Weyers Warships of the World 2020 22

uk 75

uk 75

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After a long wait the new edition of Weyers Flottentaschenbuch arrived by post from a friend's shop in Berlin.
This book is a little wonder. It is the size of a dictionary with A5 size pages. It covers the navies of the world in German name alphabetical order (Canada becomes Kanada).
It has a first half which covers the navies by tables showing the status and capabilities of their ships.
The second half features beautiful line drawings and photos of the ships. As the drawing are to the same scale the relative sizes of vessels can be compared.
Sadly the editor and author, Werner Globke, has retired so this may be the last edition.
I have bought copies since I discovered it for the first time as a schoolboy on an Interrail trip in Hamburg in 1973.
Secondhand volumes going back to the 1930s can be found on Amazon but the current one is so far only available in Germany.
The Internet has made such books too expensive to produce. But it is nice to have a source which does not go down (rain has kept me offline for 24 hours)
 
Got my copy a couple of days ago.
I used to enjoy looking at these in the Naval Collection of Portsmouth City Library (as was).
Apart from a couple of MINOR editing oversights, very much worthwhile. Took about 10 days to arrive direct from publisher. Superb service.
 
Pirate Pete
I think that illness and staff changes might have taken a toll.. Some drawings have been left in when a later drawing was added. Some photos have ended up in the wrong section.
The edition was due out in 2019 but the demise of advertising (sometimes up to 8 sides) made it uncertain. The same firm publishes a similar book on Armoured Vehicles of the World.. There hasnt been a new one since about 2004.
 
There is a new publisher taking over for Werner Globke. They are still accepting updated data and should produce a 2023-5 edition next year. Flottes de Combat apparently will not return in print - so likely neither will its Combat Fleets of the World by USNI in English. Jane's has no intention of becoming affordable. I recommend the former Seaforth World Naval Review - very affordable - now taken over by USNI and only in English.
 
Seaforth Naval Review is a useful account of new developments in navies around the world but unless it is changing its format it does not provide general arrangement drawings and orders of battle for the world"s navies. Weyers and Janes still needed.
 
uk 75 said:
After a long wait the new edition of Weyers Flottentaschenbuch arrived by post from a friend's shop in Berlin.
This book is a little wonder. It is the size of a dictionary with A5 size pages. It covers the navies of the world in German name alphabetical order (Canada becomes Kanada).
It has a first half which covers the navies by tables showing the status and capabilities of their ships.
The second half features beautiful line drawings and photos of the ships. As the drawing are to the same scale the relative sizes of vessels can be compared.
Sadly the editor and author, Werner Globke, has retired so this may be the last edition.
I have bought copies since I discovered it for the first time as a schoolboy on an Interrail trip in Hamburg in 1973.
Secondhand volumes going back to the 1930s can be found on Amazon but the current one is so far only available in Germany.
The Internet has made such books too expensive to produce. But it is nice to have a source which does not go down (rain has kept me offline for 24 hours)
Click to expand...
They are indeed still accepting data for the next edition. An analyst for a US military think tank, I keep them updated on Chinese Naval Aviation.
 
uk 75 said:
Seaforth Naval Review is a useful account of new developments in navies around the world but unless it is changing its format it does not provide general arrangement drawings and orders of battle for the world"s navies. Weyers and Janes still needed.
Click to expand...
As a regular contributor to Seaforth Naval Review [search Richard Beedall] I can safely say that it is still published by UK based Pen & Swords - USNI just has a special bulk buy deal for the USA market. Although the annual includes updated summaries of the major fleets in each edition, it doesn't remotely compete with JFS.

As a naval enthusiast and amateur journalist it was extremely disappointing to see IHS - after taking over Janes Information Services in 2016 - repositioning Jane's Fighting Ships (and the Navy International magazine ) as solely aimed at price insensitive government and corporate buyers. I used to buy it every other year, but it's now far beyond my price point. They don't even offer old editions at a discounted price any more. With the simultaneous demise of Combat Fleets it leaves me short of credible references when writing an article.
 
Weyers is well worth getting and back copies are also easily found.
 

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