M. J. Whitley

Mr Whitley is one of my favourite writers in the world of naval architecture. This is a worthy addition to his body of work, where he adds to his book on the Battleships and Cruisers of WWI. There is an adequate set of deck plan and the ship photos are well chosen. This is not a book for fans of the mystique of German super ships. It seems that the light cruiser designs had been overloaded with armament, and suffered from engineering problems and very large turning circles. The protection show more was not well designed and the radius of operations was quite low. The Heavy cruisers were better protected but had the other faults of the Lights. So, the ships, which were good looking had little else to recommend them. show less

this book is pretty much what one wants when buying handbooks of warships of WWII or earlier. There are a good number of photographs and plenty of deck plans. It is well written for the genre and I'd like to have one for my home. Anything by the author is worth the investment.

A very useful handbook indeed. Mr. Whitley has done his usual competent job, on designs, and modifications. deck plans, power plants, and photos. The gunnery information is spotty, sometimes very detailed, and at others, like USN and RN not good at all. Still, the book remains indespensible for the well informed!

A flatly written history of the WWII German destroyer classes. It does point out that the effect of having a small budget for design, and a short lead time for construction led to these vessels being too complicated for good maintenance under war-time conditions. These are attractive models to own, and popular with naval war-gamers.