''Jane's Fighting Ships'' by

Janes Information Services Jane's Information Group, now styled Janes, is a global open-source intelligence company specialising in military, national security, aerospace and transport topics, whose name derives from British author Fred T. Jane. History Jane's Informat ...

is an annual

reference book A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to ...

of information on all the world's

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

s arranged by nation, including information on ships' names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

s, etc. Each edition describes and illustrates warships of different national naval and paramilitary forces, providing data on their characteristics. The first issue was illustrated with Jane's own ink sketches--photos began to appear with the third volume in 1900. The present title was adopted in 1905. It was originally published by Fred T. Jane in London in 1898 as ''Jane's All the World's Fighting Ships'', in order to assist naval officers and the general public in playing naval wargames. Its success eventually launched a number of military publications carrying the name "Jane's". It is a unit of Jane's Information Group, which is now owned by IHS. Ten early editions of Jane's (those of 1898, 1905-06, 1906-07, 1914, 1919, 1924, 1931, 1939, 1944-45, and 1950-51) were reissued in facsimile reprints by Arco Publishing starting in 1969. All of these appeared in the oblong or "landscape" format that characterized the series until the 1956/57 edition, while from 1957/58 the present "portrait" layout was adopted, thus matching the sister Jane's publication on aircraft. Beginning in the early 2000s, ''Jane's'' has also been published online, on CD and microfiche.

Editors

:1898–1915: Fred T. Jane :1916–1917: Maurice Prendergast :1918–1922: Oscar Parks with Maurice Prendergast :1923–1929: Oscar Parkes with Francis E. McMurtrie :1930–1934: Oscar Parkes :1935–1948: Francis E. McMurtrie :1949–1973: Raymond Blackman :1974–1988: Capt. John Moore (RN) :1988–2000: Capt. Richard Sharpe (RN) :2000–2017: Commodore Stephen Saunders (RN) :2018–present: Alex Pape

References

Brooks, Richard. ''Fred T. Jane: An Eccentric Visionary''. Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Information Group, 1997.

External links

* {{cite web , url= http://www.janes.com/ , title=Defence & Security Intelligence & Analysis , work=IHS Jane's 360 1898 non-fiction books 1898 establishments in the United Kingdom Book series introduced in 1898 Publications established in 1898 Books of naval history Nautical reference works

Editors

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