This collection of essays sets out to present a sample of the rich diversity of writings on naval history in this period. The collection covers subjects ranging from strategy, operations and tactics, to administration, technology and the maritime economy. Within this volume, the reader will be able to see essays that influenced the development of modern naval history through to samples of some of the latest research.

In recent decades historians have studied several new aspects of early modern naval history and placed it in a wider context than traditional studies of naval warfare. This volume brings together 23 studies on naval technology, policy-making and administration, tactics, strategy, operations and warfare on trade. They provide new insights and new ideas for further studies.

This collection of essays sets out to present a sample of the rich diversity of writings on naval history in this period. The collection covers subjects ranging from strategy, operations and tactics, to administration, technology and the maritime economy. Within this volume the reader will be able to see essays that influenced the development of modern naval history through to samples of some of the latest research.

British power and global expansion between 1755 and 1815 have mainly been attributed to the fiscal-military state and the achievements of the Royal navy at sea. Roger Morriss here sheds new light on the broader range of developments in the infrastructure of the state needed to extend British power at sea and overseas. He demonstrates how developments in culture, experience and control in central government affected the supply of ships, manpower, food, transport and ordnance as well as the support of the army, permitting the maintenance of armed forces of unprecedented size and their projection to distant stations. He reveals how the British state, although dependent on the private sector, built a partnership with it based on trust, ethics and the law. This book argues that Britain's military bureaucracy, traditionally regarded as inferior to the fighting services, was in fact the keystone of the nation's maritime ascendancy.