British Sea Power

British Sea Power

David Howarth
$10.00
$10.00
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The British did not take to the water like ducks, for centuries doing little but cling to coastal waters. The Romans and Vikings were unrivaled as seamen. Britain's success at sea began with Elizabeth I and the defeat of the Armada, thanks to superior gunnery and seamanship. David Howarth charts the development of British sea power from the 5th-century boats of skin sailed by Irish monks to the battleships of World War II. He reconstructs the expansion of trade routes and the great 18th-century days of the line-of-battle ships. With Napoleon's fall, the British were free to expand, and the prestige of the Royal Navy rose so high that warfare ceased as British ships patrolled the oceans. Howarth's natural love for the sea shines through a all times; he knows its colors and moods and has an instinctive sympathy with the men who said on it. His history is scholarly and yet as exciting as the best adventure stories. Includes a new postscript by Margret Rule on the important discoveries made in raising the wreck of Henry VIII's warship, the Mary Rose.