author
P. H. (Philip Howard) Colomb
1831–1899
Best known as a Royal Navy officer who also became an influential naval thinker, he wrote about sea power, signaling, and strategy in ways that reached far beyond his own service. His work blends firsthand experience at sea with a sharp, practical interest in how fleets fight and communicate.
1 Audiobook
The Great War of 189-: A Forecast
by P. H. (Philip Howard) Colomb, Archibald Forbes, Charles Lowe, F. N. (Frederic Natusch) Maude, John Frederick Maurice, David Christie Murray, Frank Scudamore
About the author
Born in Scotland in 1831, Philip Howard Colomb entered the Royal Navy in 1846 and served in a wide range of theaters, including the Mediterranean, Chinese waters, Burma, the Arctic, and the Baltic during the Crimean War. He rose through the service to become a vice-admiral, and his long career gave him deep experience of both naval operations and the problems of command.
Colomb is remembered not only as an officer but also as a historian, critic, and inventor. He helped pioneer flashing light signaling at sea in the 1860s, an important step in naval communication, and he wrote extensively about tactics and maritime power. Reference works such as Britannica describe him as a notable theorist of sea power, and his books helped shape late-19th-century debate about how navies should be used.
For readers today, Colomb is especially interesting because his writing sits at the meeting point of practice and theory. He knew the routines of ships and fleets firsthand, but he also tried to explain the larger rules behind naval warfare, making his work valuable to anyone curious about strategy, empire, and the changing technology of war in the Victorian age.