The Second World War was a truly global conflict and maritime power
played a major role in every theater of operations. Land campaigns
depended on supplies transported by sea, and victory or defeat depended
on the outcome of naval battles. So Leo Marriott's highly illustrated
two-volume account of the struggle sets naval actions in the wider
strategic context as well as giving graphic accounts of what happened in
each engagement.
This first volume concentrates on the Royal Navy's confrontation with
the ships and submarines of the German Kriegsmarine during the Battle of
the Atlantic, the Arctic convoys and the struggle across the
Mediterranean against the Italian navy
to supply the opposing armies in North Africa. The Battle of the River
Plate, the pursuit of the Bismarck, the PQ17 convoy to the Soviet Union
and Operation Pedestal, the most famous convoy sent to relieve Malta,
are among the episodes described in vivid detail and illustrated with a
selection of striking photographs.
This concise but wide-ranging introduction to the naval war emphasizes
the sheer scale of the conflict in every sea and shows the direct impact
of each naval battle on the course of the war.
