Presentation of The Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature 2005

The winner of the Duke of Westminster’s Medal for Military Literature 2005 is Professor Nicholas Rodger for his book The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815, the second in his three volume history of British naval power published by Penguin.

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NAM Rodger's acceptance speech

The Duke of Westminster’s Medal is bestowed yearly for the best book in the English language, regardless of nationality, gender or age of the author, which represents in the opinion of the Awarding Board a notable and original contribution to the study of international or national security, or the military professions. Previous winners of the medal include: Hew Strachan, John Keegan, Marrack Goulding and Percy Craddock.

The Command of the Ocean describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain’s naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. Based on the author's own research in half a dozen languages over nearly a decade, and synthesising a vast quantity of secondary material, it describes not just battles and cruises, but how the Navy was manned, how it was supplied with timber, hemp and iron, how its men (and sometimes women) were fed, and above all how it was financed and directed.

Read our review of The Command of the Ocean here.

A second medal was presented on this occasion to the Imperial War Museum for their series of histories published by Sidgwick. The medals will be presented by the Duke of Westminster.