The dreadnoughts (The Seafarers)

by David Howarth

Book Overview

The lessons of the Battle of Tsushima during the war between Russia and Japan in 1905, where long-range fire decided the outcome, were not lost on the British Admiralty. The result was the creation of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809427133
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Time-Life Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The history of Dreadnoughts to the Battle of Jutland

The lessons of the Battle of Tsushima during the war between Russia and Japan in 1905, where long-range fire decided the outcome, were not lost on the British Admiralty. The result was the creation of the H.M.S. "Dreadnought," a radical design that heralded the start of an epic naval arms race of battleships between Great Britain and Germany, the United States and Japan over the first four decades of the 20th century. Although she never fired her guns in battle and her only action during World War I was to ram and sink a German U-boat in the North Sea, "Dreadnought" was a pivotal ship in naval history because she was so far advanced that every battleship that came after her embodied her basic concept. Before her, all battleships had a main battery of four guns. The "Dreadnought" had ten, although it could fire only eight in a broadside, and it was bigger and faster than any of her predecessors. "The Dreadnoughts," a volume in "The Seafarers" series put together by Time-Life, begins with the review of the British fleet at Spithead in 1897 and ends with the aftermath of the Battle of Jutland (known in Germany as the Battle of the Skagerrak). This was the largest naval engagement of World War I and the only one to involve battleships on a large scale. Fought May 31-June 1 1916 in the North Sea, the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, commanded by Admiral John Jellicoe, faced the Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer. Knowing that the Battle of Jutland is the climax of this volume puts the rest of this look at the Dreadnoughts in perspective. This particular volume consists of five chapters, each with a corresponding photo aspect representing a key aspect. Chapter 1, "A Teutonic challenge to Britannia's rule," looks at the threat of the modern German navy of dreadnoughts that Rear Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was pushing for Kaiser Wilhem's navy was countered by First Sea Lord Jacky Fisher's plan to remove obsolete ships from the British navy. In this world Alfred Thayer Mahan is the American oracle of sea power and Japan's one-sided victory in the Battle of Tsushima the operational counterpart to Mahan's theories. The photo essay is about "Training for a new ear of ships without sails." Chapter 2, "The fabulous fleet that Jacky built," details the building of H.M.S. "Dreadnought," complete with breakaway looks at the ship and its gun turret. In 1911 a naval review marking the coronation of King George V represented a new British fleet. The photo essay looks at recruiting posters of the Royal Navy during WWI. Chapter 3, "The long wait for Armageddon," covers the early naval engagements of the war, with the accompanying essay consisting of artwork about "Mine warfare: seeds of death planted in the sea." Chapter 4, "A fierce skirmish of scouts at Jutland," looks at the approach of the two fleets on May 31, 1916, including a contrast of the main types of ships on both sides. Chapter 5, "A duel of dreadn