This documentary charts the defining role the Royal Navy played in Britain's struggle for modernity - a grand tale of the twists and turns which thrust the people of the British Isles into an indelible relationship with the sea and ships. Heart of Oak opens with a dramatic retelling of 16th and 17th-century history. Victory over the Armada proved a turning point in the nation's story as tiny, impoverished England was transformed into a seafaring nation, one whose future wealth and power lay on the oceans. The ruthless exploits of Elizabethan seafaring heroes like Francis Drake created a potent new sense of national identity that combined patriotism and Protestantism with private profiteering. At sea and on land, this documentary shows how the Navy became an indispensable tool of state, weaving the stories of characters like Drake, God's Republican warrior at sea Robert Blake, and Samuel Pepys, administrator par excellence, who laid the foundations for Britain's modern civil service. With access to the modern Navy and reconstructed ships of the time, this documentary recounts the Navy's metamorphosis from a rabble of West Country freebooters to possibly the most complex industrial enterprise on earth. The year 1588 marked a turning point in our national story. Victory over the Spanish Armada transformed us into a seafaring nation and it sparked a myth that one day would become a reality - that the nation's new destiny, the source of her future wealth and power lay out on the oceans. This book tells the story of how the navy expanded from a tiny force to become the most complex industrial enterprise on earth; how the need to organise it laid the foundations of our civil service and our economy; and how it transformed our culture, our sense of national identity and our democracy. Re-issued in small paperback format Brian Lavery's narrative explores the navy's rise over four centuries which propelled Britain to becoming the most powerful nation on earth and assesses the turning point of Jutland and the First World War.

• published: 10 Apr 2015
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