…War of 1812.
"Utmost Gallantry: The U.S. and Royal Navies at Sea in the War of 1812By Kevin D. McCranie
New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013. Pp. xiv, 898. ISBN 978–1–59691–607–4.
Challenge: America, Britain and the War of 1812 By Andrew Lambert
London: Faber and Faber, 2012. Pp. xiv, 538. ISBN 978–0–571–27319–5.
These two books, one by an American, Kevin McCranie (Naval War College), and one by a Briton, Andrew Lambert (King's College London), represent the latest and perhaps final phase in a thirty-year cycle of new work on the War of 1812 at sea. American interest in this subject dates to the early days of the war, when US warships were surprisingly successful in single-ship duels against the Royal Navy. The heavy frigate Constitution defeated two British light frigates, Guerrière and Java, and in the process earned her nickname—"Old Ironsides"—when round shot from the Guerrière appeared to bounce off her 22-inch live oak hull. Likewise, her sister ship, President, defeated the light frigate Macedonian and took it as a prize of war.
These victories gave a badly-needed boost to American morale, after the disasters that befell US armies in Canada in 1812. "Our brilliant naval victories," said an army officer, "serve, in some measure, to wipe out the disgrace brought upon the Nation by the conduct of our generals." One congressman bragged that "British arms cannot withstand American upon the sea. The bully has been disgraced by an infant." Great Britain was not accustomed to losing naval engagements: "It is a cruel mortification," lamented one cabinet official, "to be beat by these second-hand Englishmen upon our own element…"
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Amicalement
Armand
looks at some new terrain products, which use space age technology!