A good overview of battleships of the world. It does not break any new ground, but does provide a good survey of these types of ships.

This was a fascinating and eye opening look back over Battleships and their evolution over the years. It features the 52 most important ships from the 16th Century to the Gulf War and I was just astonished at the detail via the diagrams, photographs and extensive information included in this book.

It would have been staggering to see the ships of old sailing by, but to see them in this book brought them to life and allowed you to see the work that went into them, and to go behind each ship, such as HMS Victory, Santa Ana and the Bismarck, to name but 3, and look at the service, wars and design behind each and the history geek in me loved all the details. You cannot fail but be amazed by the impressive engineering over the years to bring these ships to life.

Beautiful and striking photographs as always in these Amber Books, and the author has done a wonderful job of giving these ships the spotlight that they deserve.

I am very pleased to report that I have just concluded my reading of "Battleships: The World's Greatest Battleships from the 16th Century to the Gulf War," written by David Ross and published by Amber Books Ltd.
I would be remiss if I failed to point out that I was graciously provided with a hard copy of the text for my perusal, and I am very grateful to the publisher for providing me with that copy. The text itself is what is often described, somewhat misleadingly, as a coffee table book. This is to say that it is oversized and loaded with high quality images printed on the kind of glossy paper often associated with this kind of project. While the title is intriguing and quite germane to the author's intent, the reader should not allow him or herself to be "put off" by it. What the book consists of is a collection of examples of historically significant battleships, lavishly illustrated, often in color and incorporating technical and operational details carefully explained in the text which informs the visual aids which go so far to bring these magnificent vessels to life. Candidly, this book entranced me from the moment I opened it. The illustrations are accompanied by useful captions, and many of the technical drawings are marked up to clarify the technology and give the reader guidance in understanding these ships and their historical significance. In most cases, the ships discussed and illustrated in the text are class leaders and therefore represent entire classes of vessels. The work lavished on the illustrations alone justifies the purchase of this book. Add to that the informative and well organized text really does go far to enhance the reader's understanding of the material at hand as well as the nation and timeframe that produced it. There is much to be taken from a text like this in that battleships represent the pinnacle of old style technology and lend themselves to comparison with their modern equivalents. Food for thought!

This was a very interesting read. I enjoyed learning about the history and differences in battleships through the ages. I loved all the action photographs and diagrams for each ship. It was fascinating learning about how each ship was developed and how they were used in each battle. I loved learning how the weaponry was developed and used. Especially the use of metal nets to stop torpedoes. Then how the torpedoes were developed to combat them. Each battleship has a flag showing the country it was built or used in along with great detailed information about its guns etc. Then a history of the battleship. I learnt so many fascinating facts about these ships as my knowledge of battleships is very small but I love them. I used to want to be in the navy. This book flowed so well and you could tell that this book was very well researched. The author was definitely knowledgeable in this area and everything was explained so well. I definitely recommend reading this book if want to learn more about battleships and how they were used to defend their country. I just couldn't believe the costs in making them or running them it blew me away. 

So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating such a brilliant history of battleships across the world. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/battleships-by-david-ross-amber-books-4-stars the retail review are either under my name or most likely ladyreading365. If you ever quote me please use ladyreading365 and not my last name thanks