Russian Warships in the Age of Sail, 1696-1860: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates

By John M Tredrea and Eduard Sozaev

Peter the Great created the Russian navy from nothing, but it soon surpassed Sweden as the Baltic naval power, while in the Black Sea it became an essential tool in driving back the Ottoman Turks from Europe. During the 18th century it was the third largest navy in the world yet its history, and especially its ships, are virtually unrecorded in the West. The first comprehensive study in English, it is illustrated with plans, paintings, and prints rarely seen outside Russia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press
• Release date: Jun 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781612519692

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Reviews for Russian Warships in the Age of Sail, 1696-1860

[taivaankumma · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Proofreading: FApart from the totally random use of Swedish, Russian, Finnish and English place names for locations on the Baltic Sea, the apparent inability of the authors' to spell the Swedish and Finnish names they choose to use correctly does not breed trust for the factual accuracy of the text. As for the Russian names, it is hard to say as I do not speak the language, but the problems with the other languages give me doubts. A brief example of one sentence from page 59 serves to illustrate the problems:"Russian territorial gains in the war involved a small expansion of Russian territory into Finland, including the galley port of Fridrikshamn (now Kotka)." Not only is the correct name of the town Fredrikshamn (Hamina in Finnish), but the neighboring town of Kotka, which decidedly is not Fredrikshamn, did not even exist at the time. This probably originates in bad translation work, as the Russians called the battle fought outside the town the Battle of Fridriksgam. Also, in the same vein, the Battle of Gogland might be better known in English as the Battle of Hogland.Anachronisms provide further problems with place names. Helsinki, for example, is often called by its Finnish name of Helsinki (not by its Swedish name of Helsingfors) which had no official standing at the time. Using modern names would be understandable if it was systematic, but on the other hand Tallinn is not called by its modern name of Tallinn, which is the same in all relevant languages, but by its old Russian name of Revel. Also, the again quite random decisions to use or not to use umlauts in names are baffling. And where is the irony in this? The fact that authors berate A. B. Shirokorad in the introduction for "lack of regard for accuracy". Pot, kettle, black. Historical content: B-. A brief introduction to Russian naval history is included. The Black Sea navy is covered better than the Baltic navy, where large battles and even whole wars are mentioned largely in passing.The Fates: AThis is after all the reason people will buy the book. The problems in translation and proofreading mentioned above may create doubts for this section as well, but as it is impossible for me to know if there are similar mistakes here, I choose to take the ship listings at face value. I will call this part of the work excellent.Design and Construction: F There is not a whole lot on the design of the ships, and practically nothing on the construction.

[shrike58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The primary title probably gives better insight into what this tome is about than the subtitle, in that what you really have here is a fleet list with some historical overview of the context in which these ships served and their main battles. If you were looking for a close analysis of how these ships evolved I can understand how one might be disappointed. This being the case, I thought that this was a very satisfactory reference guide and I look forward to acquiring a copy once I run across one at a reasonable price.