This respected annual naval review is part of a dwindling number of similar books. A great pity the choice is reducing but great that this high quality publication continues. A must for anyone with an interest in naval affairs and the state of the world, strongly recommended.

Read the full review here.

Firetrench

Highly recommended for both amateur and professional naval enthusiasts, alike.

The Mariner's Mirror

This annual review, which provides an excellent summary of happenings in the naval world in 2015, is split into three main sections covering world fleet reviews, significant ships, and technological reviews.

Ships Monthly July 2016

As previously stated in Scuttlebutt, for the busy reader who wants to keep up with current naval matters, but who does not have the time or money for 'Janes Fighting Ships' this authoritative Seaforth annual continues to do the job. The good news is that the Royal Navy features highly this year.

This 2016 edition is written by an impressive group of international contributors, including Norman Friedman, David Hobbs, and Richard Breedall. It is again in four sections. Conrad's overview sets the scene with useful data tables on Defence Expenditure and Major Fleet Strengths. He points up Chinese maritime expansion in Asia, the re-emergence of Russia as a threat to stability in Europe, the humanitarian crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean and piracy continues to be a daily danger around the world.

The Regional Review covers the USN with its revised calculation of 'battle force' and 'long range plan' to increase the medium-term combatant level to 308 ships. A table shows the steady increase in the USN Orbat from 272 ships in 2015 to 304 by 2020, this includes the increase from 10 CVN to 11 CVN. There is also a table of the USN Shipbuilding plan. There is a detailed review of the expansion of the Indonesian Navy. The European section includes brief summaries of the Royal Navy and the modernisation of the Russian Navy. The section completes with 'A Think Blue Line' a fourteen page detailed review of the Royal Navy. Unfortunately, it was written before the 2015 UK Strategic Defence and Security Review. Nevertheless, there is much of good value, with the background to SDSR 2015, making the point that the Royal Navy was particularly badly affected by SDSR 2010.

The significant Ships section includes the Dutch 'Holland' Class OPV's, progress with the USN's LPD-17, the new Turkish Corvettes and the new British designed Greek Attack Craft. The Technological Reviews include an excellent overview by Norman Friedman of Electronic Warfare and a rather incongruous article on the new Royal Navy Working Dress. This is a must for all those wishing to keep up with the world naval affairs, it is excellent value and strongly recommended.

Scuttlebutt, ed. No 52, 2016 - John Roberts

I have the last five years editions on my bookshelf and together they form an impressive bank of knowledge and information about how warships are designed and deployed by nations around the globe. This edition has attracted the crème de la crème of naval writers from across the globe including noted luminaries such as Norman Friedman, David Hobbs, Guy Toremans and Richard Beedall. The book follows the same standard and layout as in previous editions with an extremely detailed overview of the last year in naval policy, construction and deployment...

Each of the chapters is replete with expertly chosen photographs to back up and reinforce the content which is extremely authoritative and well informed. The last section of the book focuses on world naval aviation as well as electronic warfare at sea...

As always editor Conrad Walters has done an excellent job in collating a highly enjoyable and informative read,



...

Warship World - March/April 2016

As featured in

Warships IFR

A high-quality, deeply-researched and handsomely-illustrated book.

Army Rumour Service - Jan Ziolo

This annual has an established reputation as an authoritative but affordable summary of all that has happened in the naval world in the previous twelve months.

Mainmast Books