Naval and Military Operations of Great Britain is the single most important contemporary account of the Royal Navy in the 18th century. Its six volumes present a new approach to naval strategy. Defeat in the American Revolutionary War called into question the assumptions of superiority upon which so much earlier commentary on naval affairs had been based. By addressing the specific causes of the disaster, the author, Robert Beatson (1742-1818), hoped to render both the navy and the nation wiser for the future. Lauded by key figures in the development of naval strategy, including John Laughton, Alfred T. Mahan, and Julian Corbett, this work remains fundamental to modern scholarship on the nature of British naval power and is an especially rich source of information on the British army's campaign in North America.

This edition contains a substantial new introduction by leading naval scholar, Andrew Lambert (King's College London).

Robert Beatson LLD (1742-1818) was an ensign in General St Clair's regiment, the First or Royal Regiment of the Foot, later the Royal Scots. He took part in the raid on Rochefort in 1756, saw service in Ireland and took part in amphibious operations against Martinique and Guadeloupe. After the Seven Years' War he moved to Aberdeen, where he served as Barrack Master for forty years. Beatson was part of an intellectual circle that encompassed Adam Smith and other leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, including senior naval officers. The six volumes of Naval and Military Operations of Great Britain are regarded as his magnum opus and have influenced naval strategy from first publication to the present day.

Andrew Lambert is Laughton Professor of Naval History at King's College, London, UK.