German Battleships 1914–18 (2): Kaiser, König and Bayern classes (New Vanguard, 167)

Gary Staff has once again delivered a superior book filled with FACTS painstaking sourced from original German documents he flew halfway around the world to find (and I have the photos to prove it!), not the shoddy stuff you find in German language books priced much higher that will remain unnamed with 5th generation copies of bad photographs that are incorrectly captioned! I received this book about a week ago and immediately read every page.I am pretty sure the previous reviewer wanted to build a model and was disappointed that he couldn't find what he THOUGHT should be in the book. He completely ignores the ACCURATE information on the development of these ships, their design rationale, and the fact filled biographies which give very detailed and interesting information. Maybe he can GOOGLE it and show me where this great information has been seen in English before.As far as the photographs, I know first hand having collaborated on research since 1998 with Gary that they are for the most part new photographs that have not been previously available anywhere, so try again! For $12 dollars I guess he expects deck plans, lines plans, and detailed structural drawings and photographs on ships that haven't existed for over 90 years. If he can supposedly find the photographs on the internet, maybe he should see if he can find all of that also. It can be found FWIW, but you would actually have to do some research off the internet.This book is worth every penny as are the other books done by Gary Staff on German battle cruisers and his first book on German battleships of the Deutschland, Nassau, and Helgoland classes.Do yourself a favor and buy these books and READ them!

This is a decent book but fairly brief. I mostly purchased it for reference in building a model, and the color artwork showing the side and overhead profiles are one of the best features. Since German WWI battleships are a relatively uncommon subject in books, the general background and technical details about each class and individual ships are nice to see. The New Vangaurd series specializes in short and inexpensive installments, but I'd probably give a stronger recommendation if the two German Battleships 1914-1918 books were combined into a single volume.

Great book. Very fast delivery.

Gary Staff was a great author and an expert on the German Imperial Navy. These books make for easy quick reference help and also assist the modeler with great drawings and pictures

Nice paintings. Interesting text. OK for the limited size and format typical for this series. Would like to see Staff do a proper book like he did for the German Battlecruisers. The German replies to the English dreadnoughts were well thought out, superior fighting ships. Noting the damage they took and survived should convince you of this. Had they had the resources to keep up the building race, their planned ships would have outclassed everything the Brits built.

Lots of useful details that are hard to come by in English. It helps dispel certain myths and misconceptions regarding the High Seas Fleet and its ships by providing information on the rationale for their construction and design.I am very happy with the purchase of this 2-part title.Javier

I bought this small book in Jan. 2016. It was not as detailed as Gary Staff's recent hardback book on the German battlecruisers. Perhaps he will expand this subject to provide a little more detail and additional photographs in a hardback volume.

i like that

Deuxième livre de la série allemande 1ère Guerre MondialeBon petit bouquin, très intéressant et bien illustrésDommage de ne pas avoir ce genre d'ouvrage en français

Decisamente chiaro e con buonissime descrizioni di ogni singola corazzata. La 'conclusione' in questo volume ricoosce la vittoria tedesca allo Jutland cosa che normalmente gli inglesi non fanno.Galland5:-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)

Another excellent WWI naval book by Osprey. Informative and interesting, this book provides a good overview of the later German dreadnought classes. Well illustrated with period black and white photographs and some excellent colour plates. Sold ay a good price, well packaged and delivered as scheduled.

Was soll man da groß schreiben?Das Heftchen ist exzellent recherchiert, bietet viele bislang selten veröffentliche Fotos und geht, trotz der Kürze, recht ordentlich auf die Gefechte und Einsatze, aber die Schicksale der Schiffe ein. Die Gemälde sind wieder große Klasse, die Zeichnungen und Risse lassen, ohne dem ganzen einen Abbruch zu tun, leider etwas zu wünschen übrig.Trotzdem, auf nicht einmal 50 Seiten derart viel Informationen dem historisch interessierten und auch den Modellbauern bereit zu stellen ist ein Kunststück, welches viele nicht fertig bekommen.Für mich als Fan der kasierlichen (generell der grauen Schiffe) Flotte ein informatives und lesenswertes Heft, welches Lust darauf macht sich weiter mit der Thematik zu befassen.Ich kann nur meinen Hut ziehen - Chapeau!

Please find my full review on the first series of this book, German Battleships 1914-18 (volume 2) on the German Battleships 1914-18 (volume 1) page.