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To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the World, Paul William Garber

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To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the World, Paul William Garber Naval War College Review Volume 58 Article 18 Number 3 Summer 2005 To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the World, Paul William Garber Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Garber, Paul William (2005) "To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the World,," Naval War College Review: Vol. 58 : No. 3 , Article 18. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol58/iss3/18 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen 152 NAVAL WAR COLLEGE REVIEW Garber: To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the World, principal instrument whereby God works these good things to thee.” Herman, Arthur. To Rule the Waves: How the And nothing has changed. British Navy Shaped the World. New York: This is a good book that describes all HarperCollins, 2004. 648pp. $26.95 the twists and turns necessary for a na- The subtitle of Arthur Herman’s grand tion to become a great commercial maritime history To Rule the Waves power and to protect itself from sub- gives it all away: How the British Navy stantial competition and extraordinary Shaped the World. Through a series of technological challenges. What Herman well-described episodes, Herman con- establishes clearly is that ultimately it vincingly discusses how the Royal Navy was the will to develop a navy and the came to dominate the seas and sus- willingness to use it in the most cou- tained Britain’s ability to expand and rageous manner, whether as a matter maintain its empire. of policy or as a commander’s indi- From John Hawkins and Francis Drake vidual initiative, that effectively sup- to the amazingly named Cloudsley ported the realm. Shovell, as well as Horatio Nelson, John Unfortunately, Herman is not as well Fisher, David Beatty, and the like, supported by his publisher. There are Herman traces the development of numerous editorial lapses in grammar men, ships, and strategies, and the tech- and proofreading, and although sub- nologies that forced change. stantive factual errors are few, there are The initial impulse for trade was enough to be annoying. For example, matched by a desire for plunder, so that the assertion that the average Britisher the relationship that later developed be- consumed four pounds of sugar a day tween the navy and the merchant trade in 1700 and twelve pounds a day in required maturation. John Dee, writing 1720 should actually read “per year.” a memorial to Queen Elizabeth in 1577, Saint Michel should read Saint Mihiel. proposed a permanent navy as the It is Saint Nazaire, not Nizaire, and “master key wherewith to open all locks Veinticinco, not Veinticino. There is that keep out or hinder this incompara- also the omission of Port Stanley as a ble British empire.” Although the queen principal town in the Falklands, and the lacked the means, the idea never really incorrect statement that “from [Prince] died. John Holland, not quoted by Alfred on, every generation of the royal Herman, wrote in his 1638 “Discourse family would make sure someone carried of the Navy”: “If either the honour of a on the navy tradition, King George V and nation, commerce, or trade with all na- Louis Mountbatten being the most fa- tions, peace at home, grounded upon mous and Prince Philip the most re- our enemies’ fear or love of us abroad, cent” would leave Prince Charles and and attended with plenty of all things Prince Andrew wondering where they necessary either for the preservation for fit in. In citing the Falklands campaign, the public need, or thy private welfare, Herman also mentions what we in Na- be things worthy thy esteem...then val Control of Shipping refer to as next to God and the King, give thy “ships taken up from trade.” It is worth thanks for the same to the navy, as the mentioning that without adequate aux- iliaries a navy may be at risk and that Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2005 1 T:\Academic\NWC Review\NWC Review Summer 2005\NWCRSU05\NWC Review Summer 2005.vp Wednesday, June 01, 2005 3:58:43 PM Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen BOOK REVIEWS 153 Naval War College Review, Vol. 58 [2005], No. 3, Art. 18 without a controllable merchant ma- brings a critical and experienced eye rine, a nation may be at risk. to his editorship, and this is reflected Herman rightly celebrates the daring in the many changes made in this edi- and enterprise of British naval officers tion. This book has a new cover, new and their willingness to use the means photographs, six new chapters, and at hand to achieve their goals. A fleet in substantial updates to all preexisting being is useless if not backed up by the chapters, with an increase of over a commitment to use it. The problem hundred pages. This work eschews any was, as always, how to pay for the navy, single theme but rather seeks to encap- which Herman cites as the major cause sulate an eclectic array of approaches of Britain’s civil war in 1642. The same to the general topic. While initially issue faces us in 2005. disconcerting, this methodology is skillfully used and provides a holistic PAUL WILLIAM GARBER account of the RAN wartime Captain, U.S. Naval Reserve, Retired experience. The chapters deal with, inter alia, mat- ters of grand policy concerning Austra- lian naval strategizing in the lead-up to Stevens, David, ed. The Royal Australian Navy in the war, interesting accounts of battles World War II. 2d ed. Australia: Allen & Unwin, experienced by former crew members, 2005. 336pp. AUD$39.95 an outline of regional confrontation with Vichy French representatives, so- Australia is quintessentially a maritime cial assessments of the officer corps and nation. From the arrival of Lieutenant female participation in the naval ser- James Cook, RN, in Botany Bay in 1770, vice, and a description of industrial re- navies have featured heavily in the his- organization within Australia, as well as torical experience of Australia, and for accounts of naval operational thinking this naval officer, the navy is rightfully and planning during the course of the regarded as “the senior service.” Given war. By any measure, the achievements this background, it seems surprising of the RAN during the conflict were as- that there is not more written about tonishing. At the war’s close, the RAN this naval tradition and especially about comprised 337 ships and over forty the triumphs and tragedies of the Royal thousand mobilized personnel. The Australian Navy (RAN) in wartime. The navy served in almost every theater of recent publication of a second edition of that global war and earned its fair share David Stevens’s Royal Australian Navy of battle glory. As James Goldrick notes in World War II fills a very important in chapter 1, the RAN had been in- gap. First published in 1996, the book volved in the sinking of numerous en- has been augmented significantly in this emy capital ships and submarines, the new edition. destruction of over a hundred enemy David Stevens is a former naval officer, aircraft and over 150,000 tons of axis a graduate of the University of New merchant shipping. Perhaps the South Wales and Australian National RAN’s most significant achievement University, and currently director of was its ability to keep open sea lines Strategic and Historical Studies within of communication to Australia at a the Sea Power Centre–Australia. He https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol58/iss3/18 2 T:\Academic\NWC Review\NWC Review Summer 2005\NWCRSU05\NWC Review Summer 2005.vp Wednesday, June 01, 2005 3:58:44 PM.
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