Photo Resources and Maritime History

US Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images  A gold mine for ship modelers and US naval history buffs. Updated weekly with new images from US Navy Archives. All photos are in the public domain 

Navsource  Large photo archive devoted to US Navy surface ships. You'll find thousands of photos (close to 4,000 at last count), organized by ship type and hull number.

Warships of the World: Warship Pictures, Data and Histories Crammed with information, photos etc

  German Naval History Page   A site devoted to the German Navy in World War I and World War II. On this this site, you will find information about German warships of both world wars, line drawings, model pictures, their history and operations and much more. Excellent resource!

Imperial Japanese Navy Page  Jon Parshall's IJN page. Check out the showdown to determine the greatest Battleship of all time!

Ironclads and Blockade Runners Of the American Civil War  Very comprehensive site with great links, photos and cross references. Excellent! 

Mechanisms of Imperial Japanese Navy Warships in 3-D   Check out the stunning computer generated 3D views of IJN DD Akizuki

U-Boat Net  This site covers every aspect of WW2 German U-Boats. Very comprehensive

SubCommittee  Submarines and more submarines!

Nautical Research Guild   "...dedicated to maritime research and accurate ship model
building." 

US Navy Camouflage John Sheridan's new page looks at WW2 US Navy camo patterns. Post your color inquiries on the Discussion Board and get authoritative answers.

Royal Navy Ships of Victor Johns  Another Royal Navy site dedicated to WWII information

U.S. World War II Battleships and Battlecruisers  Steve Belanger's very worthwhile new site. Archival pics of all US WW2 battleships 

Maritime History and Naval Heritage Homepage   Michael Phillips homepage, based in the UK, of articles covering maritime history

  The Chilean Navy Site of Roberto Paredes  An Unofficial Site from Roberto Paredes of Chile is dedicated to his country's navy. 

USS McCandless FF-1084, Bruce Sharpe's site honoring the ships on which he served. Also covered are USS Guam LPH-9, USS Trenton LPD-14, and USS Portland LSD-37. 

Net Marine- If you have an interest in the modern Marine Nationale, you will want to see Net Marine. Excellent coverage on the modern French Navy. Updated frequently with new photographs. Plenty of photographs of the Charles De Gaulle, CVN and the remarkable La Fayette Class, stealth frigate. Available in French and English. Thanks to Alain Saint-Felix for mentioning this site.   

J-Aircraft- Dave Pluth's excellent site on the aircraft and warships of Imperial Japan. The site has multiple message boards, including one devoted solely to Japanese warships. 

The Spanish American War Centennial Website - This site covers all facets of the war in 1898. It includes photographs and information of the warships involved for both Spain and the USA. 

Warships1 - This is a very large database containing photographs and statistical information on most the steel and iron warships from the 19th through 21st centuries. Run by Guy Derdall and Tony DiGiulian. 

USN Photographic CDs from Ray D. Bean - From the Great White North comes Ray D. Bean and Still Motions Photographics. Found herein is a section on Ray's renowned USN CDs.

Museums and Preserved Ships

Historic Naval Ships Visitors Guide  A comprehensive listing of museum ships. If you're traveling and wish to know of any museum ships in the vicintiy of your destination, check out this site.  

HMS Warrior Excellent photos and "virtual tour" of an important ship, now preserved at Portsmouth

HMS Victory Comprehensive virtual tour of Nelson's flagship.

HMS Belfast This very thorough tour covers both above and below decks areas, and includes discussions of life aboard this WW2 era Modified Southhampton Class light cruiser.

Mac's Navy Links   Photographs of Canadian Navy warships  

The Mary Rose Trust The favorite ship of Henry VIII, now being restored in Portsmouth.

  USS New Jersey John Miano's site is dedicated to detailed photographic coverage of the fittings and structural details of the one time flagship of Bull Halsey. John wishes to cover the detail with a modeler's eye, up close. Over 100 photographs have been posted with many more to go. 

USS Texas, BB-35 - Charles Moore has been a volunteer on USS Texas since November 1986. He maintains a website on Texas that is chock full of interesting information and photographs.

Ship Modeling Sites

Internet Modeler   Primarily aircraft but also armour and ships. Excellent production values, nicely photographed, thorough build-up articles. Good site worth a look even if you are not an aircraft modeler

San Juan Nepomuceno This site by John Simpson of the United Kingdom is devoted to the building of a plank on frame model of the San Juan Nepomuceno, a Spanish 74 gun ship of the line, that was part of the Franco-Spanish fleet that met with destiny at Trafalgar.

Imperial Japanese Navy Carrier Camouflage Site- Allan Parry's web site examines the various camouflage schemes applied in mid to late war on various Japanese Carriers. Beautiful artwork. 

Viribus Unitis, Austro-Hungarian Battleship, 3-D Project - This site is devoted to the first battleship design to have triple 12-inch guns. In addition to the three dimensional imagery, there photographs, technical specifications, ship's history and other goodies. The site is run by Andrew Wilkie. 

Nuernberg Ship’s Modellers-Club – For any ship modeler in the Nuernberg, Germany area the Nuernberg Ship’s Modellers-Club provides a wonderful opportunity to meet with kindred spirits. The club is very active with meetings, RC events and museum field trips. This link is to their very extensive web site. Although the text is in German, you don’t have to speak the language to enjoy the many pages of fine models. 

Italie 1935-1945 - This French site is devoted to all of the military branches of Italy from the period of 1935 to 1945. Of course the Regia Marina is prominently featured. 

Kit Producers & Model Shops

Trident Hobbies/ Free Time Hobbies - The Lowes, who took over Trident Hobbies, offer a huge selection of models, publications and modeling supplies, along with fast efficient service. 

Pacific Front Hobbies  A fantastic - and unequaled - source for ship models, books (new & used), aftermarket items, etc. If Pacific Front doesn't have it or can't get it, it doesn't exist.

White Ensign Models   UK model shop specializing in ship models and accessories. Excellent service and wide selection. Also produces its own line of outstanding 1:350 and 1:700 scale resin ship models, primarily Royal Navy subjects.

Blue Water Navy  US producer of 1:350 scale resin ships. Kit quality is uniformly excellent. (defunct, now Yankee Modelworks)

Hobbylink Japan  Order models direct from Japan and pay Japanese prices!  Even with freight this can result in savings.

Naval Base Hobbies  This New York City shop has an excellent site.  It is well organized and easy to navigate. Check it out. (Now under TotalNavy)

Regia Marina Italian producer of 1:700 and scheduled 1:350 and 1:72 scale resin ship models. Kit line has been uniformly excellent. Specializes in Italian WW2 subjects but has branched out to cover other countries and eras.

Nauticus Models Chris Decker's on-line model ship site. This site sells resin and plastic ship kits at good prices as well as books and hobby accessories. (now defunct) 

Fleetline Models - From the land of Oz comes Fleetline. Kev and the crew carry some of the best warship kits in the world. Supplying the naval needs of the ANZAC Hosts, orders from anywhere on the globe are cheerfully accepted. 

Panda Models - Panda Models from China is a fairly new company with a very ambitious release schedule. So far the area of concentration has been in 1:350 scale but they have some very big releases planned. 

Dragon USA - This is the United States Distributor for Dragon, Shanghai Dragon, Dragon Express, Panda Models, Hasegawa, Wings, Micro-Tech, Gunze Sangyo, Concord and other companies. Although DragonUSA does not sell directly to modelers, the site lists shops that carry the products of the companies. Also, you can see the listings for all of the products produced by these companies. 

Task Force Hobbies run by Bill Giordano is a brand new retailer selling warship kits and nautical items and accessories at discount prices. (now defunct)

Delphis Models - Delphis Models of Rome, Italy has long been known for their production of superb 1:700 scale resin models of the warships of Italy, ranging from World War One designs to the present day. However, Delphis has now branched out into the production of 1:350 scale kits with their brand new Raimondo Montecuccoli of the third class of Condottieri type light cruisers. Although, the Delphis website is still under construction, it should be up and running shortly. 

Old Steam Navy - Are uncouth Yankees interfering with your social engagements along the banks of the Mississippi? Now thanks to the newest release from Old Steam Navy, you can send those carpetbaggers and scalawags packing. Once they see the 1:96 scale CSS Arkansas, they'll skeedaddle for sure. Old Steam Navy produces 1:96 scale ironclads and a host of other products on the American Civil War. 

Cottage Industry Models - Cottage Industry Models produces large scale ironclads in 1:96 scale, such as the twin turreted monitor, USS Keokuk, and the Confederate steam rams CSS Palmetto State and CSS Arkansas. Perhaps the two masted Alexander Hamilton, revenue cutter in 1:96 scale is more to your taste. They also produce early submarines, ACW and earlier, in 1:72 and 1:32 scales, as well as ACW siege artillery. 

Model Barrels, Steve's CNC Barrels - Steve Nuttall has a very specialized niche in the model warship environment. He produces superb brass barrels in many scales as replacements for the resin, plastic or white metal barrels that come with commercial warship kits, as well as having the ability to custom design barrels for scratch-build projects. (now defunct)

Where to Purchase Books

abebooks.com  The best source for out-of-print books. Search by title, author et al and abebooks.com will retrieve a list of book shops currently offering the title, price, ordering info. Stop here first when searching for that hard-to-find book

Amazon.Com Books    Currently available books, but will search for out of print books. On-line searchable database with over 2 million titles.  Great service, big discounts on many hardcover titles.  Type "Warships" in the subject box of their search form and stand back.

Chatham Publishing. Founded in 1996, Chatham Publishing continues to advance the state of naval research with its titles. Noted authors such as D.K. Brown, Robert Gardiner and John Roberts have titles published by Chatham. Titles range the spectrum of the history of the ship. 

Conway Maritime Press One of the premier publishing houses on nautical topics. Most famous for the the Anatomy of the Ship series and Warship annual. 

Internet Book Store  A UK based On-Line bookstore similar to Amazon.Com

Snyder and Short Enterprises - John Snyder and Randy Short's site has a wide variety of their famous color chip sets for sale, as well as naval reference books.

US Naval Institute Press   Books still in publication and ship photos

  Card Modeling Resources

Digital Navy   Seller of high quality card models, most in 1:192 Scale. Check out the Imperial Japanese Navy BB FUSO 

Card Modeling Meeting in Bremerhaven  Some examples of breathtakingly detailed card models.

Paper Shipwright - This site, run by David Hathaway of the UK sells 1:250 scale card warship models, many of which come with photo-etched detail. There is a free download of HMVS Cerberus. The Cerberus was a 19th century British monitor and was the first major warship to enter service in the Australian States with the State of Victoria, hence the V in HMVS. It is still in existence but in a deplorable state as a breakwater in Australia.

Paper-Lab Publishing Models - This site run by Darius Lipinski of Canada sells card models, mostly in 1:250 scale. Additionally there is a selection of photographs of completed models.