Dreadnought: A History of the Modern Battleship, by Richard Hough, is an interesting look back at the history and development of the battleship. As expected, the book starts off with HMS Dreadnought, the ship that started it all, and ends with the Iowa Class of United States battleships that represented the pinnacle of dreadnought development.

There is not much new in this book that I hadn’t already come across in previous books, but it is a nicely formed chronological biography of the big gun ships. I think this subject has been well and truly covered now, and although I would happily recommend this tome to someone who is beginning an interest in naval history, for the diehard historian like myself, it is not a necessary purchase.

Still, Richard Hough, as we would expect, has done a great job of researching the various ships and their histories, making the book an interesting refresher.

Reviewed by Daniel L Little – January 6 2018 - www.daniellittle.com ( )

I believe this is the book, where Mr. Hough, usually a careful researcher confuses the WWI Dreadnought "Jean Bart" , 22,000 tons, 12/12" guns and a speed of 20 knots with the "Jean Bart" of 1940, a ship of 42,806 Tons displacement, 8/15" guns and a speed of 32 knots. It is an irritation in a pretty standard description of this widely studied ship class. There are better books available. ( )