War at Sea: A Shipwrecked History from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century

by James P. Delgado

The ocean is humanity's largest battlefield. Resting in its depths lie the lost ships of war, spanning the totality of human history. Many wrecks are nameless, others from more recent times are remembered, honored even, as are the battles that claimed them, like Actium, Trafalgar, Tsushima, Jutland, Pearl Harbor, and Midway. Underwater exploration is increasingly discovering long-lost warships from the deepest parts of the ocean, revealing a vast undersea museum that speaks to battles won and lost, service, sacrifice, and the human costs of warfare.

War at Sea is a dramatic global tour of this remote museum and other formerly lost traces of humanity's naval heritage. It is also an account by the world's leading naval archaeologist of how underwater exploration has discovered these remains, thus resolving mysteries, adding to our understanding of the past, and providing intimate details of the experience of naval warfare. Arranged chronologically, the book begins with the warships and battles of the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese, and then progresses through three thousand years to the lost ships of the Cold War.

James Delgado, who has personally explored, dived, and studied a number of the wrecks and sites in the book, provides insights as an explorer, archaeologist, and storyteller. The result is a unique and compelling history of naval warfare. From fallen triremes and galleons to dreadnoughts, aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines, this book vividly brings thousands of years of naval warfare to life.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War, Archaeology

1 pages, Audio CD

First published August 1, 2019

Reviews

[Neil Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is an expert in his field but he has bitten off more than he can chew in attempting to provide 5,000 years of maritime archeology in 400 pages. It is a useful introduction but he spreads himself very thin indeed. There is barely enough space to note that a wreck is "important" but nowhere near enough to really explain why. Someone who is well read on naval matters will only get a few tidbits; this is one of those books that is rewarding in inverse proportion to what you know already. It's well-written and he makes a strong case for the importance of preserving historically significant wrecks, but I was hoping for more.

[stillfrombrooklyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot of information about shipwrecks in here, but so little time is spent on any one of them that they all just kind of blur together in a mass of "This was a ship, and it sank," which made it feel really repetitive. It has a lot of information, and it's clearly had a lot of research go into it, but it was just too dense and dry for me.

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not what I wanted it to be but it was interesting all the same. Well researched (the author personally discovered and cataloged a lot of the wrecks) and written in a fashion easy to follow. It loses a star because at the start he states “i promise this isn’t just a rehashing of my last book about shipwrecks” and then proceeds to just rehash his old book. Doesn’t lose any more than that because I haven’t read his old book to make make me angry enough at this one.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary immersion (pun intended) on major events of our human history seen from the remains of war ships on the ocean/sea/lake floor. I loved it, and one reason was I could pick it up, read the story surrounding one particular war, put it down then repeat until I reluctantly came to the final page.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and very thick read concerning this planet’s underwater maritime mementos. I learned a massive amount, not only about the shipwrecks themselves, but also about how often such wrecks change our historical knowledge.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got through most of it but it was blah. Wrong translation from German. “Island hopping” was a Nimitz strategy not MacArthur and Nimitz isn’t even mentioned in the Guadalcanal section and he was an admiral wasn’t he and we are talking about ships here.

[Wan Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth a second read. Rich in details.