Featured Book
"Warship Pictorial #25: IJN Yamato Class Battleships"
by Steve Wiper
Softcover, 64 pages
Published by Classic Warship Publishing
ISBN:
0-9745687-4-0
For a few years now, those of us living outside of Japan have made do with about
the best English language reference for the Battleship Yamato in the form of
Janusz Skulski's "Anatomy of the Ship: The Battleship Yamato". Many of us have
cast an envious eye on the more colorful and verbose Japanese publications that
seem to take it a bit further, but the language barrier has kept non-Japanese
speakers from gaining more insightful information from these sources, forcing
many to simply gaze at the pictures, diagrams & illustrations and come to
our own conclusions on their meaning. Classic Warships Publishing is one of the
few Western publishers that attempts to bridge that gap between English and
Japanese materials by offering its readers as much previously unknown
information as possible. (Histories and TROMS courtesy of Bob Hackett and
Sander Kingsepp). Steve Wiper has proven with his prior "Warship
Pictorial" releases on the "IJN Kongo Class Battleships" and the "IJN Myoko
Class Heavy Cruisers" that there is always new stuff is out there to be found if
one looks in the right places. In the latest "IJN Yamato Class Battleships"
Steve proves his resourcefulness once again. Sure, you will find a few of the
old favorite photos of the Yamato that we are all familiar with, but I was
amazed to find that Steve had gone the extra mile to find previously unknown (at
least to me) photographs of the Yamato and Musashi either at anchor or getting
the snot bombed out of them. Of particular interest are of Musashi's fitting out
and Yamato's final sortie; very interesting visuals….. The great photos are
supplemented by one very large two-page color profile illustration of the Yamato
as she appeared shortly after being commissioned. One of my favorite photos is
actually the back cover of the soft-bound book which is a colorized photo of
Yamato as she is being fitted out at Kure in 1941. There is even a small section
in the book dedicated to the sister ship Shinano, which was converted to an
Aircraft Carrier mid-way through construction. This book does not delve into the
specifics and minutiae of armor layout, thickness, material etc., as that is
well covered in other publications (Skulski, et al.) All in all, this is a must
for all the Yamatophiles out there who think they have seen all there is to see
with regards to these awesome Warships. In my opinion, it is an excellent
supplemental to have along with some of the more popular Yamato publications.
Kudos to Classic Warships Publishing once again for its hard work.
You can order this book from the following sources: Pacific Front Hobbies, White Ensign
Models, The Floating
Drydock, Christian Schmidt
Bookstore , Colpar Hobbies and all
books are sold through the dealers listed above and at your local hobby shop /
Military Book Store. (QB)
