The Command of the Ocean

Oct 19, 2024 4:38 AM

Author:N A M Rodger

The Command of the Ocean describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. It describes not just battles, voyages and cruises but how the Navy was manned, how it was supplied with timber, hemp and iron, how its men (and sometimes women) were fed, and above all how it was financed and directed. It was during the century and a half covered by this book that the successful organizing of these last three - victualling, money and management - took the Navy to the heart of the British state. It is the great achievement of the book to show how completely integrated and mutually dependent Britain and the Navy then became.

Reviews

An absorbing account of Mr. Litvinenko's life and bizarre murder

—— New York Times

Written in the style of the mature reporter, meticulous on detail, racy but without being overheated. The depth of research is impressive...The definitive book of the Litvinenko sada

—— Evening Standard

[Cowell's] account is compulsively researched and sourced...His narrative is truculent, wary of his garrulous sources, and he creates a real rogues' gallery of suspects

—— The Guardian

Brilliantly gripping narrative...a true-life tale that would make John le Carre and Frederick Forsyth go weak at the knees

—— East Anglian Daily Times

Cowell narrates his gripping story in painstaking detail, and with the common sense and professionalism of the distinguished journalist

—— Simon Sebag Montefiore , Scotsman

DeGroot goes far beyond his precise academic remit in bringing us this caustic, absorbing and suttee exploration of how and why the dream died

—— Euan Ferguson , Observer

DeGroot has a good ear for anecdotes and his narrative is highly amusing.

—— John Michell , Spectator

An enjoyably written argument

—— Sinclair McKay , Daily Telegraph

A gripping account

—— Adam Forrest , The Herald

DeGroot tells the story of the American lunar mission with verve and elegance

—— Richard Aldous , Irish Times

Fascinating, gossipy and occasionally hilarious

—— Jeffrey Taylor , Express

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