U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History

The Norman Friedman Illustrated Design History series of U.S. warships books has been an industry standard for three decades and has sold thousands of copies worldwide. To mark and celebrate this achievement, the Naval Institute Press is proud to make these books available once more. Digitally remastered for enhanced photo resolution and quality, corrected, and updated, this series will continue to serve–for scholars and enthusiasts alike–as the foundation for U.S. naval warship research and reference for years to come.

U.S. Cruisers is one the most comprehensive references available on the entire development of U.S. cruisers, from the first steel cruisers, the flawed designs of the Washington Naval Treaty era, the light, heavy, and large cruisers of World War II, the postwar rapid-fire artillery designs of the Des Moines and the Worcester classes, guided-missile conversions, and to the Aegis ships of the Ticonderoga-class. Like the other books in Norman Friedman’s design-history series, U.S. Cruisers is based largely on formerly classified internal U.S. Navy records.

Friedman, a leading authority on U.S. warships, explains the political and technical rationales of warship construction and recounts the evolution of each design. Alan Raven and A.D. Baker III have created detailed scale outboard and plan views of each ship class and of major modifications to many classes. Numerous photographs complement the text.