Warship Pictorial #3
USS Louisville CA-28

by Steve Wiper of Classic Warships
Illustrations by Tom Flowers
Reviewed by Timothy Dike
  
The USS Louisville was a member of the Northampton Class of Heavy Cruiser. She earned 13 battle stars for her service during the war. She was very active during the war and like other prewar treaty cruisers saw her appearance altered though out the war. Steve Wiper has documented her career from her building to her last journey for scrapping.
Click the images
below to enlarge
Photo coverage is very thorough, with great shots of her building and her prewar days. You can follow along as she receives her first major refit at Mare Island though excellent photo's that are well captioned.
The colored illustrations are great too, especially the complete set with her MS 32-6d colors. All sides are covered so you should have no problem recreating this colorful camouflage scheme. 
You can follow along as the Louisville enters Mare Island for her second major refit in 43. Also fascinating is the coverage of the damage received in a Kamikaze attack that required another extensive stay at Mare Island. The damage is well documented as are the repairs she received. Incredibly this same ship was hit again in June 45 in another Kamikaze attack.
The Louisville's operational history is included as well as her general statistics. An armament summary of the changes is listed with all of her major weapons upgrades.
Illustrations in this book include:
  • Cutaway drawing of her 8" Mk 14 main gun
  • 1/700 scale plan view drawing of her November 1942 appearance
  • 1/350 scale gray scale plan and right elevation drawing of her  December 43 appearance
  • 1/350 scale gray scale left elevation with color guide in MS 32-6d (also Dec. 43)
  • 1/350 scale shaded plan views of all deck levels (also Dec 43)
  • 1/192 scale shaded plan and elevation of her SOC-1 Float plane
  • 1/700 scale plan and elevation drawing of her April 45 appearance
  • 1/192 scale shaded drawings of her 5: 25 cal secondary guns
  • 1/350 scale shaded plan and elevation drawings of her April 45 MS-22 appearance
This book has is one of the first in the Warship Pictorial series but is still an excellent value. The photo's and drawings are fantastic and the price is right at only $11.95 retail. So whether you are building a model of her or love ship histories, this book belongs in you collection.

This 8-1/4" x 11" soft book has 56 pages about 50 photo's and 9 drawings.

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