The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 |
Buy The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 here, one of 750 Iceland History books offered for sale at discount prices here in the history books section at R bookshop. There are currently 86523 history books in our history books section, and over 1,000,000 books listed in our book store. We greatly appreciate your patronage at R bookshop and look forward to offering you a large selection of great books at discount prices now and in the future. Thank you for shopping at R Bookshop!
|
You Are Here: Home > History Books > Iceland History > Item 246
|
The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815
|
by N. A. M. Rodger
Sales Rank: 385395
|
List Price: $45.00
$32.85
At Amazon
on 10-18-2008.
|
|
|
|
Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 907 pages
Published by: W. W. Norton & Company April 4, 2005
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0393060500
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0393060508
Book Dimensions:
9.4 x 6.4 x 2.1 inches
Weighs: 3.2 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The adjective "magisterial" is justified for this colossal second volume of a complete history of British sea power, which began with The Safeguard of the Sea (1998); the author of the classic 18th-century British naval history, The Wooden World, has surpassed himself here. The book opens with the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1649; for its duration there were two British navies, the Commonwealth Navy (which laid the foundations for a professional officer corps and fought the First Dutch War of 1652–1654) and a semipiratical Royalist Navy-in-Exile. After the Restoration, we quickly find the diarist Samuel Pepys exercising less literary but more permanent influence as secretary (or chief administrative officer) of the admiralty. The book offers colossal amounts of information (organized sometimes thematically, sometimes chronologically) right through to its endpoint of 1815, accompanied by a formidable set of notes and bibliography, as well as 24 pages of illustrations. The author not only avoids a hagiography of famous admirals but displays psychological insight in his portraits of, for example, the trio of Lord St. Vincent, his protégé Nelson and Nelson's indispensable second, Collingwood. Rodger also demonstrates a firm grasp of the relationship of technical subjects (the amount of tar caulking a ship needed) to British strategy (keeping the Baltic sources of tar accessible). Readers without an intense interest in the subject may be daunted; readers without some background knowledge in British social history may be somewhat at sea in the author's discussion of the officer corps and the recruitment of sailors (usually through the press-gang). Serious students of naval history, however, will find this absolutely indispensable; this is the place to find out whence the navy of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower came.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Review
To understand the Royal Navy at its peak, Rodger's account is indispensable. -- Washington Post Book World
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Reader Reviews
Rodger has written an excellent book that details why the Royal Navy triumphed over the French in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. According to Rodger the reasons for British naval superiority were better maintanence, superior ship design, more effective officer training, and improved health measures. The British were able to keep their ships afloat because they invested a great deal of money in buiding docks that were able to fix ships of the line as opposed to the French, who sacrificed dock building in favor of making new ships. The British also had rugged ships that with bronze plating could outrun their French counterparts that were of a lighter design. British officer training was more practical since it was aboard ships as opposed to the classroom eduction of the French officers. Finally the British were able to triumph over the French because they were able to keep their sailors healthy by a better diet than their French counterparts, and constantly cleaning the interiors of the ships as opposed to the French, who neglected these health measures.The main weakness of Rodger's book is that he seems to gloss over British naval operations, but despite this weakness, Rodger gives credible reason why the Royal Navy defeated the French on consistent basis.
Back To Top
|
The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815
Available from Amazon
Price: $32.85
Updated on 10-18-2008.
|
NOTICE: All prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
| We offer The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 and other related Iceland History Books here at Rbookshop.com. To view more books about Iceland History please use the previous and next buttons near the top of this page.
|
|
Search for books at
