E-text prepared by Robert J. Hall

A HISTORY OF SEA POWER

BY

WILLIAM OLIVER STEVENS

AND

ALLAN WESTCOTT

PROFESSORS IN THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY

WITH MAPS, DIAGRAMS,
AND ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

Page vPREFACE

This volume has been called into being by the absence of any briefwork covering the evolution and influence of sea power from thebeginnings to the present time. In a survey at once so comprehensiveand so short, only the high points of naval history can be touched.Yet it is the hope of the authors that they have not, for thatreason, slighted the significance of the story. Naval history ismore than a sequence of battles. Sea power has always been a vitalforce in the rise and fall of nations and in the evolution ofcivilization. It is this significance, this larger, related pointof view, which the authors have tried to make clear in recountingthe story of the sea. In regard to naval principles, also, thisgeneral survey should reveal those unchanging truths of warfarewhich have been demonstrated from Salamis to Jutland. The tendencyof our modern era of mechanical development has been to forget thevalue of history. It is true that the 16" gun is a great advanceover the 32-pounder of Trafalgar, but it is equally true that thenaval officer of to-day must still sit at the feet of Nelson.

The authors would acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor F.Wells Williams of Yale, and to the Classical Departments of Harvardand the University of Chicago for valuable aid in bibliography.Thanks are due also to Commander C. C. Gill, U. S. N., Captain T. G.Frothingam, U. S. N. R., Dr. C. Alphonso Smith, and to colleagues ofthe Department of English at the Naval Academy for helpful criticism.As to the "References" at the conclusion of each chapter, it Page vi should be saidthat they are merely references, not bibliographies. The titlesare recommended to the reader who may wish to study a period ingreater detail, and who would prefer a short list to a completebibliography.

William Oliver Stevens
Allan Westcott

United States Naval Academy,
    June, 1920.

Page viiCONTENTS