The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain 1815-1945

REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD

Nicholas Rodger began his monumental history of British sea power, tracing its development from Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the Second World War, almost three decades ago. The second volume, which took the story from the Civil War to the aftermath of Trafalgar, appeared in 2004. The arrival of The Price of Victory, the third and final instalment, was delayed by a serious illness from which the author has now thankfully recovered. Professor Rodger has brought his subject to a triumphant conclusion.

It is important to be clear what is – and is not – to be found within the covers of this book. The title refers to the high economic cost incurred by the Royal Navy in fighting two World Wars – the price of the struggle to maintain Britain’s hard-won commercial and naval supremacy in the face of formidable new challenges. Indeed, the period 1914-1945 occupies almost two-thirds of the text. This is more, however, than an institutional history of the senior service. Rather, as the introduction makes clear, it is a study of the part played by naval warfare, in its various dimensions, in British history – an altogether more ambitious undertaking.

To that end, Rodger has extended his focus well beyond the familiar area of operations at sea. These still feature, of course, and the most important engagements – from Admiral Codrington’s destruction of the Turkish fleet at Navarino in 1827 to the Royal Navy’s role in the Normandy landings – are sketched in.