"...it was the most powerful individual weapon of war in the world...it determined the outcome of wars...it dominated sea battles."

Though the great ship no longer dominates the high seas, its impact on the struggle of world powers for hegemony cannot be overestimated. During its reign from the sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth it dominated every significant sea war. Both protector and destroyer, the great ship either kept peace or wreaked utter destruction.

Right up until World War II, battleships reigned supreme until aircraft carriers demonstrated their new power and began to overshadow them. Ernle Bradford narrates the epic saga of these gone-but-not-forgotten war machines. From the building of the ships to the horrendous - and sometimes mortal - clashes with their foes, Bradford leads the reader through history, covering the noble ships that changed the face of civilisation.