An Encyclopedia of Naval History

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Britain retained this position until the twentieth century, and other great powers were reduced to more or less successful challengers of British supremacy over the European and transoceanic sea-lanes. Between 1940 and 1942 the British colony of Malta in the central Mediterranean faced relentless aerial attacks by the Luftwaffe and Italian Air Force. The entries in this sweeping text provide comprehensive treatment of overall strategies on each side, the role of diplomacy, leading naval officers and other personalities, battles and important engagements, ship types, well-known individual warships, naval ordnance and weapons systems, and new developments such as mines and submarines.

By this time the oared single sail ‘long ship’ or galley, still predominant in northern waters and the Mediterranean, was ceding place to wider-beamed and higher-sided vessels, furnished with fore and stern castles. A Naval Encyclopdia: Comprising A Dictionary Of Nautical Words And Phrases; Biographical Notices, And Records Of Naval Officers; Special Articles Of Naval Art And Science. The English and the Dutch fought several intense battles for control of the Channel and the North Sea.The only specialized warships were the oared galleys, but they could be built quickly in large numbers when a war began. Wellington's logistical back-up had been prefigured, however modestly, by the first wintering of a British fleet in the Mediterranean in 1694–5; but few developments in Britain's Atlantic economy were more spectacular than the doubling of her exports to the Caribbean after 1808, following the Anglo-Spanish entente. Portsmouth, a nascent naval base by the reign of John (1199–1216), or Southampton were their usual destinations. These fundamental innovations culminated in the late 19th century in the development of the battleship, a heavily armoured, swiftly moving vessel equipped with huge, powerful, and extremely accurate long-range guns.

The form of warships for several hundred years to come was determined in the 16th and 17th centuries, when oar propulsion was replaced by arrays of sails and when cannons were mounted on ships.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code. These were more difficult to manœuvre, but they could carry bowmen and projectiles in their castles and were more suitable for boarding an enemy, even if oar-power remained the handiest means finally to position a warship. In the meantime, General George Washington (1732–1799) announced he had taken command of three armed schooners under Continental authority and planned to intercept any British supply ships near Massachusetts .

A categorical index in the back of the book is useful for looking up entries on specific categories. Long overlooked in favor of land engagements, this is the first encyclopedia to analyze the naval aspects of the American Civil War. The Dahlgren guns of the Union forces and the Confederate Navy's Brooke guns that were essential in battles involving ironclad ships.

From then the scene of naval activity changed, and ships and fleets took upon themselves a new form, one fit for ocean sailing and fighting. The first is a perception of state interest which dates back well beyond the Armada to the reign of Elizabeth I's grandfather Henry VII, and has never ceased to apply, while the second invokes the duty owed the realm by the subject best equipped to discharge it. A potential aggressor would be deterred from launching a full-scale initial attack against a nation’s more vulnerable land- and air-based nuclear forces by the prospect of facing a retaliatory strike by a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines.