Book Title:
British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers & Fates
Author:
Rif Winfield
ISBN:
978-1-78346-925-3
Category:
Reference
Format:
Multiple
Summary:
In tandem with its companion volume BWAS 1793-1817, this book is a veritable Bible of the Royal Navy during the time of SGN. Winfield is basically the heir to noted naval historian David Lyon after having been invited to complete Lyon's last unfinished masterpiece The Sail & Steam Navy List, and has continued to use that experience and the Lyon archive to expand and deepen his coverage of the ships that flew the Red, White or Blue Ensigns. The magic word here is "exhaustive coverage"--it covers virtually every ship commissioned into the RN during the time discussed, including the veritable swarm of brigs, ketches and other "little guys" that give me fits trying to group into potential sculpts, but in almost all classes it's very good with the design data about how these ships were related to one another.

Hardcover is usually $50ish, Nook digital edition (which I bought) is $30--worth every penny, my only complaint being the lagging availability of its companion volumes in digital form.