Customer Reviews

Great Sea Battles

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Famous and important sea battles of Western History, illustrated by contemporary paintings, etchings, maps, and--beginning with the Monitor and the Merrimac--photographs. Runs from the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the last major battle in which galleys played a significant role, to Leyte Gulf, where American and Japanese aircraft carriers duked it out near the Philippines in 1944. Almost as much an art book as a history book, things turn a bit dull in the 20th century when full-page color reproductions of paintings are replaced by rather ordinary (with some exceptions) newspaper photos.

When a friend gave my 7-year-old son this book that he had loved as a boy, I thought it was going on the shelf for a while. To my amazement, my son loves to hear Warner's educated narrative on the various naval battles, from the 16th to the 20th centuries, that changed history dramatically. Hollingsworth's review below is spot-on in every respect, but I would add that another virtue of the book is the comparative tables showing the development of the speed of men-of-war through the centuries, as well as the increase in the range of their armament. The diagrams of the battles are also useful, particularly for teaching the importance of the weather-gage.