Warship Pictorial No.6
Omaha Class Cruisers

By Steve Wiper

Classic Warships Publishing
PO Box 57591
Tucson, AZ 85732
USA

Reviewed by Bob Pearson

Outdated in appearance even when they were first designed, the ten ships of the Omaha class were the first of the US Navy's 'modern' cruisers to be built in the post-WW1 era. They were to serve around the world showing the flag in the interwar years and to give valued service during the Second World War. One was to be transferred to the Soviet Navy, while the rest were quickly sold and scrapped postwar.

Steve Wiper has collected a nice assortment of photos of these ten ships during their lifetimes and has presneted them all in this volume. The book opens with an overview of their reason to be, followed by chapters devoted to each ship in turn. These consist of career highlights as well as various photos of the ship in question.

There are 68 photos within its 56 pages, many of which are full page (8x11 Landscape format).

Conclusion

Highly recommended. Anyone contemplating a model of an Omaha can't go wrong with a copy of this as reference material. Others in the series include: USS Indianapolis, USS Minneapolis, USS Louisville, USS Texas and USS San Francisco. Titles in developement include the Arleigh Burke class as well as other USN types from pre-war to modern times. Steve Wiper has recently expressed interest in what the public would like to see from his books. Drop him a line and perhaps we'll see it in print.

My thanks to Keith Butterley of Warshipbooks.com for the review sample.