Lincoln P. Paine's SHIPS OF THE WORLD: AN HISTORICAL HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA was honored as one of the best reference books of the year by the New York Public L

This is an encyclopaedia covering 1000 of the world's best-known and significant vessels of every size and type. Each ship is described in a short essay which c

A history of the early days of Royal Navy destroyers, and how they evolved to meet new military threats. In the late nineteenth century the advent of the modern

From the end of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th, most Western powers maintained a naval presence in China. These gunboats protected traders