There is something of a unifying theme in this particular edition of the long-running naval annual, as the best articles consider the failure to harness technology to mission. This is between the failure of the Royal Navy to field a new generation of cruisers after World War II, Stalin's inability to get the large cruisers he desired into service before his death, how the Italian Regina Marina's vision of a fleet capable of fighting Britain remained on paper, and the Imperial Japanese Navy's mismanagement of their program to deploy a high-speed patrol submarine akin to the German Type XXI. Should you find a reasonably-priced copy (three cheers for inter-library loan) what you won't find a great deal of is coverage of the United States Navy. ( )