Description
Book SynopsisThe ocean is humanity''s largest battlefield. It is also our greatest graveyard. Resting in its depths lay the lost ships of war spanning the totality of human history. Many wrecks are nameless, others from more recent times are remembered, honored even, as are the battles they fought, like Actium, Trafalgar, Tsushima, Jutland, Pearl Harbor, and Midway. This book is a dramatic global tour of the vast underwater museum of lost warships. It is also an account of how underwater exploration has discovered them, resolving mysteries, adding to our understanding of the past, and providing intimate details of the life of war at sea. Arranged chronologically, the book begins with ancient times and the warships and battles of the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, the Chinese, and progresses through three thousand years to the lost ships of the Cold War. In bringing this violent past to life, James Delgado''s approach is informed by scholarship, but it is not academic. Through his insights as an explorer, archaeologist, and story teller, Delgado provides a unique and idiosyncratic history of naval warfare, the evolution of its strategy and technology, and it critical impact on the past. From fallen triremes and galleons to dreadnoughts, aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines, this book vividly brings naval warfare to life.
Trade ReviewIndeed, to this reviewer, the chapters almost read like a binge watching session of different seasons of the individual shows he is so known for outside academia. On the other hand, just like them, given his(author's) fluent and entertaining writing style, the pages truly fly by...War at Sea will be of interest to both seasoned students of naval warfare as anyone new to the subject given Delgado's selection of shipwrecks, and not just in terms of the variety ship types covered. * Alexander Van der Biest, Instagram; paper_can_reviews *
This book is both an eminently readable crash course in naval history in general and a valuable almanac of important military shipwrecks. Interspersed at appropriate points are paragraphs that furnish necessary historical context that cannot be provided by analysing individual wrecks. * Philip Sims, University of Southampton, England, UK, The International Journal of Nautical Archaelogy *
This book is a useful tool for educators who wish to bring more naval history into their classrooms. High school and undergraduate students will find the text lively and easy to understand, though assigning the entire book would probably best work in an upper-level undergraduate or graduate courses on oceans in world and military history. Public historians will find valuable information on artifacts and exhibits preserved in museums and private collections around the world. Scholars engaged in military history, certainly those focused on land warfare, will find material useful in expanding their view of military engagement. * Cynthia Ross, World History Connected *
Table of ContentsPreface Classic Age Naval Warfare War at Sea After and Beyond Pax Romana The Rise of the Gun Wooden Walls Wars for America From Wood and Canvas to Iron and Steam Steel Navies and the Rise and Fall of Empires World War I Global War The Cold War Bibliography
