Sea of Glory: A Naval History of the American Revolution

by Nathan Miller

This is naval hiistory at its very illuminating, human, and readable. Unlike other histories of the revolution, this book recognizes the war for independence as a maritime conflict and fully explores the struggle for command of the sea. Broad and balanced in vision, it is the first study to mesh the operations of the Continental Navy and various state navies with the maneuvers of the British and French fleets, while at the same time focusing on the lives of ordinary seamen. Through its careful examination of the role played by the Continental Navy, Sea of Glory makes it clear that the outcome of the war was decided not at Yorktown but at sea.
Nathan Miller recounts life of the times in colorful yet clear terms, describing how the sailors lived, how the ships were built and sailed, and even conditions aboard the prison ships. In addition he offers a closely honed analysis of the conflict to make this vigorously written study useful both as a reference and as a book to be enjoyed from cover to cover. First publislied in 1974 and long out of print, the book is regarded as a significant work that is unlikely to be equalled.

Genres: History, American Revolution, Nonfiction, Military History

592 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Nathan Miller received his bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Maryland before becoming a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including a three-year tour as the paper's chief Latin American correspondent, based in Rio de Janeiro, before becoming an investigator and speechwriter for Sen. John L. McClellan on the permanent subcommittee on investigations and later the Senate Appropriations Committee. Miller left the congressional staff in 1977 to be a full-time freelance writer.

Reviews

[John Bohnert · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the past, I've read several books dealing with the American Revolutionary War. They had focused on land battles. This book dealt with the war fought on the sea. As a U.S. Navy veteran, I especially enjoyed this book.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched and well-written general history of the Continental Navy. Miller’s narrative is lively and readable, and he covers the operations of the Continental Navy, colonial privateers, and the British and European navies with the right amount of detail.

Although the exploits of John Paul Jones and the lesser-known Gustavus Conyngham are celebrated, the navy as a whole was ultimately a failure, and its strategic impact was marginal. The Continental Navy’s penetration of the British home waters was quite embarrassing for the Admiralty, but not much more than that. The fleets of the French, Spanish, and Dutch were far more threatening to the British, and Miller covers the actions between these fleets in detail.

Oddly, the book has a bibliography but no citations, and the style is quite “anecdotal” at times. I’m not sure Miller offers anything new here, but, in any case, this was readable and quite enjoyable.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot to read and learn in Sea of Glory. The story of the Continental Navy is more than "I have not yet begun to fight!" While ol' J.P. Jones is covered, he doesn't impress as much as some of the other captains covered (but don't tell that to the Naval Academy), such as Lambert Wickes, Nicholas Biddle, and Gustavus Conyngham (or Cunningham). Much of the book covers, as if it were a literary play-by-play, their and others' adventures and misadventures (can't win 'em all). Author Miller gives us more than just those. Once he gets the Navy created, he describes the workings of a ship and the hardships endured and inflicted by life aboard a ship. Both sides had a hard time finding crews and weren't above using impressment to do so. The Continental Navy had as much competition from American privateers, both Patriot and Loyalist, as from the British themselves, but the Patriot privateers greatly hurt British shipping to the colonies. The reader will also learn of the British's triumphs, mainly in the Caribbean, and challenges. It was here that Admirals Rodney and Hood shone (and midshipman Nelson learned his trade). In his forward, the author maintains the American naval efforts were vital to the winning of the war. This point gets lost from time-to-time in the relating of the details; I wish I could read of a total of the value of damage and goods lost to American efforts. It may look to the reader that the real impact on Britain was the alliance of Spain and France against Britain which caused her great distress over her wealthy Caribbean possessions. Indeed, a combined Franco-Spanish fleet nearly controlled the English Channel at one time (but they blew it). This is a sizeable book, 529 pages, chock-full of information, and worth the read. We read of the six frigates in the later U.S. Navy (early Nineteenth Century), didja know that the Continental Navy had twenty frigates (not all at once)? One thing I wish the book had was maps; there are some period-type maps on the inside covers, but they're impractical for tracing ships' movements.