Re: Dutch Warships of World War II book April 10 2011, 10:39 AM
Hi Kevin,
I happen to have the Dutch-language edition of the book. I was really looking forward to it when it came out, but now that I have it, it's only gathering dust.
Each ship class has a short overview of the most important characteristics (displacement, propulsion, armament), but not very detailed and the most important events in their careers. The careers only covers the war years, generally, there is no mention of what happened to the ships postwar. You won't find any new information if you already own the old-school books by Von Münching, Mark (allright, not very good example) or Vermeulen. The author's aim isn't to set right well-known mistakes made in those books or fill in the blanks left by them.
Each ship class has high-quality drawings, and the ones showing ships in wartime camouflage especially look good. The book really is all about the drawings (as the author states in his introduction), but unfortunately, the drawings themselves are generally very small.
The text is supported by black and white photographs, but I rarely spot a photo that I haven't seen before. The book itself is hard-cover with glossy pages, very good overall quality.
I wouldn't have spent EUR 32,50 and P&P if I had seen it up front. I find it especially depressing looking at this book, because I now know that the book by Asia Maior on the Admiralen-class destroyers for example hasn't made it into the final stages.
Jan
tries the naval wargame in the Axis & Allies series.
