Send a Gunboat The Victorian Navy and Supremacy At Sea, 1854-1904

"Since its original publication, Send a Gunboat has remained the standard reference work on the remarkable story of the Victorian Royal Navy's fleet of small warships, which enforced the Pax Britannica around the world for half a century." "The period is greatly misunderstood, and the phrase 'gunboat diplomacy' has generally been used to suggest a crude use of naval strength to bully and coerce weaker nations. In fact, the Pax Britannica was a much more subtle and complex concept, calling for the use of limited force to create a favourable climate for international trade. The book is divided into two sections: the first examines the role of the gunboat in British foreign policy during those critical 50 years; the second provides a comprehensive listing of all the vessels of the gunboat navy from the Crimean War up to 1914 with specifications and details of launch and fate. The second section is supported with a number of appendices including a brand new section on HMS Gannet, the last surviving small ship of the Victorian navy which, as a composite screw sloop, is representative of the smaller warships built to patrol the shores of the British Empire." "With a Foreword by Andrew Lambert and Afterword by Eric Grove, which together set this work in context and bring it up to date with an examination of whether 'gunboat diplomacy' can be applied to the modern age, the revised edition is fully illustrated throughout with more than 100 additional images to the original, including rare photographs, making it an indispensable addition to the library of naval historians and enthusiasts of the Victorian navy."--BOOK JACKET.Preston, Anthony is the author of 'Send a Gunboat The Victorian Navy and Supremacy At Sea, 1854-1904', published 2007 under ISBN 9781591148180 and ISBN 1591148189.