Waldemar Goralski Books

Covers the USS Stevens (DD-479), one of the 175 Fletcher-class destroyers, and considered one of the finest world War II warships of that type. číst celé

When, in the early 1930s, the Americans began modernizing their navy, they considered the replacement of old destroyers from the Great War as one of the most urgent tasks. However, the new projects, disappointed and dissatisfied the sailors. Some of these vessels were heavily overloaded (e.g. Sims class and early Benson ships), as a result some of the weaponry had to be removed. By proceeding with the design of subsequent series of destroyers, efforts were made to respect the Treaty restrictions (London, 1936). The originally formulated requirements envisaged a destroyer with a displacement of 1,600 tons and armament consisting of not less than 4.5-inch (127 mm) guns and 10 x 533mm torpedo tubes and a speed of 36 knots. There were six variants of vessels slightly different from earlier Benson and Sims classes. It soon became apparent that additional requirements could not be met within the limits of this displacement. This mainly concerned making space for a 28-mm quadruple automatic cannon and more powerful ASuW weapons.

The battleship “Nagato” was the first dreadnought equipped with a main artillery with a caliber exceeding 400 mm. It was armed with eight 406 mm (16 in) guns. The keel of “Nagato” was laid in 1917 in the naval shipyard in Kure. The ship was launched in 1919 and incorporated into service on November 15, 1920. The sister unit was “Mutsu”. Before the war, “Nagato” underwent many modifications and repairs increasing combat value of the ship. With the outbreak of World War II, “Nagato” became the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. The attack on Pearl Harbor was ordered from this battleship’s deck.

Clearly illustrated and effectively described; an excellent guide to the Japanese Battleship Kongo from WWII.

The German heavy cruiser PRINZ EUGEN was an enlarged version of the Admiral Hipper class ships.

Takao was the first of four Takao-class heavy cruisers designed to be an improvement over the previous My k -class design. The My k had proved to be unstable and required modifications, which were incorporated into the Takao design.The Takao-class ships were approved under the 1927 fiscal year budget as part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's strategy of the Decisive Battle, forming the backbone of a multipurpose long-range strike force. Takao was built by the Yokosuka Naval shipyards, and like her sister ships, was named after a mountain.Launched on 12 May 1930 at the Yokosuka Navy Yard and commissioned on 31 May 1932, she was the lead ship of her class, assigned to the Pacific from the start of the war. In early 1942, Takao operated in the Java Sea in operations culminating in the Battle of the Java Sea in early March, when one of Takao's floatplanes bombed the Dutch merchant ship Enggano. The next night, Takao and Atago overtook the old United States Navy destroyer Pillsbury and sank her with no survivors. Throughout the rest of the war she was involved in various Pacific campaigns against the Allies.About the This brand-new series focuses on the construction of famous ships - battleships, carriers, cruisers, and submarines. With groundbreaking 3D imagery, each corner, angle, and dimension of the ship is viewable. With various close-up views, and each 3D image based on actual technical scale drawings and photographs, this makes an exceptional reference tool. Information on the design, development and combat history of each vessel is also included, as well as numerous photographs and 1/350th scale drawings.

On 4 May 1940 the third Yamato-class battleship was laid down at the Navy Shipyard in Yokosuka. It was to be named Shinano, after a province on Honshu Island, in Nagato prefecture. That was also the name of the longest river in Japan (320 km). Admiral Yamamoto was born at its banks. Due to material supply difficulties, in December 1940 the construction was suspended. In 1942, after the Japanese defeat at Midway (four aircraft carriers were lost) it was decided to continue the construction of the ship as an aircraft carrier, in order to partially make up for losses suffered in this class of ships. The rebuilding scheme was designed by Vice Admirals Keji Fukuda and Seichi Izamur.

In-depth look at the Japanese heavy cruiser Aoba, veteran of the battles of Coral Sea, Savo Island and Cape Esperance - origins, construction, technical characteristics, armor, propulsion, armament, fire control, aircraft and operational history. Excellent visual guide to the ship from all aspects - overall and in detail - camouflage, modifications, weapons systems, boats, cranes, catapults even seaplanes. Features 100 scale drawings, color graphics, b/w photos and data tables. Also includes bonus double-sided, full color poster and 1/350 scale plans representing the ship's starboard and port profiles, bow and stern views plus overhead plan view and various scale detail scrap art. English text. 58 pages.