From the inside cover:

"Utmost Gallantry is a history of the oceanic campaigns of the War of 1812. It charts the war from the perspectives of the two opposing navies at sea - a struggle between the dominant fleet in the world and a small, upstart navy. While American naval leadership searched for a means to contest Britain's naval dominance, the Royal Navy sought to destroy the U.S. Navy and to protect its oceanic highways. Instead of describing battles between opposing warships, McCraine evaluates entire cruises by American and British men-of-war, noting both successes and failures and how they translated into broader strategies. In the process, his study documents how the two navies fought the war at sea, linking high-level government strategic decisions to the operational use of fleets in the Atlantic and the Caribbean and from the South Pacific to the Indian Ocean."

Utmost Gallantry offers a balanced appraisal of the war on the high seas, taking into account the strategies pursued by both the American and British navies and how the leadership from each side assessed, planned, and implemented operational concepts. Drawing on a wealth of British and American archival sources, McCraine guides the reader through the strategic decision making process on both sides of the Atlantic and vividly demonstrates their impact on the course of the war at sea, were the contest was close and deadly."

• Publisher : Naval Institute Press; Illustrated edition (November 1, 2011)
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 384 pages
• ISBN-10 : 159114504X
• ISBN-13 : 978-1591145042
• Item Weight : 1.75 pounds