NAVIES IN NORTHERN WATERS 1721—2000

During the past several centuries the importance of the North, Baltic, Barents and Norwegian Seas together with the North Atlantic region has continually grown looking from both commercial and strategic points of view. The rapid expansion that took place in the colonial and European merchant trade, exploitation of the various natural resources and industrialization have all made all countries adjacent to the waters mentioned above seriously dependent on the sea and all of those countries have developed their navy fleets in order to protect the state interests.

Subject development was also considered an element in their state systems directly linked to the maritime and continental power balance. The maritime law grew out of this link and associated tensions. While sharing the maritime interests, the above stated countries still differed in most of the other respects. It shall be noted that the strategic and economic importance was not necessarily reflected in their naval strengths. The content of the book has been arranged in several major sections covering the most important and relevant aspects of the navy fleets that used to operate in the Northern waters in the time period addressed, i.e. last three centuries.