A substantial examination of war at sea through the ages

On a planet covered with water it is inevitable that the oceans and seas would become great highways of transport and trade and great battlegrounds as nations resolved their animosities and sought to expand their boundaries. Conflict at sea is nearly as old as great conflict upon land and indeed it would be the most significant development in warfare until man took to the skies during the Great War. This interesting book charts the progress of war at sea from those earliest times. Beginning with the legendary defeat of the Persians by the Greeks at Salamis in 480 B. C this history charts naval battles through the ancient period to Actium in 31 B. C and Svold Island in A. D 1000. Sluys in 1340 is examined followed by the defeat of the Ottoman Turks at Lepanto in 1571 and the destruction of Spanish aspirations to invade Elizabethan England with their great Armada in 1588. As the age of sail progress's the reader is guided through 'The Battle off the Gunfleet' in 1666, Saint's Passage, 1782 and the monumental conflict off Cape Trafalgar that was Nelson's finest and final hour. The modern age concerns Lisa, 1866, Yalu, 1894, Santiago de Cuba, 1898 and finally the crushing of the Imperial Russian fleet by the Japanese at Tsu-Shima, 1905. From the age of the galley and hearts of oak to the ironclad battle steamer here is the history of for man's battles for dominance of the waves. Includes diagrams and battle plans.