The Royal Navy In American Waters 1775 1783

During the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain's Royal Navy faced foes that included, in addition to American forces, the navies of France, Spain and the Netherlands. In this operational history of a period that proved to be a turning point for one of the world's great naval powers, David Syrett presents a saga of battles, blockades, great fleet cruises and, above all, failures and lost opportunities. He explains that the British government severely underestimated the Americans' maritime strength and how that error led to devastating consequences. The seemingly invincible navy failed to muster even one decisive victory during the extensive naval conflict.

The crucial contribution of seapower to the struggle for American independence forms the theme for this volume, drawing on published prints, maps and illustrated journals of the time to achieve a remarkable impression of the maritime aspects of the war, in all its variety and drama. But besides the campaigns, battles and sieges, the book also illustrates many significant background aspects of the war, in the form of thematic inserts on such subjects as the ship types, the weapons and the organisation involved. The result is not just a visually exciting collection of contemporary images, many previously unpublished, but a valuable contribution to the understanding of how the American Revolution was seen at the time.

Naval history of the American Revolution, which recognizes the war for independence as a maritime conflict and explores the struggle for command of the sea.

A fascinating naval perspective on one of the greatest of all historical conundrums: How did thirteen isolated colonies, which in 1775 began a war with Britain without a navy or an army, win their independence from the greatest naval and military power on earth? The American Revolution involved a naval war of immense scope and variety, including no fewer than twenty-two navies fighting on five oceans—to say nothing of rivers and lakes. In no other war were so many large-scale fleet battles fought, one of which was the most strategically significant naval battle in all of British, French, and American history. Simultaneous naval campaigns were fought in the English Channel, the North and Mid-Atlantic, the Mediterranean, off South Africa, in the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the North Sea and, of course, off the eastern seaboard of America. Not until the Second World War would any nation actively fight in so many different theaters. In The Struggle for Sea Power, Sam Willis traces every key military event in the path to American independence from a naval perspective, and he also brings this important viewpoint to bear on economic, political, and social developments that were fundamental to the success of the Revolution. In doing so Willis offers valuable new insights into American, British, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Russian history. This unique account of the American Revolution gives us a new understanding of the influence of sea power upon history, of the American path to independence, and of the rise and fall of the British Empire.

The first comprehensive study of naval operations involving North American squadrons in Nova Scotia waters, Frigates and Foremasts offers a masterful analysis of the motives behind the deployment of Royal Navy vessels between 1745 and 1815, and the navy’s role on the Western Atlantic. Interweaving historical analysis with vivid descriptions of pivotal events from the first siege of Louisbourg in 1745 to the end of the wars with the United States and France in 1815, Julian Gwyn illuminates the complex story of competing interests among the Admiralty, Navy Board, sea officers, and government officials on both sides of the Atlantic. In a gripping narrative encompassing sea battles, impressments, and privateering, Gwyn brings to life key events and central figures. He examines the role of leadership and the lack of it, not only of seagoing heroes from Peter Warren to Philip Broke, but also of land-based officials, such as the various Halifax naval yard commissioners, whose important contributions are brought to light. Gwyn’s brilliant evocation of people and events, and the scholarship he brings to bear on the subject makes Frigates and Foremasts a uniquely authoritative history. Wonderfully readable, it will attract both the serious naval historian and the general reader interested in the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of naval history on North America's eastern seaboard.