US Navy Cruisers Norman Friedman

[uk 75]

This is one of the Friedman books I missed buying when it was still in print, though I do have come photocopied pages on some of the postwar designs.
As I have most of his other naval books I was wondering whether there was any chance of him updating it or allowing it to be republished?
Amatheft ask silly prices for copies

 

[DWG]

It usually isn't down to authors as to whether things get republished, it's up to the publisher who holds the rights. There has been a fairly recent softback of his US Battleships book, Naval Institute Press 2016 according to my copy, so it's not impossible the cruisers one will reappear.

And there are an increasing number of his books on Kindle, though none of the US ones yet, which in some ways is superior for digging into the details of plans and pictures, and definitely superior if you're search for a particular phrase.

 

[Moose]

He's been working through his older works with Revised editions for awhile, in fact his revised history of US subs since 1945 just came out last year. I don't have any idea if or when a Revised edition of Cruisers would be on his schedule, unfortunately. I do wonder how recent events play on his decision-making for what books to return to: does he want to wait until the Large Surface Combatant is far enough along to appear in the latter part of the book, does he want to return to Destroyers again (there was already a Revised edition of that book in 2004) given recent history in the USN, or does he want to focus on other developments in naval construction that aren't traditional large American combatants?

 

[ford_tempo]

pparently a new edition has come:

https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Cruisers-Illustrated-Design-History/dp/168247626X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KFWUYE5FA3Y9&dchild=1&keywords=u.s.+cruisers+an+illustrated+design+history&qid=1602968334&sprefix=u.s.+cruisers%2Caps%2C619&sr=8-1

 

[uk 75]

Judging by the cover this is the old edition reissued as a paperback like the Hunnicutt Armor series. Prefer hardbacks as mine get a lot of reading away from desk and they are easier to pile up

 

[Moose]

Pretty tempted by the softcover myself. My space and funds aren't unlimited, and I've been waiting in vain, for some years, to find a hardcover in decent condition at an attractive price.

 

[uk 75]

Pretty tempted by the softcover myself. My space and funds aren't unlimited, and I've been waiting in vain, for some years, to find a hardcover in decent condition at an attractive price.

Makes sense. I managed to find one on Fleabay for almost ok money. Suspect even the softcovers may get snapped up so prob worth doing.

 

[blackstar]

Has anybody bought the re-issued versions of his cruisers, battleships and destroyers books?
The destroyers one says "revised edition," which makes sense because of new developments. The other two do not say "revised edition," but I was hoping for some new information about them rather than simply reprints.
You can get all of them for 50% off at USNI right now through the end of the year (discount is applied at checkout). So that's $50 apiece instead of $100 apiece ($60 for members).
I'm only tempted to get the cruisers and battleships books if they have new info. So has anybody seen them?

 

[SOC]

I bought both the cruisers and battleships volumes a few weeks ago. There didn't seem to be too many new pages added to the destroyers volume so I stuck with my 2004 copy...which also says "Revised Edition" on the cover!

As I didn't grab the earlier volumes I'm not sure what they would've added or changed, but if there's something specific you want me to check let me know. They're all great reads regardless.

What I'd really like is for them to update the aircraft carrier volume...

 

[blackstar]

The new information in the destroyers book would be on the flight III Burkes and the Zumwalts. There's nothing really new to include in reissues of the other books, unless the author chose to include new information about past battleships and cruisers.

 

[blackstar]

I just got the "revised" version of the destroyers book. There is NOTHING new in it. In fact, they have not even updated the lists of destroyers built. It just stops in 2002. Plus, the photo quality is considerably worse. USNI has pulled a real bait-and-switch here. They stuck a new cover on an old book and called it "revised."

I've attached some images from the "revised" version. No difference from the earlier version except that the photo quality is worse. Note the listing of destroyers stops with DDG-96 in 2003. We are already up to DDG-139, so that's over 40 ships not listed. You would think that the least they could have done was updated the ship listing in the appendix.