Imperical Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers 1921-45 / Mark Stille / AllWarBooks.com

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was a pioneer in naval aviation, having commissioned the world's first built-from-the-keel-up carrier, the Hosho. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the IJN experimented with its carriers, perfecting their design and construction. As a result, by the time Japan entered World War II and attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941, it possessed a fantastically effective naval aviation force. This book covers the design, development, and operation of the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers built prior to and during World War II. Includes data on the super-carrier Shinano. Pearl Harbor, Midway, and the battle of the Coral Sea—the first carrier vs. carrier battle—are all discussed.

New 7 by 10 inch softbound book, 48 pages, 45 B/W photographs, 24 color illustrations and an index. A must-have for all naval history buffs!

Just $15.95

BOOK REVIEWS

"As with most Osprey books, the info is compact and useful, and it fills the need for a short overview—What does the name of the ship mean? Why is the island on the wrong side? How many planes were carried? Where was it sunk? Everything provided is at the level of detail I need at this time. When I need broad, deep set of information I'll invest in the 1000 pages of information in "Sunburst" and "Kaigun." B. Rice

"I feel I need to defend this book. It does not deserve the low review ratings it has received. My interest is mainly in the Battle of Midway, particularly the aircraft involved. In order to have a meaningful understanding of the battle, I needed a better mental picture of the ships. But I didn't need a full, in depth treatment. The Osprey book is just right. It gives me a basic history of the fleet carriers, a good physical description, with lots of photos and some very nice paintings, and a few fundamental specifications. It isn't a lot of material, it's just enough. It seemed obvious to me that I was not buying a exhaustive description of these ships. What can you expect in 48 pages? I must say that I did in fact learn quite a bit from this book. I found one clue to the USN's stunning victory at Midway, here. It seems that the IJN's safety practices and training were typically very poor. The USN was able to sink the IJN carriers with relatively few hits largely because of the IJN carriers' tendency to blow themselves up with aviation fuel vapor! The USN, on the other hand, had elaborate safety procedures that were adhered to strictly. The IJN carriers were not designed with as much attention to survivability as the USN carriers. That would explain why the Yorktown took the better part of 3 days and repeated attacks to sink, while the IJN ships went down quite fast. Mark Stille is very clear and easy to read. Tony Bryan is a superb technical artist. If you need a fully developed history and analysis of these ships, look elsewhere. If you want a concise, clear idea of what these vessels were like and how they operated, then this book is excellent." Fredric Pierce

The Author

Commander (retired) Mark Stille served as a career Naval Intelligence Officer, spending over five years of his naval career assigned to various US Navy carriers. He continues to work in this field in a civilian capacity. He holds an MA from the Naval War College and has had several war games published. Mark also wrote "Imperial Japanese Navy Submarines 1941—45." Mark lives in Dunn Loring, Virginia.