The British Navy in the Baltic - Hardcover

[A]n excellent introduction to the study of the Royal Navy. NORTHERN MARINER/MARIN DU NORD

An excellent account of the Royal Navy's involvement in the Baltic that is well written, easy to read, carries the authority of an accomplished historian and gives food for thought for the strategic and tactical use of naval power. THE NELSON DESPATCH

[N]aval historian John Grainger thoughtfully discusses the British naval history in this area in a way that joins military and diplomatic history, along with a thoughtful and nuanced view of naval and political strategy that should be of interest to astute readers of naval history with a personal or professional interest in Scandinavian history. DE RE MILITARI

Recommended. CHOICE

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the activities of the British navy in the Baltic Sea from the earliest times until the twentieth century. It traces developments from Anglo-Saxon times, through the medieval period when there were frequent disputes between English kings and the Hanseatic League, the seventeenth-century wars with the Dutch, and Britain's involvement in the Northern Wars in the early years of the eighteenth century. It considers in detail the major period of British involvement in the Baltic during the Napoleonic Wars, when the British navy fought the Danes, Napoleon's allies, and was highly effective in ensuring Sweden's neutrality and Russia's change of allegiance. It goes on to discuss British naval actions in the Baltic during the Crimean War and in the First World War and its aftermath. Throughout, the book relates naval actions to patterns of trade, to wider international politics, and to geographical factors such as winter sea ice and the shallow nature of the Baltic Sea.

John D. Grainger is the author of numerous books for a variety of publishers, including five previously published books for Boydell and Brewer, including Dictionary of British Naval Battles and The First Pacific War: Britain and Russia, 1854-56.