"No country in history has ever handed over so many inmates to private corporations. This book looks at the consequences" (Eric Schlosser, bestselling author of Fast Food Nation ).In Prison Profiteers, coeditors Tara Herivel and Paul Wright "follow the money to an astonishing constellation of prison administrators and politicians working in collusion with private parties to maximize profits" ( Publishers Week...

An up-to-date history of the large, fast, and long-ranged armored cruisers of the US Navy, and the roles that these warships played in the fleet as America developed into a great naval power.At the dawn of the “Steel Navy” era, the rapidly expanding US Navy's fleet of capital ships consisted not only of battleships but also armored cruisers, the forerunner of the battlecruiser. Armored cruisers sacrificed the battleship's superlative firepower and protection for su...

In the early 20th century Britain's largest colonies established their own small naval presence, and their ships fought alongside the Royal Navy during World War I.These fleets were expanded during the inter-war years, and in 1939 the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy willingly joined the fight on behalf of the British Commonwealth. For the most part these small navies consisted of a few cruisers and destroyers, designed ...

With the outbreak of World War II, Britain's Royal Navy and her fleet of battleships would be at the forefront of her defence.Yet ten of the 12 battleships were already over 20 years old, having served in World War I, and required extensive modifications to allow them to perform a vital service throughout the six long years of conflict. Angus Konstam offers a comprehensive review of the development of these British battleships from their initial commissioning to th...

The idea of a heavy cruiser emerged in the aftermath of World War I, and was closely linked to the limits set by the inter-war Washington Naval Treaty.The pre-World War I concept of armoured cruisers had been abandoned, but in their stead the Admiralty saw a place for powerful cruisers, able to patrol the sea lanes of the British Empire, and which were well-armed enough that they could destroy enemy commerce cruisers. The result was a group of British warships, kno...

The rival battlecruisers first clashed in January 1915 at Dogger Bank in the North Sea and although the battle was a British tactical victory with neither side losing any of its battlecruisers, the differences in the designs of the British and German ships were already apparent.The two sides responded very differently to this first clash; while the Germans improved their ammunition-handling procedures to lessen the risk of disabling explosions, the British drew the...

Designed with little more than a passing nod to the international naval treaties of the inter-war period, the Imperial Japanese Navy's heavy cruisers were fast and heavily armed.Like the other vessels of the Japanese Navy, the heavy cruisers were technologically superior to and far more innovative than their Allied rivals, whom they met in many of the major Pacific Theatre battles, including Midway and Leyte Gulf.Mark Stille continues his study of the IJN o...

The Imperial Japanese Navy went to war with 17 light cruisers and another three cruiser-sized training ships.Of these, most were 5,500-ton ships designed to act as destroyer squadron flagships. This made them much different in capabilities and mission from their American counterparts. During the war, the Japanese built another five light cruisers, all but one of which maintained the design premise of being able to serve as destroyer squadron flagships. During the w...

A detailed, illustrated look at the earliest seven classes of destroyer fielded by the Imperial Japanese Navy of World War II.Several classes of Japanese destroyer were built before the war. This includes the famous Fubuki class (called “Special Type” by the Japanese, which were, when completed in the late 1920's, the most powerful class of destroyers in the world). This design forced all other major navies to follow suite and provided the basic design for the next...

During the Pacific War the most successful component of the Imperial Japanese Fleet was its destroyer force.These ships were larger and, in most cases, better-equipped than their Allied counterparts. Armed with a powerful, long-ranged torpedo, these ships proved formidable opponents. Initially, they were instrumental in an unbroken string of Japanese victories, but it was not until the Guadalcanal campaign that these ships fully demonstrated their power. In a serie...

The light cruiser was a natural development of the sailing frigate – a fast multi-purpose warship that could patrol the sea lanes, protect convoys and scout for enemy battle fleets.By the inter-war period the need for this type of ship was even more important, given the increasing need for protection from aircraft, and the need to screen the fleet from submarines or destroyers. Wartime experience had shown that the British light cruiser was one of the most versatil...

In February 1942, three of the major ships of the German surface fleet – the battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen – stormed out of the harbour at Brest on a dramatic voyage back to Germany. Passing through the straights of Dover, the ships faced everything the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy could throw at them. In a dramatic running fight, the ships managed to sail right under the nose of history's greatest maritime nation to reach the safety of ...