Broadsides by Nathan Miller

Yet another AOS reference and if you believe the flyleaf blurb "Now, in the first modern chronicle of the epic of wooden ships and pigtailed sailors". That's a tall order for a AOS reference published in 2000 but here's the "kicker"..........we're talking American AOS from the American Revolution through the War of 1812.

That being said, it's not all "navy in the colonies" as "the legendary Horatio Nelson epidomizes this era, and his personal story is the keel of this book, although the tale continues for another decade following Nelson's tragic death.............".

Prominent "sailors" are John Paul Jones, George Rodney, John Jervis, Thomas Truxtun, Edward Preble, Stephen Decatur, Edward Pellew, & Lord Chochrane. The politicians aren't spared either with Stoddert (1st Sec of the American Navy), Lord Barham, and William Pitt.

It's not a "hard read" (after all, it's required reading at the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S.Naval War College and U.S. Naval Post-Graduate School). I read it and didn't find anything I hadn't read elsewhere, but then, I've read a bunch of AOS reference books. It's in my library.