Reviewed by Glen Porter

Sevastopol Class Russian Battleships  is available online from Squadron.com

The Russian Sevastopol class of Battleships, as first built, could have sat most comfortably among German High Seas Fleet. Below the water-line, however, they were a little bit different. Each had an icebreaker bow and twin tandem rudders.

Laid down in 1909, from a German, Blohm-Voss design, the four ships took so long to complete that by the start of the First World War, they lagged some what behind other contemporary warships. The four ships of the class were named Sevastopol [class name ship], Poltava, Petropavlovsk and Gangut.

Text, in English, starts with a short history leading up to the design and construction of the class, a technical description including armour and armaments, modifications in the 1920s and 30s and then a complete history of each ship from construction to the breakers, in the case of the Gangut, a life of nearly forty years.

There are diagrams of the arnour and machinery lay-outs, all the guns including those fitted at later dates and various modification programs, some of which didn't come to fruition.

Inside the front and rear covers are four colour side and plan profiles of three of the ships at various times in their careers. These profiles are very attractive and give a good idear of the colours of differant aspects of the ships.

Three separate double-sided sets of plans in 1/400 scale are suplied of all four ships, again, at various stages of their lives, which would be very handy for anyone wishing to scratch-build one of these ships. These plans reside inside the rear cover in a special holder.

This book is obviously the first in a series of warship monographs by Maciej S. Sobanski and apart from some small Polglish [Polish-English] interpretations, is a very good read.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Squadron for the review sample.

Review Copyright © 2005 by Glen Porter
Page Created 30 March, 2005
Last updated 29 March, 2005

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