Originally published in 1959, this volume covers the history of the Service which has been through the centuries the first, and often the last line of British defence, and the spearhead of Britians imperial expansion. Professor Lewis puts the Royal Navy into its true perspective in history in general and maritime history in particular.
Originally published in 1959, this volume covers the history of the Service which has been through the centuries the first, and often the last line of British defence, and the spearhead of Britians imperial expansion. In the book Professor Lewis puts the Royal Navy into its true perspective in history in general and maritime history in particular. He shows its origin in the Crowns personal sea-force, still blended with, and largely reliant upon the United Kingdoms total sea-force; and relates how it emerged as the principal fighting element in her sea-strength; principal, but not sole fighting element, because the reserves of the Royal Navy are an integral part of the entire Navy.
Part 1: The Old Navy
1. Pre-Tudor: Seed-Time 800-1485
2. Henry VII: The
Growth of a Sea-Policy, 14851509
3. Henry VIII: The Coming of the Warship,
150947
4. Elizabeth I: Trade and War, 15471603
5. The Early Stuarts: The
Failure of the Old Navy, 160349
6. The Commonwealth: The State Navy, 164960
Part 2: The Royal Navy
7. The Later Stuarts: The Coming of the Royal Navy,
166088
8. William and Anne: The French Wars First Phase, 16881714
9. Peace
and War: Dark Days, 171448
10. The Seven Years War The Winning of Empire,
174863
1. American Independence: The Navy in Adversity, 176383
12. The
Revolutionary War: The Navy Against the World, 17831802
13. The Napoleonic
War: The Triumph of the Royal Navy, 180215 Part 3: The New Navy
14. The
Nineteenth Century (1): Pax Britannica, 18151900
15. The Nineteenth
Century (2): The Great Transition, 18151900
16. Total War (1): The New Navy
Finds Itself, 190018
17. Total War (2): Sea and Sky, 191845.
Michael Arthur Lewis (1890-1970) read history at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by a year at Grenoble University (and would have played in the French national rugby team had the authorities not discovered that he was British). His subsequent academic career was spent wholly in naval education, teaching at the Royal Naval College Osborne (1913-20, serving as lieutenant in the Royal Marine Artillery in World War I), at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth (1920-34) and finally as Professor of History and English at the Royal Naval College Greenwich (1934-55). A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, he was active in the Navy Records Society (vice-president) and the Society for Nautical Research (president). In 1952-3 he introduced all 26 episodes of the American documentary series Victory at Sea on BBC television, earning the public soubriquet of the TV Prof. He authored or edited 22 books: two of light verse, six thrillers (clutch and throttle as he called them), thirteen on naval history, and one on genealogical gleanings from his own family tree. He retired in 1955, having been awarded a CBE for services to naval education.
