Slightly off-mint.

Slightly off-mint.

Off-mint.

Establishing control of the seas was a significant factor in eventually forcing the Central Powers to surrender in 1918. The complex struggle all over the world is traced in this naval analysis through 125 maps. Identifying the vessels involved, their courses, manoeuvres and engagements, the charts describe key operations such as the Battle of Jutland and the Dardanelles campaign as well as skirmishes, raids and U-boat activities up to the scuttling of the German fleet in 1919.

The sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 was a historic event, not just because it was the most famous ship afloat and 1,200 people died, but because it was instrumental in bringing the United States into the war. First published in the 1950s, this analysis of the disaster draws on survivors' accounts and naval records to reconstruct the last days of the luxury liner.

The mere presence of the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord was enough to haunt Allied war planners and keep a significant part of Britain's fleet tied to home waters. Consequently, repeated attempts were made throughout the Second World War to sink the ship, including mini submarine raids and many bomber attacks. Patrick Bishop's book is a tale of technology, ingenuity and daring, culminating in the final, successful assault of Autumn 1944, using Barnes Wallis's 'Tallboy' bombs.

Slipping past a British blockade disguised as a Norwegian merchant vessel in 1916, the last fighting sailing ship in the German Navy, Seeadler, set out on a voyage that resulted in the sinking of 14 Allied ships. This account of the exploits of the ship’s aristocratic commander describes his remarkable seamanship, his gentlemanly conduct and his 2,500-mile journey in an open boat after the loss of Seeadler in the South Pacific.

Nelson never enjoyed robust health, and was even seasick when he first set sail. As this book demonstrates, it was his experience of illness and the serious injuries he suffered that made him uniquely aware of the importance of health and fitness to the Navy, using his fame and influence to improve the welfare of his men through better diet, shipboard hygiene, more modern surgical practices and greater attention to convalescence and aftercare.

This classic account, first published in 1976, analyses the ill-conceived operation in 1940 to capture French West Africa and the related dismissal of a British Admiral for allowing Vichy French ships to join the battle.

Press-ganged into the Navy as a youth, Anthony Lockwood fought in the Napoleonic Wars and rose to become Surveyor General of New Brunswick in Canada. Driven by a desire to instil democracy, he led a coup that ended with him being shipped back to a lunatic asylum in England.

In the 1812 war between Britain and America, USS Essex destroyed a British whaling fleet. The ship’s pursuit by HMS Phoebe, and their deadly confrontation at Valparaiso, are explained here using official reports, newspaper articles, letters and a sailor’s newly discovered memoir.

The last volume in Marder's epic study of the early twentieth-century Royal Navy culminates in the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet and its scuttling in Scapa Flow in 1919.

Overshadowed by the events of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, British military campaigns in the South Atlantic in 1805–7 nevertheless had a profound effect in shaping the destiny of the Cape Colony and Spanish possessions in South America. Describing the capture of Cape Town and the ultimately unsuccessful attacks on Buenos Aires and Montevideo, this analysis also assesses the longer-term repercussions in encouraging independence movements in South America and shaping the population and politics of South Africa.

The so-called 'Dreadnought Revolution' was a modernization plan, instigated by First Sea Lord Jacky Fisher, which replaced all frontline ships of the Royal Navy with 'all big gun' designs driven by faster, more efficient steam turbine engines. This review of the battlecruiser class vessels of this period includes original plans and drawings and an analysis of the design, construction, armament and machinery of the 15 ships built, including Invincible and Indefatigable.