Sovereigns of the Sea : The Quest to Build the Perfect Renaissance Battleship

The Ultimate WarshipHer keel measured 126 feet, and she stretched to 160 feet overall. Her 46.5-foot beam sacrificed speed for the sake of stability, and the 19 feetof water she drew denied her access to smaller ports. Some saw herenormous size and ungainly proportions as serious drawbacks, butthe 102 heavy bronze cannon that bristled from her flanks guaranteedthat this black-hulled, ornately decorated monster would live up toher name: Sovereign of the Seas. The Dutch sailors who faced her inbattle called her by another name, "The Golden Devil."This immensely powerful floating fortress was the culmination of morethan two hundred years of competition among the kingdoms of Europeto create the perfect marriage between guns and ships. Their relentlessquest for maritime supremacy had produced a seemingly endlesssuccession of grandiose flagships, from Henry V's Grace a Dieu to Sweden's ill-fated Vasa. Emerging nation-states had invested vast portions of theirtreasuries, kings had vied as much for prestige as for power, andthousands of hapless seamen had perished in pursuit of this goal.Sovereigns of the Sea is a gripping tale of an arms race that created and ruined empires, changed the map of the world, and led Europe out of the Renaissance and into the modern age.