Mahan on naval warfare : $b Selections from the writing of Rear Admiral Alfred T. MahanMahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)
History
Mahan on naval warfare : $b Selections from the writing of Rear Admiral Alfred T. Mahan
Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)
Naval art and science; Naval strategy; Sea-power
“The Influence of Sea Power upon History,” pp. 323–329. By the Treaty
of Paris, 1763, England secured Canada, all French possessions east of
the Mississippi, and Florida; she also retained Gibraltar and Minorca,
and gained ascendancy in India.—EDITOR.
Footnote 45:
See Annual Register, 1762, p. 63.
Footnote 46:
Campbell, “Lives of the Admirals.”
Footnote 47:
These remarks, always true, are doubly so now since the introduction
of steam. The renewal of coal is a want more frequent, more urgent,
more peremptory, than any known to the sailing-ship. It is vain to
look for energetic naval operations distant from coal stations. It is
equally vain to acquire distant coaling stations without maintaining a
powerful navy; they will but fall into the hands of the enemy. But the
vainest of all delusions is the expectation of bringing down an enemy
by commerce-destroying alone, with no coaling stations outside the
national boundaries.
Footnote 48:
“Types of Naval Officers,” pp. 14–17.
Footnote 49:
A celebrated French admiral, in command at the battles of Beachy Head
(1690) and La Hogue (1692).—EDITOR.
Footnote 50:
The most famous of these were issued in 1665 by the Duke of York,
afterward James II, who was then Lord High Admiral. They were revised
but not greatly altered in 1740 and again in 1756.—EDITOR.
Footnote 51:
Byng’s offense, for which he was sentenced to be shot, occurred in an
action with a French squadron off Minorca in 1756.—EDITOR.
Footnote 52:
“The Influence of Sea Power upon History,” pp. 377–380.
Footnote 53:
De Grasse, whose victory over Graves off the Chesapeake forced the
surrender of Cornwallis, was afterward defeated by Rodney in the
famous battle of the Saints’ Passage, April 12, 1782. Three days
earlier, De Grasse had neglected an opportunity to attack in superior
force.
While the battle of the Saints’ Passage is more celebrated, the action
here described better illustrates Rodney’s merits as a tactician. In
his later years Rodney wrote that he “thought little of his victory of
the 12th of April,” and looked upon this earlier action as “one by
which, but for the disobedience of his captains, he might have gained
immortal renown.”—Mahan, “Types of Naval Officers,” p. 203.—EDITOR.
Footnote 54:
The black ships, in position A, represent the English ships bearing
down upon the French center and rear. The line v r is the line of
battle from van to rear before bearing down. The positions v´, r´ are
those of the van and rear ships after hauling up on the port tack,
when the French wore.—EDITOR.
Footnote 55:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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