Böcker av Angus Konstam

During the 16th century a new type of sailing vessel emerged, designed to carry the wealth of the Americas to Spain. This book traces the development of the Spanish galleon, and outlines the constructional methods, the ordnance and the crewing needed to produce and maintain these stately vessels.

Details the privateer captains of the golden age of "state-sponsored piracy" - men such as John Paul Jones, Jean Lafitte, and Benito de Soto. It includes episodes such as Bonhomme Richard's epic battle with HMS Serapis.

This volume portrays an accurate picture of the pirates who sailed of the Caribbean and American coastlines during the "golden age" of piracy between 1660 and 1730. It examines their lifestyle and codes of conduct, what ships and weapons they used and the main characters of the period.

In the 17th century, English, French and Dutch buccaneers launched a series of attacks on Spanish towns, ports and shipping. This volume details the buccaneer captains, such as Henry Morgan, the crews of their ships, how they recruited, and how they fought their battles on land and at sea.

Although an inherently unsuccessful design, the battlecruisers were amongst the most famous vessels of the Royal Navy during World War II. This work traces the pre-war development of these warships, then describes their wartime exploits, using this to show their operational performance.

Offers an account of the origins, events and outcome of the Battle of Poltava in 1709, at which Peter the Great's newly modernized Russian Army smashed the Swedish Army of Charles XII, thus ending more than 50 years of Swedish military supremacy in northern Europe.

The background to this conflict, covered here, lay in the Cuban insurrection of 1895-1898 and its suppression by Cuba's Spanish overlords. Following the destruction of the USS Maine in Havana harbour, the US declared war on Spain, sending some 17,000 men to invade Cuba.