U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History

Rating:
Summary: A good book on a seldom thought of subject
Review: A pretty good book. Battleships, submarines, and aircraft carriers usually take the limelight, but amphibious warfare becomes even more important in this chaotic world of multiple hot spots. I'd always wondered what the difference between a transport and an attack transport was. If you ever wondered why there are different types of ships in an Amphibious Ready Group, this is the book to read. Looks like it even covers amphibious tractors (LVT, LVTP) a bit. Not much on the latest LPD-17, but then LPD-17 is not in operational service yet.

A bit confusing in Chapter 2 as the author refers to attack cargo ships as "transports" when they aren't. Transports are primarily for people, while cargo ships are primarily for equipment/supplies. A few pages were double printed (looking like I'm not wearing my glasses) but they are in the back amongst the Notes and Bibliography. The book could have used more editing as there are several places where the author mentions something in one paragraph, then again two paragraphs later. Some picture captions are not correct. Still, these are small nit-picks compared to the light that this book sheds.