The World Encyclopedia of Battleships - Peter Hore

[Cheesecake-Class Cruiser]

I saw a post on the Steel Navy bulletin board about a bargain battleship book so I decided to purchase a copy.

'The World Encyclopaedia of Battleships' by Peter Hore
�4.99
Available at "The Works" bookstores, I bought mine today at Chatham.


This hardback book has 256 pages and 500+ photos. Great photo of HMS London (pre-dreadnought) in camo and the photos turn out very nicely as the paper is good quality glossy, similar quality to Robert Ballard's "Discovery of.." series.
Obviously it's not as detailed as the R.A. Burt or Raven books but it is printed on nicer paper.
Each class of battleship from various nations from Gloire through to the end of WW2 has at least one photo, technical specifications and some history. There is also a history of battleships before the main listings, featuring famous battleship actions, profiles of noteworthy people etc.

I bought Jane's Fighting Ships of WW1 a few weeks ago and I much prefer this book, the photographs are many times better than the sketchy diagrams in the former.

[USS California BB44]

I too have the book. It is quite nice with some good photos that I had not seen before.