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Empire of the Seas
Brian Lavery, Conway Maritime, ISBN 9791 8448 61095
 This book, produced to accompany a major BBC television series, tells the story of how the Royal Navy expanded from a tiny force to become the most complex industrial enterprise on earth.
Gloriously illustrated with special photography taken during the filming of the series and numerous historic artworks and documents, the book explores themes such as the Navy’s relationship with the State and the British people and the tactics and initiatives that created such decisive sea victories.
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Sydney: Cipher & Search
Captain Peter Hore, Seafarer Books, ISBN 978 1 906266 08 0
 In November 1941 the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, with a crew of 645, disappeared off the coast of Western Australia. Almost at once conspiracy theories sprang up to explain the tragic loss of the pride of the Australian navy. The wrecks of the two ships were finally located in March 2008. Based on the author's decryption and interpretation of German coded accounts, interviews with survivors from the raider Kormoran and other research, this fascinating narrative lays to rest much of the controversy surrounding the tragedy. A compelling piece of historical detective work.
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War of All the Oceans
Roy and Lesley Adkins. Abacus paperback ISBN 978 0349 11916 8
 The Adkins set themselves a daunting task - to cover such an action-packed seventeen year period as 1798-1815 in just volume - but they succeed brilliantly and bring it to life in this compelling narrative history.
Their inclusion of eye-witness accounts gives a powerful immediacy to the text. And for those wanting to follow up a particular item, the book is well indexed with an extensive notes and bibliography section.
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Naval
History of Great Britain
William James, Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0851779050  This
is the first in a comprehensive six-volume set that covers the operation
of the Royal Navy during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
In this volume James examines such important aspects as the naval events
at Toulon in 1793 where Sidney Smith burnt half of the French
Mediterranean fleet, Howe's victory at the Glorious First of June and
the Royal Navy's role in colonial expeditions.
The volumes can be purchased separately, or as the complete set - and
provide an unsurpassed historical record of Kydd's Navy, both on the
national and international scale.
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An
Illustrated History of the Royal Navy
John Winton, Conway Maritime, ISBN 1844860078
 It
was very fitting in the Year of the Sea that Conway brought out
a revised edition of Winton's splendid history of that most British of
institutions, the Royal Navy. This impressive book begins with the reign
of King John and concludes with the nuclear age of warships - and
includes superb four-colour illustrations throughout, as well as
first-hand reminiscences of life on board a warship. The sort of book
you can either read from cover to cover - or just dip into at random to
find something to catch the eye...
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The
Island Nation
Brian Lavery, Conway Maritime, ISBN 184486 0167
 Published
by Conway Maritime in conjunction with the National Maritime Museum,
this was the official volume of SeaBritain 2005. Superbly illustrated,
the book celebrates 2000 years of maritime and naval history - and is
certainly a worthy addition to the wonderful feast of books coming out
every year about the sea.
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The
Naval Occurrences of the War
of 1812
William James, Conway Maritime, ISBN 0-85177-9875
 James
wrote "Naval Occurrences" to counter the version of the war put
forward by American authors and concluded that "no American ship of war
has...captured a British ship of the same force."
(William James is of course better known for his later
6-volume epic "The Naval History of Great Britain" from which, however,
many of his more controversial passages about the 1812-1814 war were
trimmed.)
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