Gegner vor der großen Schlacht mit ihren großen, hochseetauglichen U-Booten schrittweise zu schwächen.
Um dies zu erreichen, wurde die U-Boot-Flotte der Kaiserlichen Japanischen Marine damit beauftragt, die Kampfflotte der US-Marine auch im Hafen ausgiebig aufzuklären und sie anschließend zu verfolgen und anzugreifen.

Die US-Marine war sich ihrerseits der potenziellen Bedrohung durch japanische U-Boote vollauf bewusst, und die Besatzungen der Zerstörer wurden mit modernen U-Boot-Abwehrwaffen und -taktiken ausgebildet und ausgerüstet, um die Kampfflotte zu schützen.

Diese reich bebilderte Studie stellt die Annahme in Frage, dass japanische U-Boote im Pazifikkrieg ineffektiv waren, und beschreibt ihre Begegnungen mit der US-Marine sowie die Erfolge und Misserfolge amerikanischer Zerstörer beim Schutz ihrer Großkampfschiffe.

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USN Destroyer vs IJN Destroyer - The Pacific, 1943 (Osprey)

Dieses Buch beschreibt die erbitterten nächtlichen Seeschlachten zwischen der US-Marine und der Kaiserlich Japanischen Marine Ende 1943, als die Alliierten langsam von den Salomonen aus in Richtung des japanischen Marinestützpunkts Rabaul vorrückten. In dieser Zeit fanden mehrere heftige Gefechte statt, an denen die modernsten Zerstörer beider Marinen beteiligt waren.

Die Kaiserliche Marine besaß im Großteil des Jahres 1942 eine deutliche Überlegenheit, und ein Schlüsselfaktor für diese Erfolge war ihre Zerstörerflotte, die überlegene Ausbildung und Taktik mit den leistungsfähigsten Torpedos der Welt verband. Selbst 1943 noch wurden gemischte alliierte Verbände aus leichten Kreuzern und Zerstörern von japanischen Zerstörern nur unzureichend bezwungen.

Nach diesen Schlachten beschlossen die Amerikaner, die japanischen Zerstörer nicht mehr mit Kreuzern zu verfolgen, sodass die restlichen Schlachten des Jahres 1943 (mit einer Ausnahme) klassische Zerstörerduelle waren.
Die Amerikaner profitierten weiterhin von dem technischen Vorteil des Radars und setzten nun neue, aggressivere Taktiken ein. Das Endergebnis war die Niederlage der bestens ausgebildeten Zerstörerflotte der Kaiserlichen Marine und der Beweis, dass die Japaner den Vormarsch der Alliierten nicht aufhalten konnten.

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US Destroyers 1934-45 - Pre-war Classes (Osprey)

Since the beginning of the 20th century, destroyers have been all-purpose ships, indispensable in roles large and small - from delivering the mail at sea to screening other vessels and, where larger ships were not present, forming the front line in battle.

This title details the 169 ships of ten US Navy classes introduced in the 1930s: early 1,500-tonners and 1,850-ton destroyer leaders designed to conform to the 1930 London Naval Treaty, plus the successor 1,570-ton Sims class and 1,620- and 1,630-ton Benson and Gleaves classes.
In wartime, most 1,500-tonners and leaders initially saw front line duty in the Pacific but were relegated to secondary assignments as newer vessels arrived; while the later 1,620- and 1,630-tonners became the standard destroyers of the Atlantic War.
This volume reveals the fascinating design story behind these pioneering classes - from the constraints of peacetime treaties to advances in propulsion engineering, and wartime modifications. With an operational overview of their service and tables listing all ships by class, builder, and initial squadron, this is the definitive guide to the pre-war US destroyer classes.

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US Destroyers 1942-45 - Wartime Classes (Osprey)

Few if any 20th century warships were more justly acclaimed than the destroyers of the U.S. Navy's Fletcher class. Admired as they were for their advanced and rakish design, it was their record as workhorses of the Pacific War that placed them among the most battle-tested and successful fighting ships of all time.

This title describes the Fletchers and their Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class derivatives, their machinery, armament, and construction, with a listing of all 343 ships by hull number and builder. It features an operational history of the 287 ships commissioned during World War II, which traces the evolution of night surface action tactics in the Solomon Islands and the parallel development of the Combat Information Center; the drive across the Pacific and liberation of the Philippines with tables showing the rapid introduction of new squadrons; and the radar pickets' climactic stand against kamikaze aircraft at Okinawa.
With summaries of losses and decorations and specially commissioned artwork, this is a definitive book on the wartime US destroyer classes.

Contents: Introduction - Design and development - Service modifications and conversions - Operational histories - Conclusion.

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