STEAM, STEEL AND SHELLFIRE — THE STEAM WARSHIP 1815 — 1905

This is the fourth title in an ambitious programme of 12 volumes intended to provide the first detailed and comprehensive account of the technology that shaped the human history. To tell a coherent story, in a more readable form than is usual with encyclopedias, each volume takes the form of independent chapters, all by recognized authorities in the field.

Most chapters are devoted specifically to the development of ships, but others deal with more general topics like "Guns and Armour" or "Machinery" that relate to many ship types, thus avoiding repetition and giving added depth to the reader's understanding of the factors influencing ship design. Some degree of generalization is inevitable when tackling a subject of this breadth, but wherever possible the specific details of ships and their characteristics have been included (a table of typical ships for each relevant chapter includes a convenient summary of data from which the reader can chart the evolution of the ship type concerned).

Except for the earliest craft, the series is confined to seagoing vessels; to have included boats would have increased the scope of an already massive task. The history of the ship is not a romanticized story of epic battles and heroic voyages but equally it is not simply a matter of technological advances. Ships were built to carry out particular tasks and their design was as much determined by the experience of that employment - the lessons of war, or the conditions of trade, for example - as purely technical innovation. Throughout this series an attempt has been made ю keep this clearly in view, to describe the what and when of development without losing sight of the why. The series is aimed at those with some knowledge of, and interest in, ships and the sea.

It would have been impossible to make a contribution of any value to the subject if it had been pitched at the level of the complete novice, so while there is an extensive glossary, for example, it assumes an understanding of the most basic nautical terras. Similarly, the bibliography avoids very general works and concentrates on those which will broaden or deepen the reader's understanding beyond the level of the History of the Ship. The intention is not to inform genuine experts in their particular area of expertise, but to provide them with the best available single-volume summaries of less familiar fields.