WW1 at Sea

by Victoria Carolan

In this historical work, the events that led to war and the naval arms race between Britain and Germany are examined. It details the significant arena of the battle for control of the sea. At the beginning of the war in 1914, Britain's maritime supremacy had remained unchallenged for 100 years, but advances in technology saw a very different kind of warfare with the widespread use of mines, submarines, and torpedoes. This chronicle traces the events of the war at sea, looking at the major battles, as well as the effects of unrestricted submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania . It also profiles key figures such as admirals Fisher, Beatty, Tirpitz, and Graf von Spee.

Genres: History, World War I, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Sarah Ensor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up hoping for snippets about the fishing boats turned into convoy vessels and minesweepers in the First World War. It didn't have much but there is a very strong sense of the murderous inter-imperialist rivalry that began the war. For a short book it has a lot of detail about fleets all over the world, describing the fog (and smoke) of war, accidents, missed signals, war crimes and hideous losses encapsulated in the innocuous phrase, lost with all hands.

The author argues the blockade eventually forced the German state out of the war and barely mentions mutiny, so the end feels a little like the word count had been reached and it was time to wrap up. That's a pity because I bet she has interesting anecdotes about the Kiel sailors' mutiny that launched the German revolution.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books sucks

[John Humber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little surprised that there are no reviews here. I bought and read this book soon after its publication in 2007 and read it again more recently.

Published by Pocket Essentials, it's not a long book, so don't look for a thorough and in-depth analysis of the subject. That said, the Pocket Essentials imprint claims to provide . . . inexpensive pocket guides to interesting areas of history. . . and this book certainly does that. It gives the essentials of the naval arms race that led up to WW1 and the major events of the war at sea.

Books dealing with battles at sea and the often complex movements of the ships usually include detailed (and sometimes confusing) maps; there are no maps in this book, which some readers might consider to be an omission but Ms Carolan successfully outlines the events of (for example) the Battle of Jutland and the absence of any map is no hindrance.

Two helpful features of the book are a Profiles section, giving backgrounds of the various men involved and the Chronology section which gives a quick reference of the events of the period.