The warships of the World War II German Navy are among the most popular subjects in naval history, and one of the best collections is the concise but authoritative six volume series written by Gerhard Koop and illustrated by Klaus-Peter Schmolke. Each book contains an account of the development of a particular class, a detailed description of the ships, with full technical details, and an outline of their service, and are heavily illustrated with plans, battle maps and a substantial collection of photographs. The first five volumes of this much sought after series are now available in paperback, with the sixth volume <i>German Light Cruisers of World War II</i>, planned for release in the fall of 2014.<br><p>This volume covers the Admiral Hipper class, among the largest heavy cruisers to serve in World War II. Intended to be a class of five, they enjoyed contrasting fortunes: <i>Seydlitz</i> and <i>Lützow</i> were never completed; <i>Blücher</i> was the first major German warship sunk in action; <i>Admiral Hipper</i> became one of the most successful commerce raiders of the war; while the <i>Prinz Eugen</i> survived to be expended as a target in one of the first American nuclear tests in 1946.