The Star Captains : Frigate Command in the Napoleonic Wars

by Tom Wareham

. 2001, bright clean copy, with dustjacket, no markings, Professional booksellers since 1981

Genres: History

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2003

About the author

AKA Richard Thomas (The Wapping Conspiracy) - now reissued under Tom Wareham's name.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading The Star Captains by Tom Wareham. Great book that combines qualitative commentary with quantitative analysis of Royal Navy Frigate Captains from 1793-1814. The author used a large number of resources to develop a suitable data set for comparative analysis of the Captains. He looked at their assignments, promotion rates, battle success and command style, creating a picture of the 'average' CO. The author showed that as the war(s) progressed, the Navy managed to continually find and assign top performing officers and that 'influence,' though ever present, was perhaps as not prevalent as is commonly believed. The book is a good example of quantitative historical analysis.