The Royal Navy 1793–1815

Osprey Battle Orders #31

by Gregory Fremont-Barnes

By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 Britain was the undisputed master of the seas owing to the power and strength of the Royal Navy. Its fleets, comprising ships of the line, frigates, and gunboats, had doubled in size since the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, totaling almost a thousand capital vessels.

This book examines the commanders, men, and ships of the Royal Navy during the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, and discusses the Navy's command structure (from the Admiralty down to ship level) and its organization at sea. The tactics employed in action by a fleet, a squadron, and individual ships are also discussed, as are the medical services available, providing a fascinating insight into the navy that ruled the waves.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 2007

Reviews

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, number 31 in Osprey Publishing's Battle Orders Series, we get a look at the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Wars, with obvious emphasis on the battle of Trafalgar, and the British blockade of the Continent. Gregory Fremont Barnes, an author on Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and Naval topics in particular, is trying to jam an excellent two page bibliography of great books on this topic into the classic Osprey 96 page format- and he does a great job of giving the reader the basics of the force that secured the British Empire from its birth in the 1600s to its end in the 1940s. In the middle- this period- The Royal Navy was the one of the few forces that could balance Napoleon's Grande Armee- and by 1815- its power- and its ability to turn trade on and off with the continent had proved triumphant. Freemont Barnes explains how the Navy worked at both the mundane tasks of blockade and the occasional battles that broke out- large and small. Along the way- the book is filled with b/w and colour pics, great tables and diagrams, and some good appendices in the tradition of the series and the publisher.

Although there is a lot of tactical information and records or battles, I liked that Fremont Barnes also focused on the massive and expensive logistical effort needed to maintain such an enormous force at sea for long periods. The Navy required safe base harbours all over the globe, one of the drivers of colonialism and imperialism itself- as well as a steady flow of timber, pitch, victuals (food) and of course men to crew these technological marvels and man their massive gun batteries. 22 years of almost constant warfare required a supreme effort from Britain and her empire- as the narrative history in the book shows. Considering how many full sized books are dedicated to this topic- this condensed history does a good job of introducing a complex topic to the lay reader.

There are a few adult themes, but few graphic injury passages, so this is a good book for a Junior Readers over about 11/12 years. for the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, this is a very useful book in a number of ways. The Gamer gets that one book you need to hand to a Fantasy/Warhammer player to bring them up to speed for a Napoleonic/Revolutionary War/Pirates
Naval campaign at the club. The Modeler gets a lot of cool information that can inform builds/dioramas of the period. The Military enthusiast gets a good amuse buche- a taste of serious period Naval History- and enough to get one excited to read more of the bibliography's more in-depth sources. This is a good introduction to a period that can draw any reader in very easily.

[Mastersonmcvoidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Osprey book deals with the organisation, tactics, crews, conditions, weaponry and statistics of the Royal Navy from 1793 to 1815.

The author, Gregory Fremont-Barnes, creates a readable, comprehensive overview of the navy and provides a fair amount of detail for an Osprey book this size, the book is just under 100 pages.

The book is filled with statistics and figures covering fleet sizes, orders of battle, money spent on the navy, the amount of officers etc. for almost every year of the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars as well as tables showing the command structure, rank seniority, members of the crew of a ship etc. While the book is short and these are not hard to find there is no appendix to group all these stats in a single place, which I would've liked.

This book is not a linear narrative and stands out as a reference book for the navy in the period, as per typical Osprey fashion it is full of historical portraits and illustrations.

It is not without flaws. I believe it buys into the myth of Trafalgar and Nelson a bit too much for my liking, inflating and praising the significance of the battle and Nelson's character far more than they deserve to be praised.

The Osprey format and the small number of pages confines this book to a limited amount of narrative and information, still it is very useful as a reference book and for finding statistics.

As with all such books, some stats will conflict with other sources and the book doesn't contain all stats for all years in some cases.

As a reference and an overview memory-refresher this is a very useful book, though the narrative could be better without the over-praising of Trafalgar and Nelson in particular, still it is quite readable and comprehensive.

Final Rating: 8/10