Overview

Aircraft Carriers is the definitive history of world aircraft carrier development and operations. Norman Polmar’s revised and updated, two-volume classic describes the political and technological factors that influenced aircraft carrier design and construction, meticulously records their operations, and explains their impact on modern warfare. Volume I provides a comprehensive analysis of carrier developments and warfare in the first half of the twentieth century, and examines the advances that allowed the carrier to replace the battleship as the dominant naval weapons system. Polmar gives particular emphasis to carrier operations from World War I, through the Japanese strikes against China in the 1930s, to World War II in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, and Pacific theaters. It begins with French inventor Clément Ader’s remarkably prescient 1909 description of an aircraft carrier. The book then explains how Britain led the world in the development of aircraft-carrying ships, soon to be followed by the United States and Japan. While ship-based aircraft operations in World War I had limited impact, they foreshadowed the aircraft carriers built in the 1920s and 1930s. The volume also describes the aircraft operating from those ships as well as the commanders who pioneered carrier aviation.Aircraft Carriers has benefited from the technical collaboration of senior carrier experts Captain Eric M. Brown and General Minoru Genda as well as noted historians Robert M. Langdon and Peter B. Mersky. Aircraft Carriers is heavily illustrated with more than 400 photographs—some never before published—and maps.Volume II, which is forthcoming from Potomac Books in the winter 2006-2007 (ISBN 978-1-57488-665-8), will cover the period 1946 to the present.

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9781574886634

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It is an authoritative and admirable history. --militarytrader.com-- (12/20/2007) The account of carrier operations during the Second World War is both thorough and sound; the narrative is enhanced by many new photographs, some of which are previously unpublished. --Warship 2008, Naval Books of the Year--Warship 2008, Naval Books of the Year (07/10/2008) A very well-written, comprehensive primer on the operational history of American carriers. --Nautical Research Journal--Nautical Research Journal (11/12/2007) This is a truly outstanding reference work. . . .this is a must-have book for those who want to know more about the development of naval aviation. --Canadian Naval Review-- (06/11/2007) Aircraft Carriers offers a definitive history of world aircraft carrier development and operations. Chapters analyze the first half of the 20th century and offer much in-depth analysis that is key to any serious military collection's holdings. --Midwest Book Review-- (05/25/2007) COMMENTS ON THE FIRST EDITION OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS An excellent book. --Adm. Arleigh Burke, USN, Chief of Naval Operations, 1955-1961 --Adm. Arleigh Burke

<b>COMMENTS ON THE FIRST EDITION OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS</b> An excellent book. Adm. Arleigh Burke, USN, Chief of Naval Operations, 1955-1961</p>--Adm. Arleigh Burke

<b>COMMENTS ON THE FIRST EDITION OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS</b> An excellent book. --Adm. Arleigh Burke, USN, Chief of Naval Operations, 1955-1961</p>--Adm. Arleigh Burke

Norman Polmar s Aircraft Carriers is the most authoritative study ever produced of the aircraft carrier, its aircraft, and those who flew from it. Meticulously researched, it is packed with information, technical data, and anecdotes depicting the historical events that highlighted the development of carrier aviation. Polmar deserves an A+ for this superb volume.

COMMENTS ON THE FIRST EDITION OF AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

Author Information

Norman Polmar is an analyst and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. He has been an adviser on naval issues to three U.S. senators, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and three secretaries of the U.S. Navy, as well as to the leadership of Australian, Chinese, and Israeli navies. Polmar is the author or coauthor or more than fifty books, including Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945–2001 with coauthor K. J. Moore (Potomac, 2005) and The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima (Potomac, 2004).

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