Review by Ian Wilkins

This book is an excellent resource for model builders or those interested in cruiser development up to 1945. The book covers all the world's navies and cruisers that took part in the Second World War (and some that did not). 1/1200 line drawings are given for every class of vessels along with design history, specifications, service records for every ship, and appearance changes for every ship. All this is accompanied by a good selection of very clear photographs, the large majority of which will be useful to model builders.

The discussions on the design processes for each class are interesting and allow the reader to gain some insight into why certain vessels were the way they were. Naturally, the scope of the book does not allow a really in depth discussion of these matters, nevertheless, a creditable attempt is made, given the limited space available. In covering all the world's navies comparisons between vessels are easy to make with the requisite information being at one's fingertips.

The drawings given are probably only adequate for making models from and to be fair this was never the intent on the part of the publishers. They can be used for model making, however, and should allow a fair representation of a type to be constructed.

All in all, a good book that I'm glad I bought.