by JWintjes » Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:32 pm
My copy arrived today, and generally I have to agree with Foeth's criticism, although I do think it's a useful addition to my library.
What did really struck me as odd was that apart from "Lutzow", other German terms are spelled wrong: "Mowe" instead of "M�we", "Rosselsprung" instead of "R�sselsprung", "Waltzertraum" instead of "Walzertraum", "Konigsberg" instead of "K�nigsberg" were some I noted. Strangely, "Bl�cher" is spelt correctly with Umlaut. Also, Deutschland/L�tzow is always called "Panzerschiffe" (Plural) whereas it should be "Panzerschiff". This is the kind of confusion one regularly finds in modelling magazines, but to see it appear in a book is a little bit odd.
Also, finding "first Chancellor Hitler" present when Deutschland was launched, when Hitler only became Reichskanzler in 1933 as well as Deutschland being called the "first high seas unit" of Weimar navy is slightly unsettling with regard to the depth of research behind the book.
In all, as I said I still find the book has its uses, as the colour profiles are very attractive. If this is meant to be the beginning of a new series of booklets on major Kriegsmarine units, however, concentrating more on them and including more technical information may be a good idea. Particularly the design history of the ships is something that would probably deserve more attention in the anglophone world than it currently gets, and there is a lot of material out there, even in published form.
Jorit
My copy arrived today, and generally I have to agree with Foeth's criticism, although I do think it's a useful addition to my library.
What did really struck me as odd was that apart from "Lutzow", other German terms are spelled wrong: "Mowe" instead of "M�we", "Rosselsprung" instead of "R�sselsprung", "Waltzertraum" instead of "Walzertraum", "Konigsberg" instead of "K�nigsberg" were some I noted. Strangely, "Bl�cher" is spelt correctly with [i]Umlaut[/i]. Also, Deutschland/L�tzow is always called "Panzerschiffe" (Plural) whereas it should be "Panzerschiff". This is the kind of confusion one regularly finds in modelling magazines, but to see it appear in a book is a little bit odd.
Also, finding "first Chancellor Hitler" present when Deutschland was launched, when Hitler only became Reichskanzler in 1933 as well as Deutschland being called the "first high seas unit" of Weimar navy is slightly unsettling with regard to the depth of research behind the book.
In all, as I said I still find the book has its uses, as the colour profiles are very attractive. If this is meant to be the beginning of a new series of booklets on major Kriegsmarine units, however, concentrating more on them and including more technical information may be a good idea. Particularly the design history of the ships is something that would probably deserve more attention in the anglophone world than it currently gets, and there is a lot of material out there, even in published form.
Jorit