Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14947 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Synopsis
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 nearly every major navy, reaching a pinnacle of success in the Seven Years War only to taste defeat in the American Revolutionary struggle, when it faced the combined navies of France, Spain, the Netherlands, and the rebellious colonies themselves. Considering the contribution to history of these ships, there is surprisingly little readily available on their careers. Now this gap is comprehensively filled by this superb reference book, outlining the service history of every ship, built, purchased or captured, that fought for the Royal Navy in the great wars of the eighteenth century - well over 2000 vessels.The book is organised by Rate, classification and class, with outline technical and building data, but followed by a concise summary of the careers of each ship in every class. This includes commissioning dates, refit periods, changes of captain, the stations where they served (and when), as well as details of any noteworthy actions in which they took part.

It will enable anyone to follow up a casual reference to any warship, and will provide the researcher with a solid core of information on which to base further study. With nothing remotely like it in print, this is a work of the utmost importance to every naval historian and general reader interested in the navy of the sailing era.

Customer Reviews

A landmark in the study of 20th century naval warfare
This is a pretty technical history book. It's a study of the development of naval gunnery from the end of the nineteenth century to the end of the big-gun era. The subject is vital for a proper understanding of the navies of the time, because the capabilities and limitations of fire-control systems shaped the doctrine of navies, and the expression of those doctrines in war shaped the history of the 20th century. The field started with Jon T Sumida, whose works are sadly out of print and has been touched on by many writers since. The previous gold standard in the field was John Brooks' "Dreadnaught Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland".

Friedman has excelled him by far.

There has been a fair amount of new research on this subject in the past few years. Much of it has been published in the journal "Warship International", where I've read it. It has been exquisitely detailed in its description of the mechanical computers that told gunnery officers where to point their guns, but lacking in appreciation of the effects that these systems had: the tactics shaped by them, and the ideas they prompted.

That gap has now been filled, and all of that research integrated into a narrative.

Naval Firepower is unusual in the way that it integrates analysis of the machinery, its development, and the politics that surrounded it, with the tactical ideas that it was designed to serve, and which were changed by the features of the systems. It has become, instantly, the primary text that everyone interested in the period needs to read, learn and digest. Friedman has produced definitive accounts of several strands of naval history. This book is that far rarer thing, a definitive analysis.

A superb deductive history
This is a highly technical description of the development of fire control systems for main armament of the major navies of the twentieth century; as such it takes some concentrated reading; It is not for the faint-hearted. It is, however, an essential text for naval historians and anyone wishing to understand naval battles in the dreadnought era, since Friedman succeeds in establishing the intimate connection, first posited by Jon Sumida, between fire control, strategy and tactics. The research is prodigious, the mathematics frightening, the conclusions very exciting. It was Jon Sumida who first suggested that the Royal Navy before the first world war conceived a tactic designed to lure the German High Seas Fleet into its own preferred medium-to-short range, there to annihilate it; Friedman's work virtually confirms this ground-breaking thesis - and offers similar insights into other navies. It is deductive history at its very best.
Peter Padfield, author 'Guns at Sea', 'Maritime Dominion', Woodbridge 2009