U.S. Armored Cruisers: A Design and Operational History

Not a diving book but... This classic and sometimes hard to find book is for the serious student of the USS San Diego shipwreck. She was of the Pennsylvania class of Armored Cruisers and struck a mine off of Fire Island in July 1918. She now rests upside down on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 110 feet of water.

This book is really the gold standard by which other books on Naval design and history should be judged. Well researched, excellent photos and line diagrams, and an in-depth examination of the policies and planning involved in the creation of the early American armored steam navy. I really have just one criticism, which involves the armored cruiser Brooklyn; why was it that such a successful cruiser design was not followed up by any sisterships, or improved developments? By all accounts, USS Brooklyn was a splendid ship, that exceeded every expectation. Yet the subsequent armored cruisers, though larger, possessed none of the Brooklyn's unusual French design characteristics, and in many ways were less effective fighting vessels. USS Brooklyn was fast, well-armored, and armed with eight 8" guns in turrets, yet the much larger and more expensive subsequent designs were only equipped with four 8" guns, and with no real improvement in speed, maneuverability, sea-keeping ability or range! Very strange to see such a successful design type so essentially and completely abandoned without discussion.

I build ships and needed a reference. This book is fantastic. Also, it gives an operational history of the armored cruiser. While the Armored Cruiser isn't a very good design, remember, they were made by Germany, France, Russia, Japan, and Italy. Only Britian made the Battlecruiser and that was a Dreadnough class battleship made without armor. The armored cruisers gave fair service to the USA. The Pennsylvania was a very fast ship for the time. It was just invented at the same time as the battlecruiser. So, the armored cruiser comes off as a second best. Ivan did a good job with this book. I'm happy with it. People who study the steel navy era will enjoy this book.

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