Squadron/Signal WWII In Action Books?

[SebastianP]

I went looking for books on USN WWII surface combatants at the local specialist bookstore, and what he had on hand for me were the Squadron/Signal "In Action" series. I've heard that the quality of these is fairly uneven, so I thought I'd check to see if the particular ones that cover my subjects are any good before I buy them...

The ones I've been looking at are:

USN Heavy Cruisers Part 2
USN Light Cruisers
USN Destroyers Parts 2-4
USN Fletcher-class Destroyers

Are these worth buying? They're listed roughly in the order I'm interested in them, Part 4 of "Destroyers" being of higher interest than parts 2 and 3.

Cheers,

SP

[Guest]

The cruiser books are definitely worth getting. If you find them for less than 10 then that's a bargain. Skip the destroyer book, you can find that info and better photos on the web.

[Rick E Davis]

About the best thing about the Squadron books may be the photos. Take what you read with a grain of salt. The FLETCHER book has some good photos, but for some reason the Destroyer Part x books don't even have good quality photos and messed up the classes. If you can find them, the Classic Warship books are better if they cover the subjects you are interested in.

[SebastianP]

Whoa, that was a neat bit of necromancy.... Thanks for the replies, you're a tad late though. I bought the cruiser books a few days after that post, decided that the best part of them was actually the line drawings. The photos were available elsewhere, but line art is hard to come by online in decent resolutions.

Cheers

[James Hood]

In this opinion, the Squadron In Actions are okay primers and general info books.

They are the McDonald's fast food of reference books; "filling," at least in the short term, inexpensive, fairly consistent in quality and you know exactly what you are getting.

[BB61]

As has been stated, I think the Squadron books are pretty good value for money. I have many of these books, mostly aircraft, but also a lot on ships and armor. I like them all.

[BB61]

In fact, I just recently received the Destroyer Escorts book, and I think it's pretty cool.

[BB61]

I have all four volumes of the USN Destroyers IA, and I like them all.

[Rick E Davis]

The Squadron Books may have a few useful photos, but their "facts" and plans need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Go to this page on this website and go to the "Books" link and read the reviews for Squadron's Destroyers Pt. 2 and Pt. 3.

... http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/reviews.html ...

Pt 2 comments:

My biggest gripe with this book is this plan and elevation labeled as the USS Cushing. This is not correct for that ship, and it calls into question other views in the book. The Cushing had two 20 mm gun in front of the bridge not three as shown. Also there were no twin 40 mm guns installed as is shown on the plans. There should be 20 mm guns in place of those and there was another 20 mm mount where the gun director is shown. Interestingly the specifications listed list the armament of the Cushing list five 5"-38 cal guns instead of the four shown. Perhaps this is a simple mistake, but with good plans of the Cushing available, and photo's on both Navsource.org and the Naval Historical Center site this should never have made it into print.


Pt 3 comments:

My favorite feature is the centerfold with the color drawings of the destroyers in plan and elevation. Don Greer has done a nice job in showing the ships in their camouflage colors. However I notice the the USS Laffey is drawn wrong. The Laffey never carried the twin 40 mm guns shown in the drawing. She carried one single 20 mm gun and one quad 1.1 gun on her aft superstructure right up to her loss on November 13th 1942. The Buchanan is also drawn incorrectly. The illustration shows her with exposed funnel trunking under her 36" searchlight platform. She also did not have the squared off front on the structure under the bridge. The bridge wings also lack the notches where the 24" searchlights are mounted. This is disappointing that such obvious errors have crept into this book. An otherwise great rendering is ruined by using the wrong views.
The photo's give a general idea of what each class was like and how they were modified throughout the war.

A plan and elevation is provided for the Benson, but does not appear to match her at any time during her career. The elevation drawing appears to be copied from the AD Baker III's drawing of the McClanahan that appears in US Destroyers An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. The plan view looks OK for the above mentioned McClanahan, but the aft twin 40 mm guns are drawn undersize and appear smaller than the single 20 mm guns.

I have always been a big fan of these books and have most of them. But with all the errors in this book I can not recommend it for a good reference. It is poorly researched and misleading. With a retail price of $9.95 it is a nice collection of photo's but the plans and class identification are a big disappointment. Available from your local hobby shop or direct from Squadron Mail order.



Besides these comments, these two books mix up which units were in which class. They are cheap books, but there are better references out there. Going to Navsource is a better way.

[BB61]

I'm strongly considering ordering this book soon. It;s part of a series that I really enjoy, and not too expensive either.

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=SS5606