DURR, I don't know if you are WW II specific, but, a good book that is hard to buy, but useful for modeling is Combat Fleets by AD Baker (many different years) this one is mostly modern USN
the Norman Friedman books called Illustrated Design Study are good for the entire USN history, there are many different subjects covered in each volume, a Carrier volume, a Battleship volume, etc
Also useful are the Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships,,,,,,again, split up into different volumes
if there is a Chartwell Encyclopedia for your subject, those are great books, you get text, photos, line drawings, color paintings and color profiles for each subject in each volume, with all five of those items in each case, you have enough to scratchbuild something if there is no kit for it
you probably already know about old Jane's Fighting Ships editions,,,,,but, I will include them for completeness sake
hope this helps
Rex