Comments: Softcover, 80 pages, 47 black-and-white and 3 color photos, 10 color plates
ISBN: 978-1-4728-1719-8
Price: $20
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
From the publisher: In the build-up to World War II, both the United States and Japan believed their battleships would play a central role in battle. But after the war began in December 1941, the role of the battleship proved to be much more limited than either side expected. There would be only two battleship vs. battleship actions in the Pacific in WWII, both of which are assessed in this study. At Guadalcanal in 1942, Kirishima faced two modern U.S. battleships, USS Washington and USS South Dakota. In the Surigao Strait in 1944, two World War I-era Japanese battleships, Yamashiro and Fuso, faced six American battleships supported by four heavy cruisers in history’s last-ever clash between battleships.
A former U.S. Navy commander, Stille examines those two head-to-head clashes in the struggle for control of the Pacific during WWII.
FSM says: Interesting comparisons to familiarize yourself with the various classes of ships.