Warships of the World (Repost)

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have seen the transformation of the world's navies from the wooden walled ships of the line of Nelson's day to the awesome power of the missile-armed destroyers and gigantic nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the modern US Navy. Since World War II, many countries have been reluctant to maintain large navies and governmental financial stringency has led to the drastic reduction of many fleets. However, the Falkland Islands crisis has brought home the importance of sea power more forcefully than any political speech making could. Warships of the World describes the size, armaments and crews of the six main types of warships which have sailed with the navies of the twentieth century. It describes the actions in which they fought from Tsushima (Russo-Japanese War 1905) right up to the present. Battleships formed the foundation of twentieth century naval power. The massive armor and guns of HMS Dreadnought made all other warships obsolete at the turn of the century and established a trend in naval thinking which was to last until World War II. Then the long range offensive power of the Aircraft Carrier showed the Battleships' vulnerability to air attack - both at Pearl Harbor and when the US Navy went on the offensive in the Pacific. Carriers are still with us after rudimentary biplane beginnings in World War I. Now the US Navy's nuclear-powered ships are the most powerful the world has ever seen, costing many billions of dollars.