Jacket flap blurb

The author

Brian Tunstall was one of the world's leading naval historians from the 1920s until his death in 1970. Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail, now published for the first time, represents the completion of the ground-breaking Work on naval tactics whlch was begun by his father-in- law. Sir Julian Corbett, and is the crowning achievement of Tunstall's years of research.

He was, befor the war, lecturer in history and English at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and the Secretary of the Navy Record Society. During the war he was the naval correspondent for the BBC European Services. Later, he lectured at the London School of Economics and at the Royal Military College of Canada.

His other published works include Admiral Bvng and the Loss of' Minorca (1925) and The Realities of Naval History (1936 ).

THE EDITOR

Dr Nicholas Tracy is a naval historian and strategic consultant and has taught at the University of New Brunswick, Canada, and at the National University of Singapore. He is author of Navies, Deterrence and American Independence, has written many academic articles and several strategic studies for the Canadian Department of National Defence. He is a retired reserve naval officer (RCNR) and an experienced yachtsman.

Jacket back blurb

NAVAL WARFARE
IN THE AGE OF SAIL

Based on the life's work of the naval historian Brian Tunstall, Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail traces the evolution of fleet tactics from the Dutch Wars of the seventeenth century to the War of American Independence in the late eighteenth and the defeat of the French Empire in 1815. It thus covers the entire period in which the sailing fleet was the major instrument of naval power.
Tunstall follows his illustrious predecessor Sir Julian Corbett in emphasising the importance of signals and fighting instructions as a key to the way in which fleets were actually employed, but his insights into ‘yell-known battles are entirely new. He also adds a truly international dimension by giving full weight to Dutch, French and Spanish tactical thinking as well as English; the result is a comprehensive analysis of the ideas behind all the naval battles in the age of sail.
Tunstall's work has been fully edited by Dr Nicholas Tracy, a specialist historian of the sailing navy, who has also selected numerous portraits of prominent tacticians and the most reliable contemporary depictions of naval actions to accompany the text. To clarify further Tunstall's insights and to give the reader a clear understanding of the progress and outcome of the battles, nearly 150 maps have been specially draw n by Brian Lavery.
Naval Warfa are in the Age 4Sail offers the general reader as well as the historian and naval enthusiast an original insight into the workings of the great sailing fleets, and into the problems of control and effective deployment of their forces faced by the commanders in some of the greatest events of naval history; it is unlikely to he superseded as an original study of warfare at sea.

Click this image for more large illustrated books.