Blurb

THE BLACK BATTLEFLEET
A study of the Capital ship in transition
by Admiral G A Ballard

The text of this book originally appeared in The Mariner's Mirror, the journal of the Society for Nautical Research. From the first issue of the journal in 1911, until his death in 1948, Admiral Ballard wrote notes and articles on many periods and subjects of naval history from ancient Egypt to the First World War. His largest and most valuable contribution, however, was undoubtedly the series he wrote on the warships of the mid-Victorian Royal Navy, which he commenced in 1929. A century after the Black Battlefleet, there can be no doubt as to the value of his work. Even in 1929, there were not many men left who were intimately familiar with the Navy of steam and sail, with wooden hulls, muzzle-loaders, and the first ironclads at sea.

Following his retirement Admiral Ballard researched the Admiralty archives, accumulating the technical information and detailed histories with which his work is replete. Above all, he had the historical sense that many old men writing on their youth lack. He was able to appreciate that the commonplace activities of his professional life were already becoming forgotten curiosities, worthy of description. To this we owe the exact and expressive accounts of life in the mess-decks of a broadside battleship, of catting and fishing an anchor, hoisting out boomboats, or sending down topmasts; things so often mentioned in other sources, and so seldom described in detail. A modern historian might hope to equal Admiral Ballard's research, but he could never supply the eye-witness reality which Ballard brought to his subject. The original articles reached a very small circle, only a few copies being printed, but their merits have long deserved wider readership.

The book, which is edited by the Society, is illustrated with more than 200 black and white photographs, plans. draughts and diagrams. Some come from Ballard's private collection, others from the definitive collections with which the Society for Nautical Research is associated, and which are held at the National Maritime Museum.

Published by the SOCIETY FOR NAUTICAL RESEARCH
Together with
Nautical Nautical Publishing Company Limited; in association with George Harrap & Company Ltd., London

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