Book description
Throughout Britain's history, one factor above all others has
determined the fate of the nation: its navy. N. A. M. Rodger's
definitive account reveals how the political and social progress of
Britain has been inextricably intertwined with the strength - and
weakness - of its sea power, from the desperate early campaigns
against the Vikings to the defeat of the great Spanish Armada.
Covering policy, strategy, ships, recruitment and weapons, this is a
superb tapestry of nearly 1,000 years of maritime history.
'No other historian has examined the subject in anything like the
detail found here. The result is an outstanding example of narrative
history' Barry Unsworth, Sunday Telegraph
N. A.M. Rodger is Professor of Naval History at Exeter University and
Anderson Senior Research Fellow, National Maritime Museum. He is the
author of The Wooden World and The Admiralty. The second volume of his
naval history of Britain, The Command of the Ocean, is published this
month by Allen Lane.
