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The ships he is interested in are the so-called "Big 5" of the Tennessee and Colorado classes, as well as the Pennsylvania and Nevada.

The best single book for this would probably be Norman Friedman's US Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Includes those classes as well as others before and after. That Amazon pricing is really good - looks like the 2016 paperback reprint did wonders for making it affordable (though, if the reviews are to be believed, less complementary to some of the images). It's 480 pages long, so that $37 gets you a lot of book!

Whilst waiting for the book, there are plenty of images and drawings on Navsource.org for those ships. He might also be interested in the weapons themselves, which can be found on Navweaps.com.

Six Frigates by Ian Toll is Phenomenal: https://www.amazon.com/Six-Frigates-Epic-History-Founding/dp/0393058476/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BYGY83FZD1CE&keywords=six+frigates&qid=1556727829&s=gateway&sprefix=Six+Fri%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-1


The Line Upon the wind covers the Napoleonic war at sea: https://www.amazon.com/Line-Upon-Wind-Great-1793-1815/dp/0393066533/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1556728015&refinements=p_27%3ANoel+Mostert&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Noel+Mostert


Nelson's Trafalgar is also fantastic: https://www.amazon.com/Nelsons-Trafalgar-Battle-Changed-World/dp/0670034487/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Trafalgar&qid=1556728094&s=books&sr=1-2


If by Sea is a good companion piece to Six Frigates: https://www.amazon.com/If-Sea-Forging-American-Revolution/dp/0465016073/ref=pd_sim_14_92?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0465016073&pd_rd_r=84676f5d-6c2d-11e9-94d4-49728df24266&pd_rd_w=pA1k7&pd_rd_wg=XsBKn&pf_rd_p=90485860-83e9-4fd9-b838-b28a9b7fda30&pf_rd_r=W77XXV91PDQA2J0S6EE9&psc=1&refRID=W77XXV91PDQA2J0S6EE9



The best of the bunch is definitely Six Frigates.

Iron Dawn is excellent.


Adding to that "The Monitor Chronicles" is a good first hand account of the ship's entire life, taken from the letters of one of her sailors.

Ian Tolls books are a fantastic overall look at naval warfare and the pacific theatre on both sides. Toll goes in depth on describing the ships of the time, how they got there, how there were used, tactics, leaders, as well as the ground and air campaigns. They are outstanding books, I have included the link to his first one Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 He includes pictures as well but as an author he does a fantastic job of painting a picture of aspects you would never have even thought of.

I'd suggest The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships from 1860 to Present Day.. It's an excellent reference book to start with. The ships are divided into eras and there's a very good breakdown of the technological advancements as the state of the art progressed from HMS Warrior (1860) to HMS Vanguard (1946).

*Edit: You can find the book much cheaper elsewhere.

I also have an a very strong interest in the treaty. I just finished reading a book about the follow up London Treaty of 1931 At the Crossroads Between Peace and War: The London Naval Conference of 1930 its meh IMO

FYI, "auxiliaries" are naval ships that have non-combat functions. Scrolling through the 'stuff other people bought' list mentioned U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History. Amphibious ships are an important type of auxiliary, used for landing troops on a hostile shore a la D-Day. So that might be a title of interest to him. Downside is it's pretty expensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Victory-Sea-The-Complete-Series/dp/B008XJM7T2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408663814&sr=8-1&keywords=victory+at+sea

I got this set from Amazon. I have been pretty happy with it. Of course, the footage is unrestored and the editors tended to use the same shots over and over throughout the series. I didn't find it overly grainy and for 5 bucks, I cannot complain. It would be nice if someone did a restoration pass on the film but I am not holding out on that.

This book is really excellent, with lots of details on the subject:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848320787/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Looking forward to reading Admiral Scheer's writings of the High Seas Fleet in the First World War.

Germany's High Seas Fleet

Also this youtube video is a great graphic representation of the action at Jutland. Really enjoyed it! There are also numerous proper documentaries of the battle on youtube.

The others are correct. The IJN was still convinced of the inevitability of the Decisive Battle that Mahan had espoused at the turn of the century. The entirety of their doctrine, excluding the Decisive Battle, was built around battles being at night and at close range.

They would launch their torpedos while still undetected at long range and then close with the enemy. It’s the same logic behind a Z 52 torping smoke and then charging that smoke, behind a wall of skill, to catch the DD off guard. The IJN hoped for two things. First, that the torpedoes would damage or sink enough ships to make a difference in numerical superiority. Second, that the other ships in the USN formation would turn and break formation making their gunfire much more ineffective and make single ships easier to pick off.

The USN doctrine put all of their eggs in the radar fire control basket. Unfortunately, many of the commanders didn’t trust the new technology, instead trusting their own, flawed, pre-war doctrine. For instance, Norman Scott had a cruiser with search radar but didn’t pick it because he thought a Heavy Cruiser was more befitting an Admiral. So, there was a huge delay in communication between ships and commanders at the Battle of Cape Esperance.

If you’re seriously interested in learning more I strongly suggest reading:

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553385127/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_LjBOAbQ8CTBFT

Very sorry about your injury, I hope you're on the road to recovery!

Not a novel, but I just listened to Iron Dawn by Richard Snow on my commute and really enjoyed it. It's a great history of the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack during the Civil War.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Battle-Midway-Craig-Symonds/dp/1480528390

Anyone who mentions The Battle of Midway without mentioning Shattered Sword is doing a disservice to their audience. I think this would be a perfect carrier combat book for OP.

I would like to suggest Four Weeks in May as an outstanding book on fairly modern naval warfare. It is written by the Captain of HMS Coventry and deals with her part in the fighting during the Falklands conflict of 1982 and her ultimate loss after being hit by Argentine bombs. I genuinely couldn't put it down.

Ship of Ghosts is another good one about the dark and ugly early days of the Pacific War.