European Navies and the Conduct of War provides a comparative history of seapower of the European powers over more than 500 years. The author team, made up of experts in the French, Spanish, and German navies provide an international perspective, based on a wide range of sources in different languages. This book puts European navies firmly into a global context, in particular looking at their influence on the emergence of, and interaction with, the American and Japanese navies. The book gives coverage to the organisational, and operational aspects of naval warfare, but its key focus is to examine naval history in the context of the broader history of the period, keying into debates about imperialism and Atlantic history and establishing the wider political, ideological, and cultural influences which defined the purpose and use of navies and their influence on the conduct of war.