When the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyed Russia's battle fleet during the Russo-Japanese War, it marked the emergence of Japan as one of the world's major naval powers. Japan's navy had been built up over just two decades, with the IJN acquiring a fleet of modern foreign-built warships. Coupled with the IJN's leadership and high levels of training, this proved enough to destroy the fleet of one of the world's historic naval powers.

This book explains in concise detail the IJN's fleet of 1904-05, from its battleships and armored cruisers to the torpedo boats that launched "the first...

In the build-up to World War II both the United States and Japan believed their battleships would play a central role in battle, but after the Pacific War began in December 1941, the role of the battleship proved to be much more limited than either side expected. There would be only two battleship vs battleship actions in the Pacific in World War II, both of which are assessed in this engaging study. At Guadalcanal in 1942, Kirishima faced two modern US battleships, USS Washington and USS South Dakota. In the Surigao Strait in 1944, two World War I-era Japanese...

While not as famous as their larger and faster sister ships such as the Essex- and Yorktown-class carriers, escort carriers made an enormous contribution towards Allied victory both in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Rather than relying on size or speed, it was their sheer numbers that made them so effective. Indeed, the Casablanca-class escort carrier was the most-produced aircraft carrier in history. In partnership with the Royal Navy, they provided the backbone of Allied antisubmarine efforts in the Atlantic, finally and irrevocably turning the tide of the war against the U-boats in...