The Ship Model Forum

by **EJFoeth** » Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:35 am

Parkes' book is more akin to the Jane's volumes (i.e., not overly useful). You'll get far more information from Burt's trilogy (reprint of the last volume announced).

by **MichelB** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:27 am

Unfortunatly I do not have Burt's tomes, so I can't compare. The drawings in Parkes are sometimes considered to crude, only slightly above contemporary Jane's.

by **Joe Meredith** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:39 am

I was going to start a post about Oscar Parkes' British Battleship book, but as its mentioned here, I just thought I'd add to it. How does it compare to the volumes by Ray Burt? I realise it covers a greater period of time. There was one on ebay recently which only went for �29 which seems a real bargain!

by **MichelB** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 11:10 am

This is a really, really old thread you unearthed! 2005? Man, that's ancient history! Didn't even knew they were still around.

But yes, I did get Oscar Parkes' book!

by **wyomingkid** » Fri May 24, 2013 6:21 pm

Massie lists Florida and Wyoming with 12 main guns. Should be Wyoming and Arkansas (in Castles of Steel). Am rereading the chapters on Jacky Fisher in Dreadnought now. The suggestion of Barbara Tuchman's book seems a good one, and I'd add her Guns of August as well. WW I was the bee's knees, and things have been going downhill ever since. If you become a real enthusiast of this era, suggest you borrow Oscar Parkes British Battleships. It is my favorite reference, and if the was an equivalent for each of the other major (and there may be) why I'd start to think I actually knew something about modern naval design. Used Parkes books command a high price but the text is so rich you might decide to break the piggy bank.

by **Dan K** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 12:36 pm

I read Castles of Steel last year. As someone who was reasonably ignorant of the details behind Jutland, etc., I found it fascinating, illuminating and quite informative. While there may be better books, it painted the clearest picture in my mind of how these actions developed. It gave me a new found interest in WWI naval actions, personalities and the ships themselves

by **JWintjes** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 6:10 am

Dreadnought is also quite good at covering pre-WW1 diplomacy. Gives you an overall sound, if somewhat conservative idea of what happened in the last decade of the so-called long century.

Jorit

by **Werner** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:44 pm

There's an awful lot of material in common. Dreadnought came first, so that probably makes sense to read first.

An alternate to reading both would be Barbara Tuchman's Proud Tower.

W

by **Devin** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:41 pm

Should I read "Dreadnought" first? A friend gave me "Castles" as a gift a few months back, but I don't know if I'd be missing anything by starting with it. I know zip about WWI, only that I want a 1/350th scale model of the Furious in her sorta-aircraft carrier fit someday.

-Devin

by **ChrisC** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 9:30 pm

I'm reading it now and it's pretty entertaining. There are a few technical errors here and there (Kongo didn't have 10 main guns, for example) but other then that it's a good read. You might also want to pick up it's predecessor, "Dreadnought" (I think), in which Massey charts the battleship race in the years leading up to World War I.

by **Werner** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:46 pm

Certainly covers the "personalities" of the Great War (at least from a British standpoint).

As for the battle data, it seems very digested and ready for the uninitiated. There are better sources if you want to read what happened at Jutland or wherever.

W

by **MichelB** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:00 pm

Hey guys, i just finished Massie's Castles of Steel and found it an extremely well-written and lively book (and made me vow only to build WWI ships (for a short while)).
What did you all think of it?
Considering that I haven't read any other detailed accounts of the actions, where do you think Massie hits and/or misses the points?

The Ship Model Forum

Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel

Post a reply

Expand view Topic review: Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel

Re: Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel

Re: Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel

Re: Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel

Re: Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel

Re: Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel

Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel