The National Maritime Museum: the Habit of Victory: The Story of the Royal Navy 1545 to 1945

More than just a story of battles, this book shows how changes in technology were key to the development of the navy's power, from broadside gunnery to copper-sheathed hulls, from paddle-steamers and iron Dreadnoughts to the invention of submarines and aircraft carriers. We see how the navy played a key role in exploration, from Drake's circumnavigation of the globe and Cook's voyages of discovery to Fraser's search for the North-west Passage. Filled with colorful characters--the infamous Captain Kidd, Captain Bligh, Samuel Pepys and Jackie Fisher, Blake, Beatty and Jellicoe--this is an exciting account of heroes and villains, innovators and adventurers, battles lost and won that vividly illustrates one of the most fascinating stories in British military history.