Bernard Ireland

Much has been written about the conduct of the land battles and the commanders who faced each other yet, as the main protagonists realised at the time, success or failure rested on the effectiveness of their seaborne supply chain. Control of the Mediterranean was therefore absolutely crucial. In the final analysis it was the Allies' ability to dominate the Mediterranean that bought them victory but there is no denying that it was a 'damned close run...

Text and color illustrations present the ships, tactics, and men of Great Britain's Royal Navy from the mid-eighteenth century's Seven Years' War through the early nineteenth century.