The battleship reigned supreme at sea from the 1860s to the 1940s, the ultimate symbol of naval power and national pride, queen on the naval chessboard.

As a result, strategy and battle tactics changed in response to the mounting of ever larger guns with greater range and penetrative power, and the development of threatening new weapon systems, particularly torpedoes, torpedo boats, mines and submarines.

The author also explores the chilling reality of action with vivid descriptions of major naval battles including the Yalu in the first Sino-Japanese War, Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War, Jutland in the First World War and many lesser known engagements.

Battleship describes the evolution from the wooden man-of-war plated with iron armour to the great steel leviathan of the Second World War, and its ultimate displacement as arbiter of naval power by the aircraft carrier.

'Well written and balanced in judgement and makes good use of the primary printed material in the Naval Library... Above all it deserves particular attention for its author's specialised knowledge of the development of naval gunnery and fire control' - Times Literary Supplement

'With crisp scholarship, Peter Padfield traces the development of the battleship from sailing ships much like Nelson's which had been fitted with auxiliary steam engines and had iron armour hung on their sides, to the ultimate: the Japanese battleship, Yamato, a giant of more than 70,000 tons firing 18 inch shells more than 20 miles' - Books and Bookmen

Peter Padfield lives in Woodbridge, Suffolk. He worked with P&O and sailed with Alan Villiers in Mayflower II in commemoration of the journey of the Pilgrim Fathers. The Titanic and The Californian won him international recognition as a writer. He is also the author of classic biographies of Hess, Donitz and Himmler and has written widely on the sea, including a work on naval gunnery.