Battleship at War: The Epic Story of the USS Washington

The book and topic are awesome, USS Washongton is one of my favorite battlewagons in US naval history but the book itself was in not great condition. There was quite obvious damage from termites or something eating parts of it. It's not completely destroyed but the damage is very noticeable

I have had this book since 1986 and every few years I take it off the shelf and re-read it...it is a great book about what would otherwise be an little known ship. There is no question that the Iowa class battleships were beautiful and deadly and technically superior to the Washington and her sister ship, North Carolina...but it was these ships that pioneered the way the fast battleships were to fight during WWII. The Washington may have had the best crew of any of the fast battleships during WWII. This is a great book about the USS Washington, the second ship of the North Carolina class. Mr. Musicant writes a fascinating story that links the ship to its place in the history of that conflict. You follow the Washington from her commissioning and all of the problems that this class of ship had initially with vibration problems, to her service in the North Atlantic to her transfer to the Pacific war. The chapter describing her epic battle against the Kirishima is riveting. Through good ship handling, and good fortune, the Washington pounded the Kirishima in that battle. I think it is fair to say that the Washington was in the thick of the fighting through out the war. I personally love to read ship histories and I enjoy the sense of pride that the sailors all had in their ship as well as their feeling towards other ships. It is as if these ships had their own personalities; those given to them by their crews. Mr. Musicant does a great job in describing the Washington's crew as well as her "rivalry" with the South Dakota. If you want to read a great book about what it was like to serve on a fast battleship during WWII, then this is the best book I have ever read on the topic.

This was an amazing book, one of my favorites by a good deal. It tells the story of the USS Washington, from birth till victory in WWII (which effectively ended its life. In a real tragedy what's left of the Washington is probably razor blades and paper clips right now . . .) The perspective is from the men who served on board her, but it does not follow any specific group, it weaves together different crewmembers experience into a composite of what the ship went through. You get an appreciation of what daily life must have been from the lowest ranks to the O-10 Admirals on board during the war. The writing enables this because it is so absorbing, detailed, and fluid. The USS Washington was in a bit of an odd place historically. It was a battleship in what would prove to be a carrier war, so its prestige status in the fleet was cut short of its designers aspirations as soon as its brethren were settling on the silt in Pearl Harbor. Its technical prestige status would later be eclipsed by the Iowa class battleships, the largest U.S. and widely considered to be the most supreme battleships ever built, likely able to best even the Yamato and Musashi thanks to radar fire control and some other innovative design features. Yet despite this position it would be the USS Washington that would be the battleship to do the most to win the war. The story follows the ship starting with its shakedown cruise, where you can see just how many teething problems a ship as large as 45,000 ton war wagon will inevitably have, especially considering the level of engineering analyses available to her designers at the time. Training then proceeded to the heat of the Caribbean, complete with Monkey stow-aways. After Pearl the USS Washington is surprisingly sent to the Northern Atlantic to help the British escort convoys on the Murmansk run. The comparison between the American and British navies was particularly interesting. The American radar control of the main and secondary batteries was essentially two orders of magnitude better than what any other nation had in WWII. The most amazing moment on the Murmansk run is when a British battleship slices in half a British destroyer, and how the fleet reacts. However the USS Washington is never fully committed to battle in the North Seas, much to the frustration of her crew. The Washington then gets called to the Pacific for the eventual push all the way to Japan, starting with the Solomons. Here the Washington proves her worth, especially in the early naval battles around Guadalcanal where victory was very much in doubt. The most distinguished part of her career, and some of the most white knuckle, page turning reading in the book, is when the Washington and South Dakota go toe-to-toe with the Kirishima and Hiei, two Japanese ships of the line. Washington emerges victorious after sending Kirishima to the bottom. The Washington continues to make her presence known with multiple shore bombardment raids. Later in the war

An excellant book which gives the average individual an insight to one of the most remarkable ships in the US Navy. Covers the history from the ships design to her scrapping. Tells in great detail, yet in a very readable text, the story of the crew, the officers and the ship in World War II.

Battleship at War catalogs the relatively brief but action packed career of USS Washington, one of the great ships to serve in the Navy during World War Two. Of all the American battleships to serve during the war, Washington had the most distinguished career, serving in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and sinking the Japanese battleship Kirishima during the Second Naval battle of Guadalcanal. This book righfully takes its place alongside Edward Stafford's "The Big E" (which narrates the career of the carrier Enterprise) as a premier work of the genre. It is incredible to me that both of these great titles are out of print, just as it is incredible to me that the richest country in the world could have failed to preserve these proud ships when other ships with much less distinguished careers survive to this day. Battleship at War is a must read for anybody who is serious about naval history.