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Five Flags : The Warship That Reshaped the World by Stuart Buxton (2025, Hardcover)

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Its career encompassed two civil wars and featured high politics and secret diplomacy, arms dealers and royal courts, spies, sailors, and samurai. But the ironclad would not end its career mothballed at the Washington Navy Yard.

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherStackpole Books

ISBN-100811777235

ISBN-139780811777230

eBay Product ID (ePID)14074788143

Product Key Features

Book TitleFive Flags : the Warship That Reshaped the World

Number of Pages368 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicMilitary / Naval, Asia / Japan, United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)

Publication Year2025

GenreHistory

AuthorStuart Buxton

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.1 in

Item Weight22.3 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

LCCN2024-039249

Reviews Five Flags is a riveting history that details the evolution of warfare... Author Stuart Buxton provides a wealth of information on maritime history here, told in both fact and personal stories of the crew members who served onboard. Five Flags is a fascinating chronicle of the international relationships that determined the ship's fate.

SynopsisAs wooden ships gave way to ironclads in the middle of the nineteenth century, one warship stood out. Born in the American Civil War and buffeted by the rivalries of North and South and Europe, it ultimately helped secure the foundations of modern Japan. Its career encompassed two civil wars and featured high politics and secret diplomacy, arms dealers and royal courts, spies, sailors, and samurai. In a vivid narrative traveling from London to Paris, from Copenhagen to Havana, from Washington to Tokyo, Ships of Five Nations brings to life this incredible true story. Strangled by the Union's naval blockade, the Confederacy needed ships-and turned to Europe to build them. In 1862 it hired a French shipbuilder to secretly construct one of the deadliest warships built to that time: an ironclad mounting a 300-pounder gun, two 70-pounders, two 6-pounders, four 4-pounders, a Gatling gun, and a 20-foot ram off its bow, and clad in armor nearly 5 inches thick. Before the mighty ironclad was finished, U.S. agents discovered it, and the ship was sold to Denmark, which changed its mind but agreed to transfer it to the Confederacy. Christened Stonewall after the legendary general, the ship was damaged in a storm and took refuge in Spain. By now, the U.S. had located the Stonewall, but feared the gunship and did not give chase when the ironclad disembarked. The Stonewall reached Cuba in May 1865-after the end of the Civil War-and the captain sold the ship to Spain, which then sold it to the United States. But the ironclad would not end its career mothballed at the Washington Navy Yard. In 1867 the Tokugawa shogunate approached the U.S. to buy naval vessels for its conflict with resurgent imperial forces in Japan. The U.S. agreed to sell the Stonewall, but by the time the warship reached Japan, imperial forces had taken the upper hand, and the U.S. now sold the ship to the new Imperial Japanese Navy, which deployed it-renamed Kotetsu-as the centerpiece of the fleet that would defeat the shogunate and secure the Meiji Restoration, setting Japan on the path of modernization, industrialization, and expansion that would end in World War II., As wooden ships gave way to ironclads in the middle of the nineteenth century, one warship stood out. Born in the American Civil War and buffeted by the rivalries of North and South and Europe, it ultimately helped secure the foundations of modern Japan. Its career encompassed two civil wars and featured high politics and secret diplomacy, arms ......, From the American Civil War to the Meiji Restoration, one ironclad warship shaped the fate of three nations across four decades of global conflict. Five Flags tells the story of a Confederate ironclad built in secret, discovered by Union spies, sold to Denmark, returned to France, and ultimately delivered to Japan. Intended to break the Union blockade, the ship never fought for the Confederacy but instead moved through European powers before reaching Japan, where it played a role in the Meiji Restoration. Armed with a 300-pounder cannon, five inches of armor, and a twenty-foot ram, the vessel traveled from French shipyards to Spanish harbors, through Atlantic storms, and across the Pacific to become part of Japan's modernizing fleet. "This is a riveting history that details the evolution of warfare... Stuart Buxton provides a wealth of information on maritime history here, told in both fact and personal stories of the crew members who served onboard. Five Flags is a fascinating chronicle of the international relationships that determined the ship's fate." -- Independent Book Review The book follows the ship's path through the civil wars of the United States, Germany, and Japan, showing how one warship connected key turning points in modern history.

LC Classification NumberVA65.S76B88 2025