What do you think?
Rate this book
To Crown the Waves: The Great Navies of the First World War
The only comparative analysis available of the great navies of World War I--each chapter is written by a recognzed expert fluent in the subject language. The work studies the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom (John Roberts), the German Kaiserliche Marine (Dr. Peter Schenk with Axel Niestlé and Dieter Thomaier) the United States Navy (Trent Hone), the French Marine Nationale (Jean Moulin), the Italian Regia Marina (Enrico Cernuschi and Vincent P. O'Hara) the Austro-Hungarian Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine (Zvonimir Freivogel), and the Imperial Russian Navy (Stephen McLaughlin) to demonstrate why the war was won, not in the trenches, but upon the waves. It explains why these seven fleets fought the way they did and why the war at sea did not develop as the admiralties and politicians of 1914 expected.
After discussing each navy's goals and circumstances and how their individual characteristics impacted the way they fought, the authors deliver a side-by-side analysis of the conflict's fleets, with each chapter covering a single navy. Parallel chapter structures assure consistent coverage of each fleet--history, training, organization, doctrine, materiel, and operations--and allow readers to easily compare information among the various navies. The book clearly demonstrates how the naval war was a collision of 19th century concepts with 20th century weapons that fostered unprecedented development within each navy and sparked the evolution of the submarine and aircraft carrier. The work is free from the national bias that infects so many other books on World War I navies. As they pioneer new ways of viewing the conflict, the authors provide insights and material that would otherwise require a massive library and mastery of multiple languages. Such a study has special relevance today as 20th-century navies struggle to adapt to 21st-century technologies.
After discussing each navy's goals and circumstances and how their individual characteristics impacted the way they fought, the authors deliver a side-by-side analysis of the conflict's fleets, with each chapter covering a single navy. Parallel chapter structures assure consistent coverage of each fleet--history, training, organization, doctrine, materiel, and operations--and allow readers to easily compare information among the various navies. The book clearly demonstrates how the naval war was a collision of 19th century concepts with 20th century weapons that fostered unprecedented development within each navy and sparked the evolution of the submarine and aircraft carrier. The work is free from the national bias that infects so many other books on World War I navies. As they pioneer new ways of viewing the conflict, the authors provide insights and material that would otherwise require a massive library and mastery of multiple languages. Such a study has special relevance today as 20th-century navies struggle to adapt to 21st-century technologies.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2013
2 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Vincent P. O'Hara
22 books10 followersVincent P. O'Hara is a noted naval historian and the author, co-author, or editor of eight books and many articles that have appeared in publications like Naval War College Review, Warship, Seaforth Naval Review, and Military History Quarterly. O'Hara was a winner of the Shrout Short Contest awarded by the University of California, Berkeley. Ossa is his first published work of fiction.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 15, 2017
Let there be no confusion: this is not a naval history of WWI centered on the major players. Each of the Great Powers gets a chapter at a length of forty-something pages. This structure invites comparison, but while the differences should stand out, the final impression lies in the common denominators.
The naval victories of the Spanish-American War & the Russo-Japananese War validated the theory of Alfred T. Mahan’s “the influence of sea power upon history” that one massive battlefleet clash, dominated by brutal artillery fire & aided by the jugular impact of torpedoes, would decide the outcome of war at sea. The secondary focus lay on cruisers who would roam the ocean as wolves for enemy merchant shipping, while submarines were delegated to the protection of naval bases against surprise attacks. The fleet construction & offensive doctrine of most countries strictly adhered to this, which is why the reality of 1914 came as a shock. On one hand the hunt for the Central Powers’ cruiser squadrons along British shipping lines was swifter than expected, with Japan quickly seizing the main infrastructure outside Europe.
On the other hand, a new Tsushima failed to materialise. In spite of a generation of build-up & popular anticipation, the Grand Fleet & the Hochseeflotte had but two indecisive clashes. Instead, the ugly ducklings of the pre-war naval planners, the submarines, took center stage. The (un)restricted U-Boat pushed defensive ingenuity to the limit before the reintroduction of the convoy gave a reliable answer. Regarding the entry of the USA into the war, no other aspect of naval warfare had such a diplomatic impact. The growth of naval aviation equally centers around anti-submarine warfare, even tough the development of the aircraft carrier hardly took off before the Armistice; flying boats and land-based aircraft were the dominant accessories on ships. Finally, the torpedo boat grew into a full-fledged ocean-going vessel in its role as submarine hunter.
The chapters on Germany & Great Britain have the most familiar feel, thanks to Jutland fame, but the juxtaposition of Italy & Austria-Hungary in a similiar Mediterreanean standoff is equally interesting. The Middle Sea as a whole is the most international theater. German submarines were present to assist their ally against the Italian Navy and to threaten British shipping lines. The French navy, as agreed before the war, assumed the greater responsibily for these & also assisted at Gallipoli. The Russian navy was involved in a third standoff in the Baltic, where, just like its German counterpart, it was not as strong & aggressive as it appeared. Conversely, in the Black Sea it was at relative ease to interfere with Ottoman supply lanes to the Caucasian Front. The hopelessly inadequate Ottoman navy, with the exception of two rechristened German cruisers & a single pre-Dreadnought, is lumped together with its Japanase counterpart in a final chapter entitled ‘Other Navies’ – which, frankly, could’ve spared an alinea apiece of even more belligerents, most notably all the maritime neutrals around the Baltic / North Sea theatres. Before you get to that tough, there is still the US Navy to discuss. This story, more than others, looks forward to WWII. While the USA had lived & triumphed by the Mahan doctrine, they prepared to fight a long way from home. Going Over There was the tutorial to Overlord. Their battleships joined in the North Sea standoff, but here the more realistic gunnery training of the Royal Navy was sobering.
Throughout the narrative, little novelties show up. Mine warfare, with the exception of the major fields that assisted in the blockade, is largely absent from the popular image of the Great War. The same goes for amfibious operations , such as on the coasts of Anatolia, or aerial attack by torpedo. Overall tough, it is easy to see why so much feels novel & unknown. The U-Boat campaign & the Allied blockade helped to win the war in a fundamental way; much of the remainder mattered little or involved simply very little action to write about. There is a certain feel of repetitiveness. A good naval history combines perfectly with this volume. the author hails “A Naval History of World War I” by Paul G. Halpern as the best in existence; I’m poised for The Great War at Sea: A Naval History of the First World War by L. Sondhaus” in August!
The naval victories of the Spanish-American War & the Russo-Japananese War validated the theory of Alfred T. Mahan’s “the influence of sea power upon history” that one massive battlefleet clash, dominated by brutal artillery fire & aided by the jugular impact of torpedoes, would decide the outcome of war at sea. The secondary focus lay on cruisers who would roam the ocean as wolves for enemy merchant shipping, while submarines were delegated to the protection of naval bases against surprise attacks. The fleet construction & offensive doctrine of most countries strictly adhered to this, which is why the reality of 1914 came as a shock. On one hand the hunt for the Central Powers’ cruiser squadrons along British shipping lines was swifter than expected, with Japan quickly seizing the main infrastructure outside Europe.
On the other hand, a new Tsushima failed to materialise. In spite of a generation of build-up & popular anticipation, the Grand Fleet & the Hochseeflotte had but two indecisive clashes. Instead, the ugly ducklings of the pre-war naval planners, the submarines, took center stage. The (un)restricted U-Boat pushed defensive ingenuity to the limit before the reintroduction of the convoy gave a reliable answer. Regarding the entry of the USA into the war, no other aspect of naval warfare had such a diplomatic impact. The growth of naval aviation equally centers around anti-submarine warfare, even tough the development of the aircraft carrier hardly took off before the Armistice; flying boats and land-based aircraft were the dominant accessories on ships. Finally, the torpedo boat grew into a full-fledged ocean-going vessel in its role as submarine hunter.
The chapters on Germany & Great Britain have the most familiar feel, thanks to Jutland fame, but the juxtaposition of Italy & Austria-Hungary in a similiar Mediterreanean standoff is equally interesting. The Middle Sea as a whole is the most international theater. German submarines were present to assist their ally against the Italian Navy and to threaten British shipping lines. The French navy, as agreed before the war, assumed the greater responsibily for these & also assisted at Gallipoli. The Russian navy was involved in a third standoff in the Baltic, where, just like its German counterpart, it was not as strong & aggressive as it appeared. Conversely, in the Black Sea it was at relative ease to interfere with Ottoman supply lanes to the Caucasian Front. The hopelessly inadequate Ottoman navy, with the exception of two rechristened German cruisers & a single pre-Dreadnought, is lumped together with its Japanase counterpart in a final chapter entitled ‘Other Navies’ – which, frankly, could’ve spared an alinea apiece of even more belligerents, most notably all the maritime neutrals around the Baltic / North Sea theatres. Before you get to that tough, there is still the US Navy to discuss. This story, more than others, looks forward to WWII. While the USA had lived & triumphed by the Mahan doctrine, they prepared to fight a long way from home. Going Over There was the tutorial to Overlord. Their battleships joined in the North Sea standoff, but here the more realistic gunnery training of the Royal Navy was sobering.
Throughout the narrative, little novelties show up. Mine warfare, with the exception of the major fields that assisted in the blockade, is largely absent from the popular image of the Great War. The same goes for amfibious operations , such as on the coasts of Anatolia, or aerial attack by torpedo. Overall tough, it is easy to see why so much feels novel & unknown. The U-Boat campaign & the Allied blockade helped to win the war in a fundamental way; much of the remainder mattered little or involved simply very little action to write about. There is a certain feel of repetitiveness. A good naval history combines perfectly with this volume. the author hails “A Naval History of World War I” by Paul G. Halpern as the best in existence; I’m poised for The Great War at Sea: A Naval History of the First World War by L. Sondhaus” in August!
June 17, 2015
This book is full of detailed information about the navies of the major powers who fought in World War 1. A few of the chapters are pretty interesting, while others are dry as dust. I was tempted to rate this book as 2 stars because, as lunchtime reading material, it was merely okay. However, I won't fault the book for not being entertaining reading because that doesn't seem to have been the authors' or editors' intent. I'll be gracious and rate it 3 stars.
August 21, 2013
If you're a naval policy geek, this is a four star book. It is a thoroughgoing analysis of the naval policies and strategies of all the major naval powers in the Great War. If you're not a naval policy geek, you probably don't want to read this book. Its good, but its dense.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews