 Yellow Admiral  | 08 Aug 2016 11:52 a.m. PST |
I just found French Battleships 1876-1946 by Robert A. Burt. It's out of print and thus quite expensive, so I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone owns a copy and thinks it's a worthwhile book. There's a little bit of info on French designs of this period in the books by David K. Brown, Norman Friedman, Jane's and Conway's, but it's frustratingly brief and sometimes insultingly dismissive. The French had a lot of very innovative designs, unusual theories, and odd-looking results in the period from Gloire to Courbet, but they get very little coverage in English, despite the fact that the French navy was considered one of the most dangerous potential opponents of the Royal Navy until the Entente Cordiale, and French designs featured prominently in the RJW. - Ix |
| NCC1717 | 08 Aug 2016 1:42 p.m. PST |
Worthwhile yes. $87 USD worthwhile, probably not. Fortunately I got it when it was cheaper. Most of the technical data is on Wiki, e.g.: link link |
| Yellow Admiral | 08 Aug 2016 5:03 p.m. PST |
Is it just photos, or does it contain any good background text? - Ix |
| Wackmole9 | 09 Aug 2016 6:04 a.m. PST |
HI
Its not worth that price. A better choice would be
Battleships and Battle Cruisers, 1905-1970: Historical Development of the Capital Ship Hardcover – 1974
by Breyer Siegfried (Author) $17 USD on amazon or Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905 Hardcover – December, 1979 by Roger Chesneau (Editor) on amazon for $65 USD |
| Yellow Admiral | 09 Aug 2016 6:53 a.m. PST |
I already have both of those, and they're excellent resources, though Breyer's book doesn't cover pre-dreadnoughts or ironclads. I would love a Breyer-like treatment of the ironclad and pre-dreadnought period. For that matter, I'd buy a David K. Brown treatment of almost any period navy. Too bad he's never become obsessed with the French navy… :-) - Ix |
| Captain Gideon | 09 Aug 2016 7:26 a.m. PST |
You know it's somewhat funny I used to own that book along with German Battleships 1897-1945 and Japanese Battleships 1897-1945 both by R.A. Burt but for whatever reason I got rid of it. This was before I got into this period so I didn't think much of it now the strange thing is that I kept the German and Japanese ones for other reasons. |
| Camcleod | 09 Aug 2016 9:04 a.m. PST |
Can be bought for less thru ABEBOOKS: link |
| ptdockyard | 09 Aug 2016 11:01 a.m. PST |
Note it is only 48pgs. I have the Fotofax on the Soviet Navy in WW2 and the information is incorrect in some cases. Dave |
| Yellow Admiral | 10 Aug 2016 4:52 p.m. PST |
I was unable to find the page length, so that's very helpful information. At 48 pages it's not work much of anything to me. There's no way it will add much to my library in such a short length. Thanks for posting that. - Ix |
| Cloudy | 11 Aug 2016 3:05 p.m. PST |
I have it and it is somewhat the size of an Osprey psperback. As was said, the information included can be found in various forms on the net. Not really worth more than an Osprey book and definitely not worth the ridiculous pricess asked… |
| Charlie 12 | 11 Aug 2016 3:30 p.m. PST |
Per a blurb on Abebooks the page count is 48 with 80 photos and some unknown number of plans plus some technical data (sounds like a "picture book" type). Even with Burt as the author, the level of detail can't be very deep. And Cloudy has it right; it certainly isn't worth the outrageous price being asked. |
