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Cranston Fine Arts Naval Art and Artists Victorian Era Battles

Battle of Tsushima, Line of Battle by Anthony Saunders. 6 of 7 editions available. £2.50 - £500.00

The Battle of Manila Bay by Anthony Saunders 8 editions. £2.90 - £4500.00

Battle of the Ironclads by Ivan Berryman. 6 of 7 editions available. £2.90 - £400.00

Text for the above items :

Battle of Tsushima, Line of Battle by Anthony Saunders. The flag ship Mikasa (Admiral Togo) leading the line at around 3pm on May 27th, 1905. Ships following are Shikishima and Fuji with other ships of the fleet further in the distance.

The Battle of Manila Bay by Anthony Saunders A splendid little war was how John Hay, ambassador to Britain, described the Spanish-American war of 1898. Though the war was small in scope it was large in consequences; it promoted the regeneration of the American Navy and the emergence of the United States as a major world power. Fought primarily at sea, the war created an American naval legend in its opening encounter between the pacific squadrons of Spain and the United States at Manila Bay on the 1st of May 1898. At sunrise Admiral Dewey, leading the American fleet in his flagship the USS Olympia, had caught the Spanish fleet, under Admiral Patricio Montojo, by surprise - still anchored off Sangley Point at Manila Bay in the Philippine Islands. Defeat for the Spanish was total and heralded the end of a once extensive Spanish empire in the Americas. Montojos flagship, Reina Cristina, is seen here under fire from the Olympia.

Battle of the Ironclads by Ivan Berryman. At Dawn on 9th March 1862, as the American Civil War raged on, an extraordinary combat took place in Hampton Roads, a naval exchange that was to herald a new age and completely change the concept and design of modern warships. Having already destroyed the two Federal warships Cumberland and Congress the previous day, the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia readied herself for another day's work, her target this time being the grounded Minnesota. As the Virginia approached her target, she was confronted by the much smaller Union ironclad Monitor which had just arrived after a fraught journey from New York. Thus began an exchange of fire that lasted more than three hours, each ship's shot merely bouncing and deflecting off its opponent without inflicting any serious damage. With her smokestack shot away, the Virginia now concentrated her shot on the Monitor's tiny wheelhouse where a direct hit blinded the Union ship's commander, necessitating a temporary withdrawal. By the time Monitor was ready to re-engage, the Virginia was limping away, the result of this fierce encounter being nothing more than stalemate. Neither ship could claim any form of victory and neither had sustained any meaningful damage. Though clumsy and difficult to handle, the thick iron plating and low profiles of these very different vessels signaled a direction in warship design that lasted until the Second World War, eighty years later.