Modern U.S. Navy Destroyers By: S.F. Tomajezyk (96 pages, photos) Reviewer: Bernie Ditter Overall Rating: Four Stars--Highly recommended. An excellent book. Author S.F. Tomajezyk has compressed an enormous amount of information on the history of the destroyer, from its origin as a torpedo boat to the newest Iteration as the famed Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer, into this publication. With hints of the next class of destroyers to come, named after the famed Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, and realizing that the publication date of this book was 2001, one can only hope for a revised edition. The photos can only begin to show the sleekness of the Spruance and Arleigh Burke classes and the authors detail in describing the purpose for the lines is even more intriguing. For those of us who have served on the pre guided missile destroyers the firepower, accuracy and range of the weaponry of these newer ships are unfathomable. While attending the commissioning ceremony for an Arleigh Burke DDG I looked to find the weapons on board. Aside from a five inch gun on the forecastle housed in a strange shaped turret I was hard pressed to recognize the missile launching systems which are embedded within the ship and the torpedoes which are behind closed doors. One has to read this book in order to appreciate the sheer power of this newest destroyer. In earlier reviews I have commented that the gunner's mate rating has been taken over by the computer operator. This book tends to confirm that assessment. This new Zumwalt class DDG will have an electric propulsion system which will revolutionize the design of the ship. It will run faster and quieter, require less space thereby affording more space for a much smaller crew. The ship's compliment of the present Arleigh Burke class destroyer is 32 officers and 348 enlisted men while the projected compliment of the Zumwalt class will be a crew of 95 persons. The first ship is to be delivered in 2008.