Silverstone is a prolific author of several books on U.S. naval history and also an editor of Warship International, a quarterly journal. These two books are the first in a five-volume chronological series on U.S. warships. Both references begin with a contents page, a short article on U.S. naval ordnance for the relevant period, an explanation of data, and a list of abbreviations. Aside from this general similarity, the books are organized in differing ways. Civil War Navies is broken down in two parts: "United States Navy Warships" and "Confederate States Navy." Material in The Sailing Navy is organized under "The Continental Navy, 1775-1783," "State Navies, 1775-1783," "The United States Navy, 1797-1854," "United States Revenue Cutter Service," and "Texas Navy." Within the chapters of both volumes there are further subdivisions. Ships in Civil War are generally categorized by propulsion and vessel size, as well as duties; for the most part, ships in Sailing are listed by type. Within these divisions, ships are listed alphabetically by name in a letter-by-letter arrangement (e.g., Emma Henry, Eolus, Fort Donelson). A typical entry has a chart showing the name of the ship, builder, date laid down, date launched, and date commissioned. Entries also also provide information on tonnage, dimensions, machinery, crew complement, armament, and armor. Notes add data such as designer; service record, including engagements; ships captured; and later history. Each volume also has a short bibliography and an index of ship names. A random survey determined the bibliographies to be current and the indexes accurate. Scattered throughout the two volumes and appropriately placed are many black-and-white illustrations, mostly photographs and paintings, of the ships listed. Many of these illustrations were difficult to locate and represent a significant research effort. There is also a list of ships captured. Sailing has an appendix listing "Royal Navy Losses in North American Waters," and Civil War has an appendix that lists shipbuilders. There is only one comparable reference to these two volumes. The eight-volume Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (GPO, 1959-80) is arranged alphabetically by ship name and has detailed histories of each ship that are sometimes several pages long. The chronological arrangement of the titles under review makes it easier for users to compare classes of ships from a particular time period, and the chart format and indexes facilitate use. These easy-to-use references will be valuable complements to the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and popular items in all military collections.

Silverstone is well known to all students of warship technology, having penned numerous titles over the years on vessels of different wars. His U.S. Warships of World War II (1965, reprinted 1989) is still one of the most valuable handbooks of its kind anywhere. Here Silverstone, naval notes editor of Warship International, the quarterly journal of the International Naval Research Organization, offers two titles on the vessels of the early US Navy. The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854 covers warships from the Revolution through the Mexican War and Perry Expedition, with attention also paid to the US Revenue Service and the Texas Navy. Ships are grouped by type, e.g., ships-of-the-line, frigates, brigs, etc. Each entry for every vessel within these groupings provides information on rate/size, tonnage, machinery, date and location of construction, builder, commissioning date and length of service, complement, armament, fate, combat activities/ships captured, and other names used if sold out of service. The abbreviations are well explained and precede the essay, "US Naval Ordnance, 1773-1854," by W.J. Jurens. Small reproductions of paintings or photos are provided with many entries, while a one-page bibliography and an index by vessel name concludes the work. Civil War Navies, 1855-1883 continues The Sailing Navy's format, and its vessel data, bibliography, and indexing are arranged exactly the same way. Readers should note one caveat. The Civil War volume is almost identical in every way to a 1989 Silverstone volume published for the Naval Institute Press entitled Warships of the Civil War Navies. Although both of these volumes are recommended, libraries that already have the 1989 work need not obtain the Civil War title reviewed here, as they already have it, and with better photographic reproduction. All collections. M. J. Smith Jr. Tusculum College