A History of Sea Power by Stevens and Westcott

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A HISTORY OF SEA POWER

WILLIAM OLIVER STEVENS and ALLAN WESTCOTT

Professors in the United States Naval Academy

With Maps, Diagrams, and Illustrations

New York George H. Doran Company

PREFACE

This volume has been called into being by the absence of any brief work covering the evolution and influence of sea power from the beginnings to the present time. In a survey at once so comprehensive and so short, only the high points of naval history can be touched. Yet it is the hope of the authors that they have not, for that reason, slighted the significance of the story. Naval history is more than a sequence of battles. Sea power has always been a vital force in the rise and fall of nations and in the evolution of civilization. It is this significance, this larger, related point of view, which the authors have tried to make clear in recounting the story of the sea. In regard to naval principles, also, this general survey should reveal those unchanging truths of warfare which have been demonstrated from Salamis to Jutland. The tendency of our modern era of mechanical development has been to forget the value of history. It is true that the 16" gun is a great advance over the 32-pounder of Trafalgar, but it is equally true that the naval officer of to-day must still sit at the feet of Nelson.

The authors would acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor F. Wells Williams of Yale, and to the Classical Departments of Harvard and the University of Chicago for valuable aid in bibliography. Thanks are due also to Commander C. C. Gill, U. S. N., Captain T. G. Frothingam, U. S. N. R., Dr. C. Alphonso Smith, and to colleagues of the Department of English at the Naval Academy for helpful criticism. As to the "References" at the conclusion of each chapter, it should be said that they are merely references, not bibliographies. The titles are recommended to the reader who may wish to study a period in greater detail, and who would prefer a short list to a complete bibliography.

WILLIAM OLIVER STEVENS

ALLAN WESTCOTT

United States Naval Academy, _June_, 1920.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I THE BEGINNINGS OF NAVIES II ATHENS AS A SEA POWER: 1. THE PERSIAN WAR 2. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR III THE SEA POWER OF ROME: 1. THE PUNIC WARS 2. THE IMPERIAL NAVY IV THE NAVIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES: THE EASTERN EMPIRE V THE NAVIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES [_Continued_]: VENICE AND THE TURK VI OPENING THE OCEAN ROUTES: 1. PORTUGAL AND THE NEW ROUTE TO INDIA 2. SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD VII SEA POWER IN THE NORTH: HOLLAND'S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE VIII ENGLAND AND THE ARMADA IX RISE OF ENGLISH SEA POWER: WARS WITH THE DUTCH X RISE OF ENGLISH SEA POWER [_continued_]: WARS WITH FRANCE TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION XI NAPOLEONIC WARS: THE FIRST OF JUNE AND CAMPERDOWN XII NAPOLEONIC WARS [_Continued_]: THE RISE OF NELSON XIII NAPOLEONIC WARS [_Concluded_]: TRAFALGAR AND AFTER XIV REVOLUTION IN NAVAL WARFARE: HAMPTON ROADS AND LISSA XV RIVALRY FOR WORLD POWER XVI THE WORLD WAR: THE FIRST YEAR XVII THE WORLD WAR [_Continued_]: THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND XVIII THE WORLD WAR [_Concluded_]: COMMERCE WARFARE XIX CONCLUSION INDEX

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