Overview

The Command of the Ocean describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. Based on the author's own research in a dozen languages over more than a decade, it describes not just battles, voyages, and cruises but also how the Navy was manned, supplied, fed, and, above all, how it was financed and directed. N. A. M. Rodger provides convincing reassessments of such famous figures as Pepys, Hawke, Howe, and St. Vincent. The very particular and distinct qualities of Nelson and Collingwood are illuminatingly contrasted, and the world of officers and men who make up the originals of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower is brilliantly brought to life. Rodger's comparative view of other navies—French, Dutch, Spanish, and American—allows him to make a fresh assessment of the qualities of the British.

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9780393328479

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Reviews

Rodger illuminates the world of Nelson and Hardy and its portrayal by C. F. Forrester in the Hornblower novels and Patrick O'Brian in the Aubrey and Maturin cycle . . . to understand the Royal Navy at its peak, Rodger's account is indispensable -- Washington Post Book World As Mr. Rodger demonstrates on almost every page, if you do not understand the importance of British maritime history, you can never fully understand Britain. -- The Economist

Rodger illuminates the world of Nelson and Hardy and its portrayal by C. F. Forrester in the Hornblower novels and Patrick O Brian in the Aubrey and Maturin cycle . . . to understand the Royal Navy at its peak, Rodger 's account is indispensable

As Mr. Rodger demonstrates on almost every page, if you do not understand the importance of British maritime history, you can never fully understand Britain. -- The Economist Rodger illuminates the world of Nelson and Hardy and its portrayal by C. F. Forrester in the Hornblower novels and Patrick O'Brian in the Aubrey and Maturin cycle ... to understand the Royal Navy at its peak, Rodger's account is indispensable -- Washington Post Book World

Rodger illuminates the world of Nelson and Hardy and its portrayal by C. F. Forrester in the Hornblower novels and Patrick O Brian in the Aubrey and Maturin cycle . . . to understand the Royal Navy at its peak, Rodger s account is indispensable

As Mr. Rodger demonstrates on almost every page, if you do not understand the importance of British maritime history, you can never fully understand Britain. Rodger illuminates the world of Nelson and Hardy and its portrayal by C. F. Forrester in the Hornblower novels and Patrick O'Brian in the Aubrey and Maturin cycle ... to understand the Royal Navy at its peak, Rodger's account is indispensable

Author Information

N. A. M. Rodger is emeritus fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and professor of naval history at the University of Exeter. He has been awarded the Julian Corbett Prize in Naval History, the Duke of Westminster’s Medal for Military Literature, and the Hattendorf Prize. He lives in Oxford.

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