A reading path into naval history and treaties

What naval-history books should a reader explore next?

Start with Laughton, then branch into intelligence, treaty history, campaign studies, Cunningham's memoir, and edited archival documents.

A reprint of John Knox Laughton's work is recommended as an entry into the development of modern naval history. Andrew Boyd's study of British naval intelligence and Derek Waller's account of the U-boat fleet surrenders provide focused institutional and operational studies. John Jordan's Warships After Washington and Warships After London explain the treaty era, while Massie's Dreadnought and Castles of Steel and the study War Plan Orange offer broad campaign and planning narratives. Admiral Cunningham's A Sailor's Odyssey adds a participant's perspective, and edited archive collections such as Fire and Ice open a path toward primary-source research. The advice is to use synthetic histories as launch pads and then test their claims against more specialized work and documents.