Jutland - An Analysis of the Fighting [Import] [Hardcover]

John Campbell (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Conway Maritime Press (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851777503
• ISBN-13: 978-0851777504
• Shipping Weight: 0.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,130,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great ... for what it is. May not be for everyone, October 5, 2001

By 

A. M. Lovell "regular guy" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting (Paperback)

This is a reference book more so than one you read through to gain an understanding of Jutland. Other reviewers have remarked that it is "dry", and the meaning of this word in this context merits explanation.

Campbell's work is about shells impacting ships or water, and their explosive damage in each case where a ship was hit. It is almost entirely devoid of discussion (or even mention!) of who was where, making which decisions based on what information. It is all "what" and little "why".

In other words, very much a reference work on a very narrow (but novel) forensic aspect of this pivotal naval battle. Indeed, you could read this book and come away with the impression that Jutland was about ghost ships steaming about with no one at the helm.

Every recent book on Jutland cites this as a source, and its accuracy and professionalism in cataloging the "'oo killed 'oo" aspects of the battle, but this book is not unchallenged in all that it contains. Andrew Gordon singles Campbell out tellingly on a point of whether the 5th Battle Squadron was taking fire during its belated turn to the North. Given that the handling of this squadron was amongst the most debated elements of the battle, and Campbell's intent was to track every single shellhole, it seems clear from several seemingly indisputable primary accounts cited in Gordon's book that the ships were receiving heavy fire this entire time -- in fact, at least half of the German ships firing were concentrating on them.

This book is a valuable addition to a scholar's library, but is in every case best when combined with other books, given its finely focused topic area. I would offer that Gordon's "The Rules of the Game" is a good companion to this volume in that it focuses on what distinguished Jutland as a battle worthy of study: the men crewing these vessels, the information available to them and what actions they took when so equipped, and the lamentable posturing and blame-laying that took place in the aftermath.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate in "nerdy" detail about the battle of Jutland, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting (Paperback)

I gave the book five stars because it does a terrific job of achieving what it set out to do: describe the fighting in (unbelievable) detail. Of course this also means the book will be perceived as "dry" by most people and will appeal to a small audience. But if you're one of those rare people who wants to know the exact diameter of the hole punched into the second deck of the Barham by the shell that struck home at 5:21 PM, well, this is the book for you!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Very Dry but Valuable Technical Account of Jutland, May 26, 2000

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting (Paperback)

The author has compiled an impressive amount of technical data on the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Virtually every important detail concerning major caliber rounds fired and their effects is laid out. Each chapter covers a chronological part of the battle, usually 45-75 minutes each. The final summary provides a very detailed list of the damage to each ship, casualties and ammunition fired in the battle. However this book is limited in several areas. It is not particularly readable because the author seems to have an aversion to the English language in favor of excessive use of jargon and sentence fragments. Organizationally, the book needs a detailed chronology which might reduce some of the redundancy. A big part of the book focuses on the damage to each ship and a huge weakness is the reliance on poor-quality, hard-to-read crude sketches. After all the effort he made to collect the information, the author makes little effort to present it well. Standardized, well-drawn battle damage charts would have made this an outstanding work. The battle maps are generally adequate but the omission for one covering the critical night action was a serious deficiency. Finally, I reached the end and had two critical questions remaining unanswered by the author: first, where German warships really that superior or was it just lucky visibility conditions that aided their gunnery? Second, which fleet was hurt more seriously and how might this have affected a renewed battle if the British Grand Fleet had not lost contact on the night of 31 May 1916? Overall, this is a great technical work but it cannot be read without other, more thorough operational accounts handy.