Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914–18

This book is useful on several levels. The ship modeler will find new topics and colour schemes in it. The novice to the field will find Noppen's work a useful introduction to the subject and the bibliography a guide to further study. The expert can use it as a handy brief reference work. Noppen's work is a long-overdue and worthy tribute to long-forgotten sailors and warships. It is recommended. --The Northern Mariner (January 2013) In this latest edition of Osprey's New Vanguard series, author Ryan Noppen tells us the story of the big ships of the Austro-Hungarian navy. From their inception through the building of all five classes of ships, we can see how each subsequent design was an improvement over the ones before it. Half of the book is devoted to the operational record of these ships and the various battles in which they were involved. True, most of these actions were against high value shore targets, but they performed their missions as expected. A couple were destroyed by Italian torpedo boats, both occasions being ones where the laxity of security was the cause for loss. Included in this book are some superlative period photographs of the men and ships. This is additionally enhanced by the excellent art work of Paul Wright. It is a well done addition to the series and tells the story of the interesting, and rarely covered capital ships. --Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness (October 2012) Austro-Hungarian Battleships superbly summarizes a spellbinding subject. And it perfectly complements OSPREY's two-volume study of German Battleships 1914-18 -- New Vanguard 164 and 167. Read them together! --David L. Veres, www.cybermodeler.com