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YOUNG.[COMMANDER,O.B.E.,R.N.],ROBERT TRAVERS: : THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

UK.ALDERSHOT,HANTS.GALE AND POLDEN LTD.,1955.

UK,12mo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn,no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,clean,grey+white illustrated upper wrap with yellow letters and lightly marked white rear wrap,with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges;some miniscule bumping and rubbing - with minimal loss - to corners,no major nicks or tears present.Head of spine/backstrip minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing and a small closed tear.Top+fore-edges bright and clean;contents bright, tight and near pristine.Bright, crisp, clean, unblemished navy blue cloth bds with bright, stamped gilt letters to spine/ backstrip and near immaculate,plain white eps.12mo,v-xii+1-183pp [paginated] includes half-title+title pages, b/w photographic frntis (ships crest+motto, HMS Excellent), foreword by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Chatfield with his facsimile signature, contents+illus lists/tables, author preface, 12 chapters+ epilogue, 22pp comprising 30 contemporary b/w photographs, interspersed throughout the book and text, appendices(4) and an index. Since the invention of gunpowder 600 years ago,the naval gun has had a profound influence on world history;but it was, until about a hundred years ago (then 1955),a very simple weapon;just "a piece of iron with a hole in it," as the author picturesquely describes it.Yet it was with this simple weapon that the seas were commanded and the British Empire created. The technique was also simple - i.e., to train the guns' crews to load and fire their guns quicker than the enemy,at point-blank range.It was not until 120 years ago (again, then 1955),through the imagination and initiative of a young naval commander,that a "school of gunnery" was gradually developed at Portsmouth in the three-decker HMS Excellent. In this book,the author describes how it all happened:the beginnings of a new technical art,the idea of target-practice, the development of gun-sights,the means of measuring the range of the enemy,the rifling of the muzzle-loading guns.From such early beginnings arose the art of naval gunnery;the harnessing of modern scientific and engineering practice ashore to naval requirements.The old Excellent eventually gave way to the present great shore establishment,made on the mud flats in Portsmouth Harbour,but the old name,Excellent,was preserved.To this establishment were appointed from time to time some of the most brilliant Captains in the Navy,such as Cooper Key, Fisher and Scott,and there were officers and men who went through courses of gunnery training and became specilaists in the art.There followed the breech-loading guns of ever-increasing size,controlled by hydraulic power;the application of electric machinery,the development of cordite and high explosives,range-finders,etc.The advance of gunnery to a science was not gradual,but a series of violent jumps,from the impact of dominating personalities,who by initiative and force of character pressed on a hesitating naval administration their schemes both for material development and skill in using it at sea.Their example set fire to the young technical officers,the Gunnery Lieutenants,who in turn attacked the problems of firing the broadsides of a fleet to hit fast-moving targets at long ranges.The Excellent is the Mother of Naval Gunnery;the first naval technical school,and her teachings have played,and are playing today,no small part in our national security. Please contact seller, because of the lighter weight and the value of this item, for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,12mo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.

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