Book Review

Warship Pictorial #7

New Orleans Class Cruisers by Steve Wiper and T.A. Flowers Reviewed by Timothy dike
,There were seven ships in this class, which were the last of the Treaty cruisers with the exception of the Wichita. They represented an improvment to the preceeding Northampton and Pensacola class. They featured better armor and a much improved main gun turret. These cruisers are probably best known for their frontline sacrifies in the South Pacific. In fact three of these ships were lost at the disasterous "Battle of Savo Island". Only the Tuscaloosa escaped serious damage
Steve Wiper has presented us with a photo history of all of the seven ships in this class. Each one is dealt with individually from early on in their career to the last known photo's of each. There are some outstanding photo's that show the ships during the major refits that they received. The example on the right is of the New Orleans during her refit at Mare Island during February 1942. You will find plenty of these sharp photo's showing the details.	Click images below to enlarge.


The camouflage of each ship is well presented as in the MS 8 False Destroyer camo on the Minneapolis shown on the right.There is plenty of " "Dazzle Camo" and MS 12 Mod in the other photo's. In most cases Steve has tried to show both sides of a ship when such photo's exist.

A number of in action photo's are included for all the ships. Post refit appearance is well documented as well, not the radically reduced bridge structure on the Tuscaloosa has. All surviving ships would eventually have this treatment, as well as getting more anti aircraft protection and better radar.

The photo's are all pretty sharp, a few are a little fuzzy but represent the best photo's that exist showing that subject. A big plus is that each subject has been well researched and care has been taken to find the best photo's available. A lot of time was spent at the National Archives to bring us these great photos.

Beside the color photo's on the front and rear covers there is a large centerfold showing the Mineaplois in her MS 21 that would make a great poster if you dared to remove it from this book. Each ship includes a short History and General Statistics with an armament summary throughout her career are also included in the back of the book..
Conclusions: This book is 58 pages packed with about 85 photos. 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 1/700 Waveline USS New Orleans resin kit