Slagschepen - USA: boeken - historie en inzet (2/2)

From 1895 to 1944 the US Navy commissioned some 60 steel-clad battleships; the first being Indiana (BB-1) and the last USS Missouri (BB-63). After an impressive showing in the Spanish-American War and the 'Great White Fleet's' circumnavigation of the world, US battleships played only a minor role in the First World War.

They came into their own in WW2 primarily bombarding enemy held coastal regions and supporting Allied operations in Europe and the Pacific.
Their firepower was awesome and the later examples had nine 16-inch and up to twenty 5-inch guns plus copious anti-aircraft defences.
On the few occasions these mighty ships took on Japanese counterparts, they performed brilliantly but protection of the increasingly important aircraft carriers was more decisive. Armour plate nearly a foot and a half thick saved many from fatal attack from suicidal kamikaze pilots.

Post WW2 the battleships were relegated to war reserve status but later their value projecting American military power worldwide and their conversion to platforms for cruise missile saw their re-birth. The last US battleship retired in 1992 having served in the Korean and Vietnam War, the Middle East and finally Desert Storm.

This fine book gives the expert and layman a privileged overview of one of the greatest weapon systems in military history.

In the build-up to World War II both the United States and Japan believed their battleships would play a central role in battle, but after the Pacific War began in December 1941, the role of the battleship proved to be much more limited than either side expected.

There would be only two battleship vs battleship actions in the Pacific in World War II, both of which are assessed in this engaging study. At Guadalcanal in 1942, Kirishima faced two modern US battleships, USS Washington and USS South Dakota.
In the Surigao Strait in 1944, two World War I-era Japanese battleships, Yamashiro and Fuso, faced six American battleships supported by four heavy cruisers in history's last-ever clash between battleships.

Employing full-colour artwork, carefully selected archive photographs, and expert analysis, former US Navy Commander Mark E. Stille examines the two head-to-head clashes between the battleships deployed by the United States and Japan in the struggle for control of the Pacific during World War II.