Jane's Warships Recognition Guide 3e

Rating:
Summary: Not Without Its Flaws
Review: First, I wish they hadn't gone to the portrait format. The landscape format used for the previous edition allowed for larger photographs and room for line drawings (small though they were) which, sad to say, have been done away with in this edition.

Second, the book is now organized by type of ship rather than by country of origin as had been done in the previous edition and as is done in the authoritative "Jane's Fighting Ships." We often get ships from other countries here in San Diego and it's not always easy to tell if you're looking at, for example, a frigate or a destroyer, but you sure can tell what country it's from by the flag it's flying. In this way, the previous edition was much easier to use.

Third, I can't believe the proofreaders let another photographic error slip by in this edition. In this case, it's on page 360 which describes the Oscar II class Russian submarine (the same type as the "Kursk" which made headlines in 2000 when it sank). The photograph used is that of the much larger "Typhoon" class with its distinctive sail and the missile tube hatches forward of it. (But at least they got the photo of an "Austin" class LPD right this time.)

One feature I would personally like to see added to this guide would be the launch dates of the first ship of each class since I do find myself getting involved in numerous debates with fellow "warship geeks" as to the comparative ages of ships.

As a warship spotter's guide it still succeeds, but I still expected better (much better) from Jane's.