The Great Ship: How Battleships Changed the History of War - Softcover

"...it was the most powerful individual weapon of war in the world...it determined the outcome of wars...it dominated sea battles." Acclaimed naval historian Ernle Bradford (COLUMBUS, DRAKE, NELSO, THE MIGHTY HOOD) is no stranger to the power and magnificence of battleships. In THE GREAT SHIP, he examines the bigger picture, tracing the evolution of these "men of war". Though the great ship no longer dominates the high seas, its impact on the struggle of world powers for hegemony cannot be overestimated. During its reign from the sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth it dominated every significant sea war. Both protector and destroyer, the great ship either kept peace or wreaked utter destruction. In World War II aircraft carriers demonstrated their new power and began to overshadow battleships. Ernle Bradford narrates the epic saga of these gone-but-not-forgotten war machines. From the building of the ships to the horrendous - and sometimes mortal - clashes with their foes, Bradford leads the reader through history, covering the noble ships that changed the face of history.