War at Sea in the Age of Sail (Cassell History of Warfare)
Every library requires a basic source on sailing ship warfare, a need solidly met by Lambert's profusely illustrated survey of the two centuries of naval dominance, ending about 1850, by the triple-masted, multidecked, heavily gunned ship of the line. Lambert, a naval historian in Britain, efficiently economizes his text, wasting few words to narrate the geopolitical framework for the expensive construction and maintenance of fleets, of strategies for their operation, and, ultimately, of their tactics in battle. Making the important point that few battles between the days of de Ruyter and those of Nelson were decisive, Lambert impresses upon the reader the appreciation strategists reached that naval warfare was characterized by attrition, rarely by the cataclysmic victory a la Trafalgar. And so most naval operations were those of convoy, pursuit, blockade--things rather less exciting than the climax of broadsides in battle, the moment depicted in most of the dozens of paintings reproduced in Lambert's book. Twenty maps and perspective schematics of key battles support this able introduction to the warfare of wooden ships.Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved