Historic Naval Fiction The Home of Naval Fiction Set in the Age of Sail

The Battle of the Nile, fought on 1 August 1798, was Nelson's first great victory and dealt a fatal blow to Napoleon Bonaparte's ambitious in the Middle East. But the battle itself was only the decisive event in a campaign of many months, upon the outcome of which depended the domination of the Mediterranean and the whole strategic situation in Europe.

In this book Brian Lavery places the Battle of the Nile in its full strategic context, showing the interplay of military and political factors that sent Nelson's squadron into the Mediterranean in pursuit of the powerful French invasion fleet. This was also Nelson's first independent fleet command, and the author shows the development of his command style and the forging of the esprit de corps which was later to triumph at Trafalgar.

It also provides a fascinating and detailed insight into the nature and conditions of naval war in the Age of Sail. from the strain felt by fleet commanders, isolated from higher authority and starved of information of the enemy, to the daily lives of the sailors and the tactics used in battle. All these strands of the story are brought seamlessly together to present the most thorough. detailed, fascinating and vivid account of the most decisive naval campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars.

From thunderous broadsides traded between wooden sailing ships on Lake Erie, to the carrier battles of World War II, to the devastating high-tech action in the Persian Gulf, here is a gripping history of five key battles that defined the evolution of naval warfare--and the course of the American nation. Acclaimed military historian Craig Symonds offers spellbinding narratives of crucial engagements, showing how each battle reveals the transformation of technology and weaponry from one war to the next; how these in turn transformed naval combat; and how each event marked a milestone in American history.

-Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States.
-The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy.
-Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power
-The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes
-Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States.

Symonds records these encounters in detail so vivid that readers can hear the wind in the rigging and feel the pounding of the guns. Yet he places every battle in a wide perspective, revealing their significance to America's development as it grew from a new Republic on the edge of a threatening frontier to a global superpower. Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives--and the fate of nations--hanging in the balance.

On September 1, 1814, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost (1767-1816) nearly 15,000 veteran British troops, fresh from their victory over Napoleon, crossed the Canadian-American border...the largest foreign army ever to invade the United States. Neither Wolfe nor Amherst, neither Burgoyne nor Cornwallis, had led so formidable an army. Captain George Downie (1781-1814), who considered his flagship, the Confiance, alone a match for the paltry American fleet, led the equally impressive British naval squadron.

The plan was simple: Prevost's troops would capture Plattsburgh while Downie's ships seized control of the strategically crucial Lake Champlain. Prevost's successful land and naval offensive would stike the main blow against the United States, decimating its ability to continue to resist.

Opposing the British invasion were General Alexander Macomb (1782-1841) and his army of fewer than 5,000 men-roughly half of whom were recruits, invalids, mislaid detachments, and militia-and the improvised fleet and brilliant strategy of thirty-year-old Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough (1783-1825). They were on the losing side of a devasting war. By the time the British and Americans clashed on the waters and surrounding shores of Lake Champlain on September 11, 1814, Macomb and Macdonough's government, pursued by British troops, had fled from a burning Washington, and traitorous American citizens were supplying two-thirds of the beef that Prevost's army consumed.

Till the very end the outcome of the savage naval battle was in doubt. Yet despite the odds, the Americans managed to thwart the world's strongest naval power in one of the most decisive battles in American history. The source of the documentary film of the same name, The Final Invasion, is based on primary research and original discoveries including previously unknown private diaries and Prevost's priceless and detailed secret battle orders, missing since the war. Fair-minded, astute, and passionately engaged with his subject, Colonel Fitz-Enz brings to life the immediacy and immensity of the British threat, the bloody reality of naval warfare, and the far-reaching consequences of the American victory against tremendous odds.

This book covers the most significant naval actions of the second half of the 18th century, including major engagements from Quiberon Bay in 1759 to Lissa in 1811 and Trafalgar. It also describes single-ship actions, such as Quebec and Surveillante as well as Constitution and Java.

A fascinating account of the nature of naval warfare in the era of sail. The author looks at the organization and tactics of fighting at sea and then examines in detail a number of major engagements. Handsomely illustrated, a superb selection of line drawings, etchings, and other contemporary pictures graphically explore the theory and practice of naval combat in the period. Naval historians and enthusiasts as well as Nelson scholars will find this up-close examination of great interest.

Simply the best account of the battle of Copenhagen, published to celebrate the bicentenary of one of Nelson's great victories. On 2nd April, 1801, the Royal Navy anchored a few hundred yards off the Copenhagen waterfront and engaged the Danes in a brief but bloody battle. Earlier, inspired by Paul I of Russia, the northern powers began to form an armed coalition which could become a serious threat to British interests, and the arrival of a British fleet in the Baltic was in answer to this perceived threat. To Nelson, the battle of Copenhagen was more than a great gamble: it was unnecessary.

He believed in a direct attack on the Russian fleet, but, failing that, he convinced Sir Hyde Parker, to whom he was second-in-command, that the best initial step would be an attack on the Danish fleet at Copenhagen. This he was allowed to lead. Dudley Pope looks at what miscalculations, what stupidities, what order of polities combined to put Nelson second-in-command to a man over sixty, a man with no real knowledge of naval warfare, a man who, at the height of battle, when England so obviously had the upper hand, hoisted the signal for Nelson to retreat. Nelson famously disregarded the order for, as he said, he had a right to be sometimes blind, being sightless in one eye. But The Great gamble is much more than a full-bodies account of a great sea battle. With hois scrupulous eye for detail and unlimited access to both British and Danish sources, Pope throws fascinating light on the background, the intrigues and the ramifications of the battle. But at the heart lies Nelson, triumphant after the Nile, once again delivering for his country a great victory at sea. Dudley Pope's telling of this story, first published in 1972, is brilliantly researched and utterly compelling and undoubtedly the best book with which to celebrate the bicentenary in April 2001.

The story of the greatest British naval battle of the Age of Nelson.Renowned historian and novelist Dudley Pope explores the defining moment of the Age of Nelson. His compelling descriptions of the battle itself are backed by a wealth of historical detail, including a chronicle of the preceding year, revealing both the British and the French political motives, and explaining Nelson's strategy and Napoleon's response. Pope creates an intimate portrait of the life in the Royal Navy at its finest hour.