Ships of War: The Development of Warships by the Navies of the World During the Later 19th Century, Reed Edward J., Simpson Edward, Kelley J. D. Jerro

This interesting, illustrated work concerns the considerable variety of ships of war that were designed and launched during the latter part of the nineteenth century. The author takes as his starting point the era of the American Civil War and the time of the emergence of Monitors, ironclads, early submersibles and, indeed, the coming of powered ships which would shortly consign the age of naval sail to history. In warfare there can be no room for sentiment since every nation must be able to bring armaments to bear equal at least to any potential enemy. So on the oceans, just as it was with land armies, the navies of the world raced into the industrial age and machine powered warfare. The new vessels adopted a host of innovations in construction, capability, function, weaponry and ordnance and quickly replaced famous fighting ships of sail and a mode of fighting that had endured for centuries. This overview, covers the period up to 1887 and examines the warships of the worlds navies. The expansive text is supported by many line drawings of the vessels described as well as technical and cross section drawings. A number of statistical charts are also included, making this an indispensable reference work for all those interested in naval warfare during the second half of the 19th century.
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