THE WORLD'S GREAT BATTLESHIPS: FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT. by Jackson, Robert - 2000

London: Brown, 2000. 144 pp, 4to (11 1/2" H). Profusely illustrated with colour and b&w photographs, reproductions, profiles, cutaways. "Beginning with the age of sail and the Battle of Trafalgar, the book describes the development of the first primitive ironclads with traversing turrets, the battles of the American Civil War, and the heyday of the battleship in the decades before the outbreak of World War I. (It) shows how new technologies helped shape naval tactics and the advances in ship design during the nineteenth century, culminating in two new classes of ship, the dreadnought and the battlecruiser, that saw much action at the Battle of Jutland and the other naval encounters of World War I, and which are also discussed in depth here. By World War II the battleship, threatened by the submarine and difficult to protect from either underwater or aerial attack, had been usurped by the aircraft carrier from its position as prime naval weapon - as was dramatically demonstrated at Pearl Harbor. They remained potent threats, however, and (this book) covers the notable battles of the war, including the exploits of the Graf Spee, Bismarck and Tirpitz in the Atlantic and North Sea, and the Yamato in the Pacific. Finally the gradual postwar decommissioning of the last true battleships is described, along with the last swansongs of the American 'Iowa' class in the Vietnam and Gulf Wars before their final retirement." Previous owner's place, date and signature on free front endpaper; very small bump at bottom corner of boards, small bump at bottom edge of front board. Dust jacket has light edge wear/wrinkling - mainly at top/bottom of spine and flap-folds, light rubbing - mainly on rear panel, small indent mark on rear panel.. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good.