Habit of Victory
The Story of the Royal Navy 1545 to 1945

By Peter Hore
August 2005
Sidgwick & Jackson
ISBN: 0283073128
460 pages, Illustrated, 6 ½" x 9 ½"
$52.50 Hardcover

OUT OF PRINT

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From the Tudor monarchs through the glorious defeat of the Armada, the triumphs of Nelson and the battles of the First and Second World Wars, this entertaining history describes how the Royal Navy turned this country into the world's foremost sea power. Based on rare material from the archives of the National Maritime Museum, including letters, journals and dispatches, we see life in the navy as it was experienced by commanders and ordinary seamen alike. 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, copper-sheathed hulls, paddle-streamers and iron dreadnaughts to the invention of submarines and aircraft carriers.

We learn how the navy played a key role in exploration, from Drake's circumnavigation of the globes and Cook's voyages of discovery to Franklin's search for the North-West Passage. Filled with colorful characters — Blake, Samuel Pepys, Captain Bligh, Nelson, Jacky Fisher, Jellicoe and Beatty — 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 history.


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