US Navy Atlanta-class Light Cruisers 1940-49

A comprehensively illustrated account of the Atlanta-class cruisers, warships that found a surprising key role in the Pacific War as the US Navy''s superb antiaircraft warships. In the late 1930s, the US Navy created a class of small, light cruisers intended as a versatile destroyer leader. The Atlantas could provide antiaircraft support, lead and launch torpedo attacks, serve as antisubmarine vessels, and outgun other light warships in a surface engagement. The wartime reality was different. In every surface action they fought, they found themselves pitted against bigger cruisers (or even battleships) instead of the destroyers they were designed to defeat. In this book, naval historian Mark Lardas explains that despite their flaws, they proved one of the most useful warships in the US Navy: with a main battery of sixteen 5in guns, they proved to be superb antiaircraft cruisers. From the battle of Midway onwards, they protected the Navy''s most valuable ships - its aircraft carriers - so effectively that later Atlantas were built to a modified design as specialist antiaircraft ships. The Navy even ordered a follow-on class postwar and considered building a "super-Atlanta," armed only with heavy antiaircraft guns. Packed with illustrations, this book examines the history, development, and modifications of these unusual warships, and their impact on the Pacific War.>

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Mark Lardas, Lardas Mark
• Con la collaborazione di: Stefan Draminski (Illustrazione), Draminski Stefan (Illustrazione)
• Editore: Osprey Publishers
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 01.07.2025
• EAN: 9781472866523
• ISBN: 978-1-4728-6652-3
• Pagine: 48
• Dimensioni: 182 mm x 248 mm x 6 mm
• Serie: New Vanguard
• Categorie: Saggistica > Storia > Altro; USA, HISTORY / Military / Naval, HISTORY / Military / United States, TRANSPORTATION / Ships & Shipbuilding / History, maritime history, Naval forces & warfare, Military vehicles, Second World War, United States of America, USA, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Naval forces and warfare, Military & Naval Ships, Ship Design & Naval Architecture, Ship design and naval architecture, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General, HISTORY / Military / Vehicles / Sea