Warships International Fleet Review
By: Mike Dunn
look
through the pages, I rapidly came to the conclusion that this is a valuable resource
to the naval modeller, having as it does many very good photos of current, and
older, vessels. On reading this magazine later from cover to cover, I decided
that it was going to join the very short list of subscriptions I have.
So what makes this magazine different from others out there? Well, it's quite up-to-date for print media. There are four pages dedicated to global naval news ranging from the RAN not buying the Kidds, to the order for the RN Type 45 destroyers, to the USN looking at refitting the USS Miami to allow women to serve on submarines. As well as this, the feature articles are well researched and written, varying from one-page featurettes, eg on the USN Goshawk training aircraft to eg, seven pages on the state of the Russian Navy, another seven pages on the US Fifth Fleet and associated stories (for the uninitiated, the Fifth Fleet are based in the Gulf), and three pages on RIMPAC 2000, among others.
The magazine is generously sprinkled with photos, illustrating the text, and
the quality of these photos is very high. 
Certainly
in this issue alone, I have doubled the number of good photos of Soviet/Russian
warships available for detailing my models. As well as the imagery, the actual
articles are well-informed, and thought-provoking. Written with both the naval
enthusiast and the occasional purchaser in mind, they provide enough information
for people new to the subject to be comfortable as well as not being dumbed-down
so much that those experienced with the topic are left bored. It's a hard mix
to do, but one they have managed very well.
one-off
as far as either information, articles or imagery is concerned. This issue is
certainly as good, if not better.
Among the five pages of global news in this issue, the RAN are insisting their Collins class subs will be "world beaters", Argentina have effectively given up carrier aviation, and the Iranians have a new mine-laying sub class.
Within the feature articles are five pages on the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) including photos of vessels new to me, three pages on Brazil's fleet (including their main naval base, The Arsenal, off Rio), an analysis of the Kursk loss (supplementing their long-running website articles on the Kursk), a five page review of the Duke class frigate (RN Type 23) by a retired USN Commander, as well as three pages on the RAN's new assault ships HMAS Manoora and HMAS Kanimbla (based on a pair of USN Newport class LSTs) - I would never have thought it possible but the RAN have made a squat design downright ugly! Sorry Australia, but UGH!
While not tremendously up-to-date all of the time, the Warships
IFR web site broke the news of the Kursk loss, and 
followed
the story for a long time with the latest information & speculation on the
loss.
This is certainly a magazine I look forward to; my knowledge of world naval matters expands every issue, as does my library of usable and uncommon imagery. I can heartily reccomend this magazine to all those interested, all over the world.
Navy's
trimaran trials ship, the RV Triton. The second was a price increase......
As with the other issues, there is plenty of international warship news; eight pages in this issue, covering the Royal Navy's new attack submarine, some information on the Kursk, how Canada's new submarines are progressing, and on the surface side three pages dedicated to the USS Cole attack, coverage of naval aviation news, and a lovely photo of the launch of the new Spanish frigate, the Alvaro de Bazan.
Feature articles this issue look at the RV Triton, the history of lightweight torpedoes, the Indian Navy's Dehli class INS Mysore, a replica of Peter the Great's flagship, and a lot more besides packed into the 48 pages..
Continuing the look at the world's navies is an examination of both the Pakistani
fleet and the Bangladeshi Navy. Not two navies that trip readily off the tongue,
Pakistan has a respectable defensive fleet of about 40 vessels, mainly made
up of 
retired
European or Chinese vessels - submarine fleet being about seven main vessels
with three locally-produced midget subs, and the surface fleet being six ex-RN
Type 21 (Amazon) class frigates and two ex-RN Leander frigates, with a range
of patrol vessels and mine hunters making up the remaining numbers. Bangladesh
started it's brown-water Navy with speedboats and a captured patrol vessel in
1971 - since then, it has grown to in excess of 50 coastal and river vessels,
the eldest being a Type 61 ex-RN Salisbury class frigate, and two ex-RN Type
41 Leopard class frigates. However, like Pakistan, Bangladesh is trying to upgrade
this area of their Navy by buying Chinese frigates.
Despite the price increase, this remains an extremely good resource for the modeller, containing as it does numerous uncommon and detailed pictures of ships you would not see in your home countries.