Hot on the heels of the excellent USS Arizona book, this new volume of Squadron Signal Publications series Squadron At Sea concerns the battleship USS North Carolina, BB-55. Known as the "Showboat", she was the namesake of this class of two fast battleships. North Carolina was the most decorated US battleship of war, having spent most of her time in the Pacific Theatre.

The book is laid out in the familiar chronologiclal format, starting with an introduction, and leading to construction and launching images. These are followed by a section on commissioning, wartime, post war and preservation images. The book closes with a section on the preparations and transit of North Carolina to her fate as a museum ship in Wilmington, NC.

The book strikes a good balance between text and images. Sections headings have small informative blocks of text, but do not overburden the book. Each image is also accompanied by an informative caption, many with surprising observations.

This book is as impressive as the Arizona book, with even more pictures! This new series from Squadron is a great improvement over some previous naval references published by this firm. This book would be great addition to any reference shelf, and is highly recommended.

This reference is available from numerous sources, and has an MSRP of $24.95.