The Age of the Ship of the Line: The British and French Navies, 1650-1815

Studies in War, Society, and the Military

By: Jonathan R. Dull

Narrated by: James McSorley

For nearly 200 years huge wooden warships called “ships of the line” dominated war at sea and were thus instrumental in the European struggle for power and the spread of imperialism. Foremost among the great naval powers were Great Britain and France, whose advanced economies could support large numbers of these expensive ships. This book, the first joint history of these great navies, offers a uniquely impartial and comprehensive picture of the two forces - their shipbuilding programs, naval campaigns, and battles, and their wartime strategies and diplomacy.

Jonathan R. Dull is the author of two award-winning histories of the French navy. Bringing to bear years of study of war and diplomacy, his book conveys the fine details and the high drama of the age of grand and decisive naval conflict. Dull delves into the seven wars that Great Britain and France, often in alliance with lesser naval powers such as Spain and the Netherlands, fought between 1688 and 1815. Viewing war as most statesmen of the time saw it - as a contest of endurance - he also treats the tragic side of the Franco-British wars, which shattered the greater security and prosperity the two powers enjoyed during their brief period as allies.

The book is published by University of Nebraska Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2009 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"An excellent introduction to the Anglo-French Wars of 1650-1815 in this tour de force." (CHOICE)

"A magnificent achievement and an important historiographical marker for all naval historians." (Journal of Military History)

“Highly recommended for anyone interested in gaining a balanced overview of 17th- and 18th-century naval warfare in the age of the sail.” (Northern Mariner)

Truth in the Subtitle

This turned out not to be the kind of study I anticipated from the title, where I thought I'd be getting a holistic portrait of what it meant to be in the navies of the time, and what it was like for the nations who fielded such navies. Instead, as the subtitle pointed out, it was a narrative of how the British and French fought each other across these centuries. In that sense it was disappointing, as it was far too often a litany of this many ships sailed here, then this many ships sailed over there, and so on. Battles happened, but got rather short shrift (Trafalgar was over just like that...).

But... the real crime of this book is not the author's fault. Did no one think to coach McSorley on how to pronounce French????? It was painful. French ducs were constantly being pronounced as "ducks"! Counts (comte in French) were being given a second syllable, as if the e were accented. And the names of places or admirals just grew unbearable, esp. the repetition of major bases like Rochefort.

The book has value as a narrative of the wars, and not least for some of the financial data that shows how expensive the choice to have a navy can be.

Not about naval history

I was looking for a book about naval history. This is a book about european naval powers from 1650-1815, full stop. The first chapter does focus on naval topics but after that it's mostly names and dates. It hardly mentions navies at all and when it does it doesn't go into any depth. So I think the subtitle of the book is misleading.

Maybe the author should have focused on a particular engagement or a particular country's navy. That might have helped his insights hit the mark successfully.

The audio performance is full of mispronunciations that make you wonder how much care was taken in putting this on the market. I don't think it is wise to encourage this so I give it one star. Examples: duc "duck", compte "comptay", Cadiz rhyming with "fizz".