The seventeenth century saw the transformation of Britain from a minor state on the fringes of Europe into a global economic power, whose interests were protected and promoted by the largest navy in the world. The character of this...

The new Hanoverian dynasty that came to power with the accession of George I in 1714 inherited the largest navy in the world. In the course of the century, this force would see a vast amount of action against...

When first published in 2005 this book was hailed as a major contribution to naval history, and its value as a reference work was reflected in the speed with which it went out of print. This revised edition incorporates...

The fireship was the guided missile of the sailing era. Packed with incendiary (and sometimes explosive) material, it was aimed at its highly inflammable wooden target by volunteers who bailed out into a boat at the last moment. It...

In the sailing era First Rates were the largest, most powerful and most costly ships to construct, maintain and operate. Built to the highest standards, they were lavishly decorated and given carefully considered names that reflected the pride and...

Horatio Nelson was a hero from the time when his dramatic initiative won the battle of St Vincent in 1797, while his last battle, at Trafalgar, reduced the enemy naval forces so thoroughly that they were no longer able...

This new reference book describes every aspect the English navy in the second half of the seventeenth century, from the time when the Fleet Royal was taken into Parliamentary control after the defeat of Charles I, until the accession...

Peter the Great created a navy from nothing, but it challenged and soon surpassed Sweden as the Baltic naval power, while in the Black Sea it became an essential tool in driving back the Ottoman Turks from the heartland...

In the past three centuries the ship has developed from the relatively unsophisticated sail-driven vessel which would have been familiar to the sailors of the Tudor navy, to the huge motor-driven container ships, nuclear submarines and vast cruise liners...

In the series of wars that raged between France and Britain from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries,seapower was of absolute vital importance. Not only was each nation's navy a key to victory, but was a prerequisite for imperial...