A huge mosaic, comprehensive in scope yet concise in description, this book uses as its instrument of discovery the wartime experiences of the U.S. Navy and its allies from the days of wooden ships to the present. In clear, vivid language the author portrays the origin and goals of each American conflict, and how the country has sent its navy to help achieve those goals. Frank Uhlig has written the first full-length exploration in English of the nature of naval warfare in several decades. How Navies Fight is a search for and identification of those methods of sea warfare that can be counted on to show up most often. It is also a report to the owners about what they should expect their fleets to do for them when they send ships out to fight. The book is intended not only for officers of the navy, but also for those of the other services who may be unsure about how navies go about their business and to what purposes; for scholars who may also be unsure; for civil officials of governments; and for all those who, understanding perfectly, imperfectly, or not at all, must pay for an expensive, distant, occasionally incomprehensible, but often essential instrument of war.