Hi! I've read through a ton of /u/jschooltiger 's posts and have started on suggested reading. I am a big Age of Sail fan and wargamer, and was looking for info on a specific topic. Do any of you have any good books you would suggest on the following:
The logistics of supply and victualling in the Royal Navy during the 18th century
The logistics of maintaining communication with and control of ships
The second one I am particularly interested in. I was reading on Churchill's issues on controlling the fleet during WW2, and not quite knowing where ships we're at any given time. This issues would be unfathomably more difficult during the age of sail.
How were letters delivered from ships to the admiralty and back when sailing in distant waters?
I am just in process of prepping for some work that will touch upon victualling and logistics in 18th century Royal Navy so I can quickly recommend some books.
There really is a lot out there as it is very interesting area feeding into some wider questions about Britain’s economy and their increasing Naval capabilities.
Sorry for the dump from my reference software…
For the Victualling and logistics I would look particularly look at: Roger Knight, Janet Macdonald and Roger Morriss. For wider economic stuff on the navy try the Buchet book, or even Brewers Sinews of Power for a wider look at economy and warfare in the 18th century but particularly looking at Britain and naval power.
Ones I haven’t read include
Arming the Royal Navy, 1793-1815: the Office of Ordnance and the State - Gareth Cole 2012
Support for the fleet: architecture and engineering of the Royal Navy's bases, 1700-1914 - J. G. Coad 2013
For more general “textbooks” for the navy in the era you cant go wrong with NAM Rodger or Richard Harding. Harding has a good feel for logistics and victualling and his War of Austrian Succession/Jenkins Ear book focuses quite a lot on those aspects, especially overseas bases in the Americas etc. Baugh’s book on the Seven Years war is good on logistics and basing etc.
For the command and control aspects I suspect Rodger and Harding books would cover that as well. In particular Rodger is keen on the importance of the “Western Squadron” precisely for its ease of command and control. The Baugh Seven Years war book has a section on the effort required to blockade Brest and the victualling and logistics effort required to maintain it. Im sure Harding and Rodger would cover the same aspects as well.
There is a but load behind journal paywall as well, mostly by the above authors.
Baugh, Daniel, and Daniel A. Baugh. The Global Seven Years War 1754-1763 : Britain and France in a Great Power Contest. Florence, UNITED KINGDOM: Routledge, 2014.
Buchet, Christian. The British Navy, Economy and Society in the Seven Years War. [in English] Vol. English ed, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2013. Book.
Harding, Richard. Emergence of Britain's Global Naval Supremacy : The War of 1739-1748. Suffolk, UNITED KINGDOM: Boydell & Brewer, 2010.
———. Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650-1830. London, UNITED STATES: Routledge, 1999.
Knight, Roger, Martin Wilcox, and R. J. B. Knight. Sustaining the Fleet, 1793-1815 : War, the British Navy and the Contractor State. Suffolk, UNITED KINGDOM: Boydell & Brewer, 2010.
Macdonald, Janet. British Navy's Victualling Board, 1793-1815 : Management Competence and Incompetence. Suffolk, UNITED KINGDOM: Boydell & Brewer, 2010.
Morriss, Roger. The Foundations of British Maritime Ascendancy: Resources, Logistics and the State, 1755–1815. Cambridge Military Histories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. doi:DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511779756.
Rodger, N. A. M. The Command of the Ocean : A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815. London : Penguin, 2006.