'A Naval History of Britain' which begins in the 7th century has to explain what it means by Britain. My meaning is simply the British Isles as a whole, but not any particular nation or state or our own day...… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
Naval dominance of European waters was the largest, longest, most complex and expensive project ever undertaken by the British state and society. — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
Medieval England was a great military power with a sophisticated machinery of government, but her naval administration, at best improvised and for long periods missing altogether, pointed to a grave weakness: the lack of any reliable means of putting a force of warships at the disposal of the crown. Only Richard I and Henry V of all the kings of… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share
It is well known that we fight in God's cause... but unless God helps us by a miracle the English, who have faster and handier ships than ours, and many more long-range guns, and who know their advantage just as well as we do, will never close with us at all, but stand aloof and knock us to pieces with… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share
Whether in peaceful trade or warlike attack, the sea unites more than it divides. Even if it were possible to treat England, or the… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
The common sense of the word (navy) as we use it today refers to a permanent fighting service made up of ships designed for war, manned by professionals and supported by an adminsistrative and technical infrastructure. A navy in this sense is only one possible method of making war at sea, and by some way the most difficult and the… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share
It is not surprising that only one medieval state, Venice, long possessed anything clearly identifiavble as a navy in this sense. We shall see that no state in the British Isles attained attained this level of sophistication before the 16th century, and no history of the Royal Navy, in any exact sense of the words, could legitimately begin much before… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share
In every age states of varying size and constitution and at every level of development have found naval warfare to be one of their… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
The impossibility of keeping Englishmen sober ashore was a constant source of complaint, It was the great weakness of 16th century English infantrymen, whose… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
'A Naval History of Britain' which begins in the 7th century has to explain what it means by Britain. My meaning is simply the… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
The arrival of the Barbary pirates radically changed English attitudes. Instead of patriotic pirates plundering foreign cargoes and bringing them homes to enrich their… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
Its subject is the slow and erratic process by which the peoples of the British Isles learnt - and then for long periods forgot… — Nicholas Rodger Copy Share Image
