The Ship of the Line: A History in Ship Models

I took a chance buying this as sometimes photographs in kindle editions can be very disappointing but not in this case. If you like ship models and don't like photos split over two pages then kindle edition is the best option. Remember you can enlarge all the photos with kindle or any tablet device. Good stuff.

I bought the book as a Christmas present so don't have much to say it did arrive safely and in good time.

Excellent picture book and good value

This book could have been really outstanding but for the choice of format and price. It is nicely done in itself but it is barely bigger than a standard paperback and only 128 pages - despite the RRP of £25. As a result the illustrations of the superb models are too small and detail is lost, many illustrations are spread across the page gutter and in the end the book which is illustration rather then text led disappoints. It is crying out for art book treatment with decent size pages, proper lay out of text and illustrations which could be done well even in paperback format, rather than an undersized hardback. What a shame as the subject material is great, but this does seem to be a consistent problem with this publisher - the Warships of the Great war era suffers from the same shortcomings.

This is a "must have" book for naval historians with excellent photos of the wonderful historic ship models. Brian Lavery is a leading authority on the subject and provides a comprehensive guide to the development of warships in the age of the "Wooden World".As with many of Seaforth publications much information is given in the captions of the illustrations. The font size and paler ink for these might be a problem for some readers.Whilst not a big book an index would be helpful..

Brian Lavery is one of the foremost professional authors specializing in warships of this era and writing this modest book would have been an easy job for him. It's not quite clear whether this was intended as a straightforward general history of the ship of the line, illustrated through the models, or a history of the models backed up by description of warship development- as a result it does not adequately achieve either objective. Mr Lavery's own 'The Ship of the Line' provides an excellent narrative and tabular history of these ships whilst the book 'Navy Board Ship Models' by Franklin published in the 1980's gives a much better technical description of the models, although it is not especially well illustrated.There are 127 colour photographs packed into the 128 pages of the book and these are of stunning visual quality. Actually I rather like the small size of this volume: I have no more room for enormous overblown tomes. Unfortunately, though, the narrow page width results in 41 pictures being spread across the binding: this is usual practise today even in the largest books but it is never satisfactory. Another modern trait is to present the ships in pictures of many different sizes, taken from many different angles: how much better it would been if a common size and format had been adopted for each ship, given that the photographer seems to have had free access to most of these models.I would agree that £25 is much too expensive for this volume but if you wait a few weeks nearly all cover prices are nowadays soon drastically undercut in a competitive market so I paid only £13 for mine, which is excellent value. At that price I would recommend buying it, despite my adverse comments here.

A very interesting book that has some facinating models in it

This is a good introductory volume to the military history of Europe in the late 17th century and the 18th century. It is clearly written and informative, and would be suitable for younger readers. It is a small book in terms of dimensions, not much bigger than a paperback, and has large font. The chapters are:1. The Ship of the Line begins its reign. p1.2. Louis XIV and his Wars. p103. Foolish Wars end an Age of Peace. p344. Sea Power and the Outcome of the Seven Years' War. p635. Winners and Losers in the War of American Independence. p916. Change and Continuity during the French Revolution. p1187. The Role of Navies in the Age of Sail p1618. The Ingredients of Supremacy in the Age of Sail. p179Notes and Further Reading. p189Index. p239Although titled 'Ship of the Line', this is not a book about naval battles as such, at least not in the earlier chapters. From the Seven Years' War onwards, sea-power becomes more and more dominant in the narrative, but it is about the role of sea-power, and maritime affairs rather than the ins-and-outs of battles. If you are more interested in the battles themselves and how they were fought, try  Command at Sea  and  Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century: The Art of Sailing Warfare . However, as I said above, this is a good introduction; and the Notes contain a wealth of information on further books to read.I have just a couple of points of dispute with the book. On page 31:"On 24th July 1704 the English and Dutch captured lightly defended Gibraltar. The French navy then won the war's only major action between lines of battle, the Battle of Malaga (13th August 1704), even though its fifty ships of the line were outnumbered by a combined fleet of forty-one English and twelve Dutch ships of the line commanded by Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke. The French commander, Admiral Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse, an illegitimate son of Louis XIV, failed, however, to follow up his victory by recapturing Gibraltar".N.A.M. Rodger, in his  The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815  describes it as follows (pp169-170):"The French fleet, now commanded by Louis XIV's bastard son the comte de Toulouse... was too late to prevent the fall of Gibraltar, but advanced to fight for its recovery. On 13th August the two fleets met off Malaga, the French being to leeward, but between the allies and Gibraltar. The allies had fifty-three ships of the line (41 English and 12 Dutch) against, probably, 50 French... It was a hard-fought battle (the English casualties were proportional to those of Trafalgar)... At the end of the day neither side had a decisive advantage... the allies were seriously short of ammunition. Next day a shift of wind gave the French the weather gauge and the opportunity to renew the action, but the majority of Toulouse's senior officers persuaded him that 'what we did yesterday will suffice for the reputation of the Navy and the king's arms', and the French fleet returned to Toulon. Only a minority understood that they had fought for a tangible strategic objective, Gibraltar, which a final effort might well have regained.""In England, Tory politicians opposed to the war on the Continent tried to cry up Rooke and his battle as a counterweight to Marlborough and Blenheim."Not quite such an obvious victory for the French, then.On page 157:"After the squadron [of three ships] from Toulon moored at Algeciras (near Gibraltar), it beat off an attack by six British ships of the line and captured one of them."N.A.M. Rodger again:"There he was attacked on 6 July 1801 by Rear-Admiral Saumarez from Cadiz with 5 ships of the line. Linois had anchored his ships inshore under cover of batteries, but the wind dropped as the British approached and the attack failed badly. One ship grounded and was captured, the rest were driven off with damage."I'm sorry, Jonathan, but running aground isn't really quite the same as being captured in battle.I would also like to recommend E.H. Jenkins'  History of the French Navy . "Although quite cursory, Jenkins's book remains the best survey in English of the seventeenth and eighteenth century French navy"; Notes and Further Reading, page 195. Jenkins notes that one of the problems of Ancient-Regime French naval command was that officers would not accept orders from superior officers with lower social status. They would also deem it dishonourable to abandon their ship, and would remain with it when it sank. I don't know if that was the origin of the alleged tradition of the captain remaining with his sinking ship.