A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey

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bigjimslade
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Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2019 1:13 am

A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey

Post by bigjimslade »

A VIsual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey is now available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/098998043X/

It is available on international Amazon's, Barnes & Noble, as well.

This is the first book in a series on the structure of the Iowa-class battleships. It is a deck-by-deck photographic tour of USS New Jersey. Each deck has a plan that is keyed to photographs. The photographs focus on the structural aspects of the ship.

The book covers the entire ship, including areas not open to the public. The reader gets to see the armor belt from inside a void space, the peak tank, anchor locker, inside of the twin keel, areas under the turrets, a bottom-to-top turret crawl.

The deck plans are shaded to show openings in the deck, changes in elevation, and location of armor.
SteveSmith
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Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2021 7:18 pm

Re: A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey

Post by SteveSmith »

I received my copy yesterday from the author. He had sent me a pre-production copy a few weeks ago. The only significant changes are that a few photos that had been too dark in the pre-production version have been lightened and the title indicates this is the first book in a series.

All the pages are in color and it printed on heavy, glossy paper.

I've never seen a naval book like this so it is hard come up with a comparison. The best thing I can come up with is that this is like an Anatomy of the Ship book but it uses photographs for illustration. The photographs focus on the structural details and point out features that most people would overlook.

The book has a section for each deck, plus a section on the turrets, engine rooms, and fire rooms. Most of the things in the book were entirely new to me.

I am more familiar with USS Iowa and have not been on USS New Jersey in a long time. Apparently, there is now more stuff open to the public on USS New Jersey than on Iowa. Of course Iowa will never open its turret two while New Jersey has it much of it cleaned up and open. The book obviously covers the areas on the tour route so many of the pictures on Main Deck, Second Deck, 01 through 04 are of things you might have seen before. However, the descriptions in the captions provide a lot more detail than what I have seen before.

(There are comparison photographs from all four of the Iowa-class.)

The big benefit of the book comes from coverage of areas not on the tour route and that have never appeared in print or on web pages before. I can't think of any other places in the ship that I wish had been covered. Who knew that empty cartridge canisters went from a 5-inch handling room and into shower?

I was particularly interested in the coverage of the turrets. The book shows the bearings that the turrets rotate on. It shows all the machinery. There are comparisons between the upper and lower shell flats and between Turret 1 and the other turrets.

The book directly contradicts much of what has been put in print before about the structure of the Iowa-class simply by photographing it.

I am looking forward to the next volume in this series.
SteveSmith
Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2021 7:18 pm

Re: A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey

Post by SteveSmith »

I received my copy yesterday from the author. He had sent me a pre-production copy a few weeks ago. The only significant changes are that a few photos that had been too dark in the pre-production version have been lightened and the title indicates this is the first book in a series.

All the pages are in color and it printed on heavy, glossy paper.

I've never seen a naval book like this so it is hard come up with a comparison. The best thing I can come up with is that this is like an Anatomy of the Ship book but it uses photographs for illustration. The photographs focus on the structural details and point out features that most people would overlook.

The book has a section for each deck, plus a section on the turrets, engine rooms, and fire rooms. Most of the things in the book were entirely new to me.

I am more familiar with USS Iowa and have not been on USS New Jersey in a long time. Apparently, there is now more stuff open to the public on USS New Jersey than on Iowa. Of course Iowa will never open its turret two while New Jersey has it much of it cleaned up and open. The book obviously covers the areas on the tour route so many of the pictures on Main Deck, Second Deck, 01 through 04 are of things you might have seen before. However, the descriptions in the captions provide a lot more detail than what I have seen before.

(There are comparison photographs from all four of the Iowa-class.)

The big benefit of the book comes from coverage of areas not on the tour route and that have never appeared in print or on web pages before. I can't think of any other places in the ship that I wish had been covered. Who knew that empty cartridge canisters went from a 5-inch handling room and into shower?

I was particularly interested in the coverage of the turrets. The book shows the bearings that the turrets rotate on. It shows all the machinery. There are comparisons between the upper and lower shell flats and between Turret 1 and the other turrets.

The book directly contradicts much of what has been put in print before about the structure of the Iowa-class simply by photographing it.

I am looking forward to the next volume in this series.
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