Customer Reviews

The Blooding of the Guns

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fine fictional account of the Battle of Jutland. Jutland was the one major engagement between the British and German navies in World War I on 30 May, 1916. The clash involved hundreds of ships ranging from small destroyers to 30,000 ton battleships. During the battle the British learned of a major design flaw in their battle cruisers. These ships were lightly armored for speed but armed with large caliber main guns to match battleships. Unfortunately, the magazines were not properly protected from the turrets firing above them and the had a tendency to blowup and disintegrate the entire ship. Most of this novel takes place during the battle. The author gives excellent descriptions of the equipment, crews, tactics, and running and handling of the ships that participated in the action. The battle sequences are exciting and realistic. The main characters are Hugh Everard, Captain of a Queen Elizabeth class battleship. He is the mentor of his nephews, David and Nick. David is older than Nick and an experienced sailor assigned on a battle cruiser. The inexperienced Nick is newly assigned to a Destroyer. Each of these three men are severely tested during the battle. This is the first novel in the Everard saga and well worth the read, but be warned: these novels can be addictive.

At first blush, the Everard family doesn't look like much on which to base a series of heroic sailors. Hugh, drummed out of the service before the war in some unnamed scandal but pulled back in because of the emergency, is in love with his brother John's wife. John, a general in the army in France, does not make an appearance, but his sons Nick and David do. Nick is feckless and irresponsible, just one step ahead of being drummed out of the Royal Navy himself, while David is more professional if somewhat dull. That in the course of the book, one's opinion of everyone changes 180 degrees is a tribute to the author's skill at both showing character development and also at revealing a character's past layer by layer, like peeling an onion.

The criticism commonly made about this book merely shows the inability of some critics to appreciate the intent of the book they are reviewing. Yes, the book is choppy and yes, it is hard to follow the course of the action. One's initial impulse is to wish for maps and an appendix, but then you realize that this is the whole point. Fullerton's goal is to present to the reader exactly how fighting the Battle of Jutland felt to those who were there. Jutland was a confusing battle and it was many days before those who were there had the foggiest notion of the sequence of events. Fullerton has studied the battle carefully and everything that happened in real life happens here at exactly the same time. But you can't construct a coherent whole out of the narrative, just as even Lord Jellicoe wasn't able to do so. For that, you need to consult another book (I would recommend Rules of the Game by Andrew Gordon, which is not only the finest description of the battle, but one of the finest works of military history), but do it after you read this book, so that you get the full flavor of the writer's intent.

Very few writers capture the fog of war as well as Fullerton does.

I just finished Alexander Fullerton's "The Blooding of the Guns" and my heart is still beating faster than it should. This is an outstanding work of naval fiction. Fullerton follows three men, the Everards(each on separate ships), during the Battle of Jutland. Swiftly shifting from one vessel to the next, the author manages to convey some of the confusion and "fog of battle" that plagued both the British and the Germans during this, the greatest naval battle of WWI. Fullerton's knowledge of nautical terms and early 20th century Royal Navy practices and customs creates a staggeringly realistic action novel. For readers tired of the stodgy, plodding works of Patrick O'Brian, or the gee-whiz gimmicks of Ludlum and Dale Brown, or who simply prefer dreadnoughts over wood and sails, Fullerton is a rare and welcome addition to the short list of truly authentic war novelists.

Most military and naval history buffs know in general about the battle of Jutland, the only large fleet action between battleships in that type's 100 years of service.

Few have any idea what being involved would have been like. WW1 is just too distant in time. Alexander Fullerton takes us onto the bridge of a battleship, an armored cruiser, and a destroyer in the persons of three members of the Everard family. This is the first of a series that will see various members of this family well into the Second World War.

Like the others in the series, it does not disappoint.

Having read all of his Royal Navy saga WWI & II works it must be said they are all very good. Fullerton mixes historically based story lines with realistic character development, love interest and technical details to make a great story. My advice is to start with the first novel, The Blooding of th Guns and work through his chronology.

Good action story. The personal lives story was a bit contrived, and boring. Fortunately very little of the book concerns this. Once the battle begins hold on. The battle sequences are very accurate. I gave this book to a retired naval destroyer commander, and he loved it.

Action aplenty. Alexander Fullarton writes with authority,knows his subject and has an eye for history.It is without a doubt the best narrative of The Battle Of Jutland by any author or historian in the business.

The Blooding of The Guns is a historical/fiction story about the biggest sea battle of World War I, The Battle of Jutland. The main character is Nick Everard who is a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy (not a submarine LT; about the same rank as an American LTjg (junior grade) aboard the DD Lanyard. Nick has several family members who are also in the service. Nick's brother David, is the Navigating Officer on the CA Bantry. Nick's uncle, Hugh, is the Captain of the BB Nile. Also, Nick's Dad is a Brigadier General in the army.

75% of the story was boring to me. It starts out slow, and slowly starts to build up to the Battle. The last 3-4 chapters is full of excitement. While in the middle of this book, I was under the personal belief that I would not purchase the next book in this nine book series. However, with the last 3-4 chapters, it made me think twice about my overall view. This book is full of great details of describing the different stations aboard the ships that the main characters are on. The descriptions of the battle and of battle damage is really good. The main draw back to the story is the number of people in this story. There are three main ships in this story; Nile, Lanyard, and Bantry. Trying to keep up with the story and trying to remember who is on what ship was so difficult that I had to start a list of personal for the three ships to help me keep track. The author does not tip you off when the action goes from one ship to the next. So that is where my personal list came in handy. Just one example of the number of names aboard just one ship is as follows. Aboard the DD Lanyard, the ship that Nick is on, there are several LT's mentioned including 2 sub-LT's, with one being the Navigator. There is a Captain, Surgeon, several Petty Officers, a few Chiefs including a Chief Engineer, a Leading Seaman, a gunner, a Leading Signalman, and a steward. Not to mention a few that I left out. The BB Nile and CA Bantry has even more personal. That's a lot of names to keep track of!

So now to conclude: Yes, this book had a very strong ending. However, I'm not planning on following up with this series. In my view, having 50 different people to remember is too much!!!

Though this is the first in a series of books that Alexander Fullerton has been writing for a quarter-century, I believe it is the first time
one of them has been published in the U.S. It's easy to imagine why they're coming out now, what with the phenomenal success of
Patrick O'Brian's books in recent years, the widely acclaimed series of Horatio Hornblower adaptations that have been airing on A&E,
and the revival of interest in WWI, resulting from the publication of the two excellent studies by John Keegan (The First World War)
and Niall Ferguson (Pity of War). Fullerton's series relates the adventures of a British naval family, the Everards, during WWI :
Nicholas, a sub-lieutenant on a destroyer, who earned a reputation for insubordination as a midshipmen; his brother David, the favored
elder son; and their uncle, Hugh, who commands a battleship. In this first installment, all three end up at the Battle of Jutland, which is
entirely plausible because of the number of ships that were involved.

It is, of course, unfair to measure Fullerton against the impossibly high standard set by O'Brian and C. S. Forester. But, taken on its
own terms, I found the action of the book somewhat confusing. As the author cuts from one character to the next, without any chapter
heading or other notation to orient the reader, it is difficult at times to figure out just which character we're with. This becomes
particularly bothersome in the midst of the battle, especially when one ship is sunk and another seems to be going down; there were
several times when I thought the second ship had gone down too because of the way the action shifted. On the other hand, Nick, who is
the real focus of the story, is a likable enough hero. Also, the book serves as a welcome reminder that some significant portions of
WWI were waged at sea; whereas we tend to focus entirely, or almost entirely, on the bloody trench warfare that occurred on land.

This is an acceptable maiden voyage--good enough to make us look forward to reading the succeeding volumes--but they'll need to
improve quickly.

GRADE : C