Osprey New Vanguard 61 : Fighting Ships of the Far East (1) : China and Southeast Asia 202 BC - 1419 AD

Following on from the two books on Siege Weapons of the Far East, this book adds enormously to the hitherto small corpus of knowledge about this fascinating and little known subject. Using detailed descriptions, accurate cutaway plates and reliable historical examples, this book covers in a unique way the history of Chinese ship design and naval warfare from the beginning of the Han dynasty to the first few years of the Ming dynasty, when a Ming naval force countered Sichuanese rebels, also covered Is the epic battle of Lake Poyanfg in 1363, won by the man who was to become the first Ming Emperor. This is a period of over 1,500 years saw a great deal of development in Chinese ship architecture, but there was also a remarkable amount of consistency both in the architecture and the techniques of naval warfare. The connections between the Chinese dynasties and Southeast Asia are also explored, illustrated by both the strong technological links that existed and the major naval campaigns of the Yuan dynasty against Vietnam and Java. Text by Stephen Turnbull with illustrations by Wayne Reynolds.

Contents

• Introduction
• Chinese Fighting Ships
• Techniques of Ship to Ship Combat
• Southeast Asian Warships
• Colour Plate Commentary