British Admirals of the Eighteenth Century

British Admirals of the Eighteenth Century (1972) examines the problems of eighteenth-century naval warfare, and differs in two important respects from orthodox opinions. It shows that the belief that the fighting instructions of the eighteenth century were Admiralty orders which cramped the initiative of admirals has been disproved by documentary evidence; and it argues that a study of the most important sea battles of the period indicates that the view that tactics at sea should always be base