This book is not intended to be a " history " of the British Navy in the generally accepted sense of the term. For this reason small space is devoted to various strategical and tactical matters of the past which generally bulk largely in more regular " naval histories " - of which a sufficiency already exist.
   The warships of the past are of special interest in so far as they were steps to the warships of to-day ; but, outside that, practical interest seems confined to what led to these " steps" being what they were.