A Century of Carrier Aviation

The Evolution of Ships and Shipborne Aircraft

By David Hobbs
Hardcover $23.98
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Overview Author Reviews

Overview

Available for sale only in the U.S. and Canada. Exceptions made for USNI Members.

Written by a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot in the Royal Navy and an award-winning historian of naval flying, this book provides a masterly overview of the history of aviation in the world's navies down to the present day. Heavily illustrated from the author's comprehensive collection of photographs, the book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in navies or air power. The author charts the progress and growing effectiveness of naval air power, concentrating on the advances and inventions that allowed shipborne aircraft to match their land-based counterparts and looking at their contributions to twentieth-century warfare.

About the Author

David Hobbs

David Hobbs served in the Royal Navy as a pilot, and later became the Curator of the Fleet Air Arm Museum. He has since established himself as an authoritative writer on naval aviation topics, with more than a dozen highly regarded books to his name. Of particular note is his series of Fleet Air Arm operational narratives covering the complete history of the service, in order of chronology from The Royal Navy’s Air Service in the Great War to The British Carrier Strike Fleet after 1945, all published since 2011. His latest work, The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe 1939–1945, has received particular critical acclaim.

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Editorial Reviews

"[In To Crown the Waves] anyone who considers the naval war only in terms of a few well-known battles such as Coronel, the Falkland Islands or the Skagerrak will learn, at the very least, that the war at sea had a much larger dimensions. . . . Hardly any aspect is left out in this work. A person interested in the systems of signaling, or who wants to know more about the mine war or the beginnings of naval aviation will find information here. . . . . In addition there is an abundance of tables with information on ships, ship types, guns, torpedoes and mines, warships, losses and the number of existing shipyards. Short summaries and assessments round off the respective sections." —Militèrgeschichtlichen Zeitschrift
"To Crown the Waves is a useful book for the novice or the seasoned student of the war at sea from 1914 through 1918." —Strategy Page
"In To Crown the Waves, Vince O'Hara has led a team of experts in their particular fields in writing a uniform and comprehensive study of each of the major and minor navies of World War I. Each navy is described, from their history to their warships and their design; ports and resources that they had available; their training, strategic and tactical doctrine, and conduct of the war on, over, and under the waves, all supported with numerous tables. As such, this is an excellent introduction to the navies of all of the major and minor powers of World War I and will surprise the 'expert' with nuggets of new information on the navies of this era." —Jack Greene, coauthor of Hitler Strikes North: The Nazi Invasion of Norway & Denmark, April 9, 1940"To grasp what happened at sea during World War I, you need to go beyond the battles and the ships to see how the various navies of World War I expected to fight (and how that differed from what they experienced) and how they were organized to do so. This book is a unique and vital contribution to our understanding of the war at sea in 1914–18." —Norman Friedman, author of British Cruisers of the Victorian Era and Naval Weapons of World War One$