Fighting Ships

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31125, 30 July 1966, Page 4

Fighting Ships

The Warship In History. By Philip Cowbarn. Macmillan. 331 pp. Index and Bibliography. Early In his preface to this magnificent book the author remarks . . . "but it seemed to me that there was room for a book that brought together into convenient proximity the kind of information that is to be found here.” This seems somewhat diffident from a man who was formerly on the staff of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and hardly prepares the reader for the veritable treasure-house of information on fighting ships to be found Inside. The book begins with a chapter on the ancient world —the ships of the Pharaohs in 3000 B.C.—and concludes with a discussion of nuclear submarines and aircraft-carriers. I Thus a vast field is covered. It is a scholarly treatise, delightfully written and easily read, and its readers will not be confined to naval historians. Anyone with but a r *

drop of salt water in his veins or a spark of Interest in the history of man and his wars must be interested in what is to bo read here. Mr Cowburn discusses famous battles and commanders and the tactics employed, and factors which influenced the design and construction of ships. He shows, too, how developments in gunnery, armour and propulsion played their part in the evolution of the warship as we know it today. The book is profusely illustrated with splendid reproductions of warships through the ages, many of them very famous ships. There is something stirring in a picture of a great warship, and of a naval engagement, and Mr Cowburn has chosen writ to give a selection winch can have been seldom equalled in one volume. There is an index to the book and a full bibliography. This, as Mr Cowburn put it, will “point the way toward further research for those who have a taste for it”