Warship Pictorial #5
USS San Francisco
Cover Art
by Steve Wiper of Classic Warships
Layout and Illustrations by T.A. Flowers
Reviewed by Timothy Dike
The USS San Francisco was a member of the New Orleans Class of Heavy Cruiser and was one of the real work horses of WW II. She was one of the most decorated ships of the whole war. She was there at Pearl Harbor and soldiered on throughout the war.
 This ship has always been a favorite for me, particularly because she was involved in the Friday the 13th Battle that took place in November 1942 at Guadalcanal.
Click images
below to
enlarge.
As with his other books Steve Wiper follows the career of this ship from her prewar years to her end. It is interesting to note the dramatic changes that took place as this Treaty Cruiser was updated during her many wartime refits. The photo on the right gives a good comparison of those changes. prewar views
Detail photo's are and weapons drawings are included to give you a good overview of her armament and appearance over the years. closeup details
There are also a number of complete plan and elevation views throughout the book including this rendered drawing in 1/350 scale. My scanner is limited to a legal size (14") bed, so I could only reproduce a portion of the centerfold.  early war views in ms 12 mod
T.A. Flowers has done a superb job with the following drawings:
  • 8" 55 Cal Gun Turret cutaway view.
  • 1/48 scale 3" 50 Cal elevation view.
  • 1/48 scale Quad 1.1" Mk 2 Elevation.
  • 1/700 scale Plan and elevation May 1942 view.
  • 1/350 scale gray scale plan and elevation view in MS 11.
  • 1/350 scale deck levels in May 42.
  • 1/36 scale 20 mm Mk 4 anti aircraft gun.
  • 1/700 scale plan and port and starboard elevations in MS 33-13d August 44.
General Statistics with an armament summary throughout her career are also included.		 latewar views
The "Frisco" as she was called by her crew, didn't earn all those battle stars without paying a price as you can see by battle damage photo's in the book.  The photo's are of excellent quality and show some amazing view of the devastation.  1945 Views
The Frisco emerged from the yard with a drastically reduced superstructure and numerous other changes. Excellent photo's from the the National Archives and other sources have been included to document those changes.
Conclusions: 

This book is 56 pages packed with about 50 photos and a large number of drawings. Many of the photos in this book have never been in print before. The retail price is $11.95, making it an excellent value for the Historian and Modeler alike. 

Links:

More Classic Warships books
HP Models 1/700 USS San Francisco
Building the Ships that fought at Guadalcanal


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