Sea power has had a profound effect on the history of the world through its influence in the rise and fall of nations. It is won and maintained by ships, by seamen, by the acceptance and use of the developing technology of the time and by prowess in battle, an amalgam of human courage and leadership. The despatch of the British task force to the Falklands as recently as 1982 served to highlight the continuing importance of conventional naval power even in this nuclear age. This is a book about naval warfare which deals with the significant campaigns of naval history, the decisive battles in those campaigns and includes biographical sketches of the principal naval leaders who directed and fought those battles. These are linked together with penetrating introductions to each new era of naval evolution, explaining the changes wrought in strategy and tactics by the development of new naval technology.