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The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815

N. A. M. Rodger · 1 HN comments
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Amazon Summary
"The Command of the Ocean" describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. It describes not just battles, voyages and cruises but how the Navy was manned, how it was supplied with timber, hemp and iron, how its men (and sometimes women) were fed, and above all how it was financed and directed. It was during the century and a half covered by this book that the successful organizing of these last three - victualling, money and management - took the Navy to the heart of the British state. It is the great achievement of the book to show how completely integrated and mutually dependent Britain and the Navy then became.
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Apr 10, 2021 · noir_lord on Prince Philip has died
So many and over such a wide span to narrow it down to 2-3 definitively so I'll cover ground instead.

1) The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649­-1815[1] (actually book 2 but the first covers an earlier period this covers the period across the Act of Union - when England/Scotland became with Wales the United Kingdom and when the British navy went from "decent" to not just first but first by a hilarious margin - the only modern analogue that sorta fits is the US navy compared to everyone else post-WW2 up to well right now)

2) Dreadnought[2] which covers the late 19th early 20th (Birth of Queen Victoria to the start of WW1) - when the Dreadnought type-class battleship was considered the premier strategic weapon of it's day.

For the rest it's a vast field (that I've barely scratched - history is a hobby for me part of the perpetual "why is the world the way it is" fascination with everything) as always wikipedia is your friend :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_18th%E2%80%931...

For more modern naval stuff (where modern equals ~a century ago) I can heartily recommend the https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4mftUX7apmV1vsVXZh7RTw Drachinifel - he has a way of providing information dense content in an entertaining way - his video on the technological arms race in metallurgy for ships armour for example is superb.

[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Command-Ocean-History-Britain-1649-...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought_(book)

pjmorris
Fantastic, thank you. I have the same "perpetual "why is the world the way it is" fascination with everything)"
pjmorris
'The Command of the Ocean, "when the British navy went from "decent" to not just first but first by a hilarious margin", sounds like exactly the kind of thing I am looking for.
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