Britain has been a maritime power since the Navy of Queen Elizabeth I defeated in battle the 'Invincible Armada;' of Spain in 1588. But she had had a navy for far longer than that, and one can trace back the first stirring in the national consciousness of what the sea would mean to Britain some hundreds of years before the Spanish ships sailed into the English Channel to meet their deaths at the hands of Drake and Hawkins, Frobisher and Howard of Effingham. Through the succeeding centuries and their many wars the Royal Navy has played an increasing role in the growth of Britain. In the course of that growth its influence spread through every ocean of the world...