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Battle of Jutland: History s Greatest Sea Battle Told Through Newspaper Reports, Official Documents and the Accounts of Those Who Were There (Voices from the Past) by Richard H Osborne
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March 29, 2026
This was first published in 2016 and I am astonished that I am the first one to review it. I stumbled into it in a remainder house and bought it thinking I was getting an oral history of Jutland. (BTW, if what gives you a reason to live is the hope of reading such a history, read Fawcett & Hooper's The Fighting at Jutland.)
Although the title suggests it's an oral history, it's not--it's much more. I have read at least thirty and maybe fifty histories of the battle and it is probably the best one volume history out there. If you want to do a deep dive into modern scholarship, there is always Gordon's The Rules of the Game, but just in case your thirst would be slaked before you got through it's 700 pages, this is a more accessible book. But it leaves little out; he gives a complete discussion of the real problems with the battlecruisers (reckless handling of munitions rather than inadequate armor protection) and presents an excellent discussion of the discussion of how Germany and Britain reported on the battle. The author goes beyond the traditional coverage of how badly the Admiralty handled things to quote from a variety of newspapers, many of them in the US, at length. It is fascinating to read how journalists, with little information on how the battle was fought, were about to mostly reach the right conclusions about what it all meant.
This book is not easy to find. The title is awkward and is summarized differently in different places. I had a heck of a time finding it here. But check it out--it's worth it if you are a student of the battle.
Although the title suggests it's an oral history, it's not--it's much more. I have read at least thirty and maybe fifty histories of the battle and it is probably the best one volume history out there. If you want to do a deep dive into modern scholarship, there is always Gordon's The Rules of the Game, but just in case your thirst would be slaked before you got through it's 700 pages, this is a more accessible book. But it leaves little out; he gives a complete discussion of the real problems with the battlecruisers (reckless handling of munitions rather than inadequate armor protection) and presents an excellent discussion of the discussion of how Germany and Britain reported on the battle. The author goes beyond the traditional coverage of how badly the Admiralty handled things to quote from a variety of newspapers, many of them in the US, at length. It is fascinating to read how journalists, with little information on how the battle was fought, were about to mostly reach the right conclusions about what it all meant.
This book is not easy to find. The title is awkward and is summarized differently in different places. I had a heck of a time finding it here. But check it out--it's worth it if you are a student of the battle.
Displaying 1 of 1 review