The world's first complete guide to World War II destroyers! Destroyers took part in almost all significant battles in all maritime theaters of military operations in 1939-1945. They escorted convoys, hunted for submarines, and even attacked surface ships with torpedoes (paradoxically, such cases were much more common in World War II than in World War I), laid minefields, supported landings with artillery fire, etc. The cheapness of production and the intensity of use of these universal ships led to the fact that they became not only the main workhorses, but also the main consumable item for the fleets of the warring countries. Only the British lost 144 out of 389 destroyers participating in the war, and only 36 out of 168 Japanese destroyers survived. destroyers as countries participating in the war - from the USSR, the Third Reich, Great Britain, the USA and Japan to Bulgaria and Manchukuo, as well as neutral states.The publication is illustrated with hundreds of exclusive diagrams and photographs of ships.