Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945

This authoritative book is a detailed reference guide to the ships of the Imperial Japanese Fleet, which came into being with the establishment of modern Japan in 1869. For the first time in the English language, it provides an accurate guide to the meteoric rise of the Japanese Navy, from humble beginnings to its recognition as one of the major sea powers of the world, and its ultimate possession of the largest battleships ever to sail the seas.

The work of three distinguished German naval researchers and the result of many years of original research, Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945, provides details of battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers, aircraft carriers, escort carriers, gunboats, torpedo boats, submarine chasers, landing ships, and support and transport ships of all types.

Illustrated throughout with nearly 400 general-arrangement drawings, the book also contains some two hundred photographs, many of which have never before been published.