A fresh, all-encompassing study of the most active British fleet of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars: the Mediterranean Fleet, in which Horatio Nelson made his legendary name. When war broke out with Revolutionary France in 1893, the Royal Navy''s Mediterranean Fleet was launched into a long and complex war. Operating at arm''s length from London, the fleet assumed traditional responsibilities for trade protection, blockade, and high-seas warfare, but also diplomatic and counter-revolutionary activities across the region. It was the theatre that produced some of the most iconic moments of British naval history, and made a legend out of Horatio Nelson. However, the reality of the Mediterranean war has long been overshadowed by its famous battles and huge personalities. In this book, naval scholar Casey Baker draws upon his years of archive research to present a comprehensive portrait of the Mediterranean Fleet''s war - its strategic roles, its organization and decision-making, fighting capabilities and shortcomings, diplomatic and political responsibilities, logistics and manning, and the combat that it saw from the Levant to Cape Trafalgar. With superb original artwork, new maps and 3D diagrams of little-studied actions from amphibious operations to the maritime trade war, he assesses how Royal Navy''s most active fleet of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars fought and operated in this most crucial theatre.

Autorentext

Casey Baker is an army officer and academic, whose first book on the French Revolutionary Wars, Britain's War for the Mediterranean, is published by Naval Institute Press. He is a regular contributor to the Society for Military History and the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era. He has a PhD in Military History, and has taught at West Point and at the Command and General Staff College.

Originally from France, Edouard A. Groult is a renowned historical illustrator who now lives near London.

Inhalt

CONTENTS
THE FLEET'S PURPOSE
The realities of war against France and Spain
Great Britain in the early modern Mediterranean
To defend against or attack the French Republic?
An Anglo-French War
FLEET FIGHTING POWER
Ships of the line
Frigates
Smaller craft
TECHNICAL FACTORS
Accidents
Sailors and marines
HOW THE FLEET OPERATED
Command and control
Administration, bases and logistics
COMBAT
The campaign at sea
ANALYSIS
FURTHER READING
INDEX