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Norman Friedman
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Naval Firepower Paperback – August 19, 2013

by Norman Friedman (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
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An in-depth history of naval battleship firepower from before World War I to the end of World War II, by America’s leading naval analyst.

For more than half a century, the big gun was the arbiter of naval power, but it was useless if it could not hit the target fast and hard enough to prevent the enemy doing the same. Because the naval gun platform was itself in motion, finding a “firing solution” was a significant problem exacerbated when gun sizes increased, fighting ranges lengthened, and seemingly minor issues like wind velocity had to be considered. To speed up the process and eliminate human error, navies sought a reliable mechanical calculation.

This heavily illustrated book outlines for the first time in layman’s terms the complex subject of fire-control, as it dominated battleship and cruiser design from before World War I to the end of the dreadnought era. Covering the directors, range-finders, and electro-mechanical computers invented to solve the problems, author Norman Friedman explains not only how the technology shaped (and was shaped by) the tactics involved, but also analyzes their effectiveness in battle. His examination of the controversy surrounding Jutland and the relative merits of competing fire-control systems draws surprising conclusions. He also reassesses many other major gun actions, such as the battles between the Royal Navy and the Bismarck , and the U.S. Navy actions in the Solomons and at Surigao Strait. All major navies are covered, and the story concludes at the end of World War II with the impact of radar.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Seaforth Publishing
  4. Publication date
    August 19, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    8.5 x 0.75 x 10.04 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1848321856
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1848321854
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Seaforth Publishing (August 19, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1848321856
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1848321854
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.34 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.75 x 10.04 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

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Norman Friedman

Norman Friedman

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
22 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Michael D Ashland
5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative reference book on naval fire control during the battleship era.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book is exactly what I was looking for. I was working on a tactical naval warfare game that covers the period 1900 to WWII. It was impossible to find effective ranges on naval guns during this period. Maximum ranges were easily found, but are relatively meaningless when trying to design a naval combat simulation. I quickly realized it was not gun data I needed, but the capabilities of naval fire control during this period. This book gave enough data, specifications, doctrine, and specific results so as to form a good picture of naval gunfire capabilities during this era.
This is a highly technical reference book and is not an easy read. If you are looking for light reading, go elsewhere.
I had two minor, for my purposes, complaints. (1) The font used on the extraordinarily detailed captions is very small. With my eyes, I needed a very powerful light to read it. (2) In many cases, the illustrations and photographs could have used some additional labeling to help identify features of interest.
2 people found this helpful
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Christian P. Mercer
5.0 out of 5 stars Putting shells on a moving target from 15 miles away....
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2018
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Probably the best, most in depth study of the development of Naval Fire Control in the age of the Big-Gun. Covers the period from before ww1 to the end of ww2 and examines all the major powers navies ( British, USN, German, Japanese, Russian, French, Italian, Dutch,) and traces the competing techniques and equipment each nation developed to bring shells onto a target that is not where it will be by the time the shells reach a working proximity. Intricate, dull to the uninterested and so specialized that even most Naval historians will find this rather technical, Dr Friedman however is as usual, digging out esoteric naval warfare knowledge and giving it to his grateful readers. Print is a bit small but the pictures are very good. I loved this book.
3 people found this helpful
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Roy Earl
3.0 out of 5 stars Recommend
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2020
Verified Purchase
Highly detailed and technical. For those seriously interested in the subject a very valuable resource. Well written and illustrated. The only criticism (and it's serious) is the type size in the paperback edition is much too small, especially the captions on the illustrations which can't be read without aid. Whoever made the choice of type size made a serious mistake; with normal type this would be a strong 5 stars.
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K. Deines
4.0 out of 5 stars Historians and wargamers of a simulationist inclination
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2014
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This isn't a book for casual readers. A person has to have a genuine interest in the history of 20th century naval warfare to get through this, or a similarly strong interest in applied mathematics and early computing.

The book provides documentation on practices in several navies, describing the sometimes vast differences in how they perceived the gunnery problem, they tools and techniques they developed, and the influences that had on tactics, ship design, and crew training and communications. A number of different analog calculators and computers (mechanical and electromechanical) are described and depicted, in both the theory behind their design and their operation. Changes in sensors (optical and radio) are also included, and how more and more data--like roll, pitch and yaw for the firing ship, wind, curvature of the planet, etc.) was integrated into the creation of an actionable dataset to aim and fire the battery.

While some recollection of vector operations and calculus might be useful in recreating some of the theory (for which Friedman provides a few equations), it isn't necessary. A pair of bookmarks for your place in the text and the corresponding spot in the endnotes will prove more useful. There is a nice bibliography at the end, as well as a reasonably good index. The general tenor of the writing is academic, but not overwhelmingly so.

If you are expecting big pretty pictures and small words, this isn't a book you would appreciate. If you want a fairly thorough introduction into the subject of naval gunnery as it evolved over a ~50 year timespan, I think this is an excellent source.
25 people found this helpful
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deerhunter
5.0 out of 5 stars Very technical heavy book
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2018
Verified Purchase
Extremely technical book. Found myself having to reread multiple pages to have the entire workings sink in. This was mostly in the first 2-3 chapters. Found myself having to wright a “cheat sheet” to get through the beginning. Freedman really knows his stuff
2 people found this helpful
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Sid Levin
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2017
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Great book for those interested in the working of battleship guns and fire control!
One person found this helpful
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Floyd R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. Talks about guns on the battleships and ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2015
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Excellent book. Talks about guns on the battleships and gunnery practices and equipment.
One person found this helpful
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DBurley
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2014
Excellent explaination of how large caliber shells fired from one ship managed to hit another.
2 people found this helpful
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Pablo
5.0 out of 5 stars Contenido de primera calidad para interesados en el tema
Reviewed in Spain on December 27, 2019
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Un aviso: este libro no es la típica lectura ligera relatando la batalla de Jutlandia. La descripción que hace de los sistemas de control de tiro de los acorazados y cruceros de batalla (en distintas armadas) es muy detallada y técnica, y seguramente abrumadora para un lector casual. Sin embargo, para el lector específicamente atraído por el tema es una verdadera cueva de Aladino, llena de interesantísima información y detalles que no he encontrado en ningún otro libro (incluso en obras muy especializadas en la descripción de los buques acorazados de la primera guerra mundial).
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Murky Dismal
5.0 out of 5 stars I have been looking for a book like this for a long time
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2015
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I have been looking for a book like this for a long time. This is a comprehensive
study of fire control devices in battleships. It deals with the evolution of fire
control systems on battleships starting from early 1900. If you are interested in technical
details of such systems, this is the book to read.Please be warned that it is not an easy
book to read. This is to be expected when one is dealing with such a complex subject.

Although I have rated this book 5/5, there are a couple of things that might have improved the book:

The mathematical operations performed by mechanical fire control computers
are mostly described in words. Addition of a few equations would have made it
easier for those of us who have a background in engineering/mathematics to
develop a deeper understanding of the processes involved. For example after
reading about 20 pages on Dumaresq and range rate clocks I discovered that
the whole thing can be explained in two or three equations and less than a page
of text. On the other hand some things are not made very clear, for example I am
still not clear about the difference between a "director" and "range-finder" since
I was always under the impression that a range-finder could act as a director.

2 - The glossary
2 people found this helpful
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Paolo Capoferro
5.0 out of 5 stars L’incredibile sviluppo dei sistemi di tiro navali nell’era delle grandi corazzate
Reviewed in Italy on March 24, 2015
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Ho apprezzato questo titolo e l’ho trovato fonte di ispirazione. Durante l’era delle grandi corazzate, dalla fine del 19esimo secolo, si è avuto un incredibile sviluppo della capacità di colpire bersagli in movimento da una nave. Fino alla fine del 19esimo secolo, ci si aspettava che l’ingaggio fra forze navali avvenisse a corta distanza. Durante la battaglia dello Jutland nel 1916, sotto condizioni difficili, le due flotte contrapposte furono in grado di colpire l’avversario a distanza superiori alle 10.000 iarde. Durante la seconda guerra mondiale alcune marine si aspettavano di aprire il fuoco sotto condizioni favorevoli ad oltre 30 chilometri di distanza. Sono stato affascinato dalle corazzate del 20esimo secolo fin da ragazzo e posseggo un collezione di libri dedicati alle “dreadnought”. L’oggetto del presente libro, il controllo del tiro navale, non è solitamente affrontato soprattutto per la sua natura altamente tecnica e perché all’epoca le diverse marine tennero i loro sistemi segreti. Il libro è pieno di informazioni, non solo nel testo ma anche nelle didascalie che accompagnano le immagini e nelle note alla fine del testo.
Ho trovato il testo non sempre facilissimo. Il libro non è destinato ad una lettura casuale ed assume che il lettore abbia una certa conoscenza della storia navale del ventesimo secolo ed una certa comprensione degli aspetti tecnici del tiro navale: geometria dell’ingaggio, moto relativo delle navi, calcolo delle posizioni future, telemetria, correzioni, trasmissione dei dati, ecc. In alcuni casi le soluzioni adottate dalle diverse marine sono solamente accennate proprio perché sarebbe stato difficile fare differentemente in un volume che copre 50 anni di sviluppo e operazioni per le marine inglese, americana, tedesca, francese, italiana e russa.
Benché affascinato dalla lettura del testo, quando sono arrivato alle note finali, avevo la sensazione che alcuni dei dettagli tecnici non fossero corretti. Ho pertanto deciso di tornare all’inizio: devo dire che durante la seconda lettera molti aspetti si sono chiariti. Sebbene trovo che la maniera in cui Friedman scrive non sempre è la più chiara e facile (ho avuto la questa stessa impressione anche dai suoi volumi dedicati alle costruzioni navali americane), comunque sono più che felice di dare cinque stelle : la lettura è sempre stimolante e lo sforzo speso nell’affrontare il testo, è sicuramente gratificato. Raccomando il testo a coloro che hanno una conoscenza della storia ed architettura navale del 20esimo secolo e non temono dettagli e discussioni tecniche.
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Wijnand van de Beek
5.0 out of 5 stars Very technical book but it really increased my inderstanding on the topic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2016
Verified Purchase
Very technical, so only for those really interested in the technicalities of fire control in battleships. Good coverage of WWI and WWII. I would have liked a bit more on the exact state of play in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. It really increased my understanding of the fire control issues that determined the naval battles of both world wars.
One person found this helpful
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Michael.Brocklebank
3.0 out of 5 stars Only moderately interesting.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2018
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This was not about what I expected to Cover.
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