When the American colonies declared their independence in 1776, they were ill-prepared for a regular maritime war, and consequently pressed into service ex-privateers and many small and fast merchant ships before building a small number of frigates and lesser warships. Great Britain, on the other hand, had the largest navy of the time, but still found herself poorly equipped to fight a guerilla war at sea and so also increased the numbers of small craft by purchase and capture. This book presents a representative sample of these smaller ships - privateers and regular warships, American and British - including an example of the kind of line-of-battle ship that became important after the French entered the conflict in 1778. The ships concerned are:

Roebuck, a British 44-gun ship of 1774
Druid, a British 16-gun sloop of 1776
Hancock, an American frigate of 1777
Oliver Cromwell, an American privateer of 1777
Confederacy, an American frigate of 1778
Pelican, an ex-French privateer captured by the British in 1781
Alfred, a British 74-gun ship of 1778

The first half of the book deals with the history of each vessel, providing the reader with a lively impression of the service expected of these ships and the actual nature of the maritime war. Thereafter, the author, who is America's leading exponent of 'plank on frame' ship modeling, devotes the remaining chapters to step-by-step detailed descriptions of building such a model, taking the Alfred (the largest and most complex ship) as his prime subject. Specially commissioned photographs illustrate every stage and full sets of plans for each ship are included.

Author: Harold M Hahn

Black and white photographs and plans throughout
286 pages
October 2000
204 x 274 mm
Hardback

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