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War of American Independence, by A. T. Mahan

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Title: The Major Operations of the Navies in the War of American Independence

Author: A. T. Mahan

Release Date: August 27, 2005 [EBook #16602]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MAJOR OPERATIONS OF THE NAVIES IN THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

BY

A.T. MAHAN, D.C.L., LL.D.

CAPTAIN, U.S. NAVY

AUTHOR OF 'THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, 1660-1783,'
'THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND EMPIRE,
1783-1812,' 'THE RELATIONS OF SEA POWER TO THE WAR OF 1812,' 'NAVAL
STRATEGY' ETC.

_WITH PORTRAITS, MAPS, AND BATTLE PLANS_

LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED
OVERY HOUSE, 100 SOUTHWARK STREET, S.E.

[Illustration: (frontispiece)]

_Copyright, 1913_, By A.T. MAHAN

_All rights reserved_

Published, October, 1913

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U.S.A.

PREFACE

The contents of this volume were first contributed as a chapter, under
the title of "Major Operations, 1762-1783," to the "History of the
Royal Navy," in seven volumes, published by Messrs. Sampson Low,
Marston, and Company, under the general editorship of the late Sir
William Laird Clowes. For permission to republish now in this separate
form, the author has to express his thanks to the publishers of that
work.

In the Introduction following this Preface, the author has summarized
the general lesson to be derived from the course of this War of
American Independence, as distinct from the particular discussion
and narration of the several events which constitute the body of the
treatment. These lessons he conceives to carry admonition for the
present and future based upon the surest foundations; namely, upon
the experience of the past as applicable to present conditions. The
essential similarity between the two is evident in a common dependence
upon naval strength.

There has been a careful rereadi