I bought the original edition of this book when it first came out in 1982, so I had hoped that the updated 2004 edition would bring me up to speed (sort of) with current Navy shipbuilding programs. We'll see how that worked out.

This is a substantial 553-page volume that the author has organized into a forward, acknowledgements page, key to the line drawings provided, an introduction, 17 numbered chapters, data tables on the various destroyer classes and designs with notes, notes on sources, and, finally, and index. The 1982 volume ran to 15 full chapters and an abbreviated four-page Chapter 16, while this revised volume has full Chapters 16 and 17 that take the narrative to roughly 2004.

The book is arranged roughly chronologically; I say roughly because Friedman follows a storyline to a logical ending rather than abruptly terminating the narrative at an awkward point. The subtitle of this book is "An Illustrated Design History," and that is precisely what the author delivers. Friedman's source material are records generated in the offices of the most senior Navy civilians and flag officers. Sometimes comments from the lower Navy echelons(such as the operators of these ships) are included, but, for the most part, operational details are not found in this book except where the experiences impact ship design.

The ilustrations are profuse--the Friedman illustrated design histories are well-known not only for abundant and excellent photographs and drawings, but also for extensive captions, as these provide some details that Friedman deliberately omits in the main text but are most helpful to the reader in understanding specific ship design details.

This book is exceptional when it comes to the original 15 chapters of the 1982. The book's structure is tight, and the chapters transition well. However, the Navy's surface combatant scene changed dramatically in the two decades after the Naval Institute published the original book, and the Institute evidently prevailed upon Dr. Friedman to do an update. That update consists of two full added chapters, a rewritten Chapter 16 and a new Chapter 17. Chapter 16 now describes the design process for the DDG-51 class while Chapter 17 documents the painful origins of the DDG-1000 and LCS classes.

Both of the new chapters are enlightening given the actual outcomes for all three combatant classes. Howver, it would have been nice had the author gone back to earlier chapters in the book to update the prognostications he presented back in the early 1980s. Some, but not all, of the extensive data tables at the back of the book were updated, while some of the lengthy drawing captions in the last two chapters would have been better placed in the body of the text, as some of the longer ones take up a half page or more. Finally, as a warning to those following up on Dr. Friedman's source notes, he did not update those (although that would have been expecting too much), and the location of that source material has changed considerably. He does give the reader the accession numbers of some of the record series he used, so not all is lost.

Overall this book is still impressive reading, regardless of how poorly the update was done. This was a time-consuming, detailed, but still very rewarding read, well worth it for anyone interested in this very specialized subject. ( )

Excellent reference source for all things: United States Navy destroyers, Many pictures illustrate type and functions for these "Jack of all trades" ships. Detailed damage results and survival capability during WW2 and their effects on next generation ship design and development are well documented. . Norman Friedman is one of the preeminent USN authorities with multiple lucid and graphically rich books to his credit. The research is extensive and thorough from his extensive and penetrative access to the appropriate military documents. ( )