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ML I WAR MACHINES * > M PERLMUTTER tests* MiM'iS Octopus Books Top: The Royal Navy's battleship Thunderer. Below: The German U-35 with its fluttering pennants Introduction proclaiming book, a formidable war machine is a machine (or even a technique) that gives its possessor an edge over the enemy. At Within the terms of this sea, for example, the introduction of the stern rudder was a major breakthrough which trans- formed the oared longship into the sailing man-o'-war. The development of broadside fire power by England's Henry VIM was another momentous breakthrough. The introduction of the 19th Century, the replacement of wood by iron plates, the major milestone of the revolving gun turret - all these adaptations of inventive technology gave the nations that first them a technical supremacy in practised steam in weaponry. The rise and fall of civilisation and of power groupings is very largely a reflection of a nation's prowess in technology and of its skill in adapting that technology to the needs of war. This book is a selection of the most memorable development points in the machinery or 'mechanics' of sea warfare. It begins with the Pharaohs and ends with Polaris - although the story, like human inventiveness, really has no end. sense this book is a pictorial catalogue which - with its companion volumes on machines of land and air warfare - helps the reader to build up a 'time-scale' picture of the ebb and flow of civilisations and of the gradual growth of that background technology which now dominates every aspect of our lives. In a its victims. Contents THE EARLY SEAFARERS 11 STEAM TAKES TO SEA THE TRIREME RULES THE SEA 16 A Tug-of-war for Progress HIGH EXPLOSIVE SHELLS RIFLING INCREASES RANGE SHELLS AND SHRAPNEL THE FORMIDABLE FIRE-SHIP THE MIGHTY IRONCLAD THE PENTEKONTER & THE RAM The 14 Battle of Alalia Marc Antony's Defeat THE COASTAL The Battle of GREEK at 22 24 of Constantinople THE VIKING LONGSHIP 26 THE STURDY MEDIEVAL COG 28 Crossbows at Sluys GUNPOWDER 32 THE GALEASS AND THE GUN 32 Don John - the Victor of Lepanto The 38 Blast of the Broadside THE GALLEON The Spanish Armada 46 48 The Purpose-built Bomb Ketch SHIPS-OF-THE-LINE Copper-sheathing The 52 Battle of the Saints THE FRIGATE- LIGHT & FAST A 50 for Protection THE CARRONADE SMASHER' NEW FORM OF POWER 64 BIRTH OF THE BATTLESHIP 74 TORPEDO AND MINE 78 TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYERS 84 WARFARE BENEATH THE WAVES - THE SUBMARINE 88 How Submarines Operate The Total Underwater Weapon 1940: Happy Time' for U-Boats The Crucial Factors at 100 Tsushima 106 BATTLECRUISERS AT SPEED 108 Speed and Firepower Battle of Coronel and Falkland Islands Jutland: The Clash of the Leviathans THE A THE A WASHINGTON TREATY: TO POWER LIMIT 116 AIRCRAFT CARRIER: NEW DIMENSION Dive-bombers at published in 1975 by Octopus Books Limited 59 Grosvenor Street First London Wl under licence from Lynx Press Ltd 601 Union House Hong Kong Created and devised by Berkeley Publishers Ltd ISBN THE REVOLVING GUN TURRET 70 DREADNOUGHT? DINOSAUR? 40 THE DUTCH THREAT THE