Cruisers and Battle Cruisers: An Illustrated History of Their Impact

by Eric W. Osborne

Fast cruisers, the eyes of the fleet, were the standard-bearers of empire, the ultimate warships of gunboat diplomacy--no other vessel class was so well equipped to serve as both a working war machine and a projection of national might.

Cruisers and Battle Cruisers explores the pivotal importance of cruiser-class ships to naval warfare and, in a wider scope, world politics. In vivid but accessible detail, it describes the milestones...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1851093699
• ISBN13: 9781851093694
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: ABC-CLIO
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.2" x 10.4"

Customer Reviews

The Unheralded Infamy of Cruisers--Great Book

I bought this book to provide background information for a novel I'm writing. Being historic in part, I wanted real-life experiences of Cruisers in action to share with my readers. Such stories were hard to find until I stumbled over Eric Osborne's book. Great background. Fascinating historic information on the 'workhorse of the world's Navies'. Nothing on the updates now going on with some of the oldest cruisers, and he erroneously prophesied that the US Navy would begin retiring the Ticonderoga Class Cruisers, but everything else was spot on and quite readable even for the armchair enthusiast.

Good Overview

I very much enjoyed this book as a good overview of cruiser development. The stuff on the different types of cruisers, life aboard, and how they are used was great, and I really liked the detail that the author gave to ship's systems. If you're looking for a good overview of modern cruisers, this is the one.