Customer Reviews

Naval Battles of the First World War (Classic Military History)

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Geoffrey Bennett was a distinguished naval historian who also served for 35 years in the Royal Navy. As I have mentioned before, he brings an understanding of naval history and naval issues to his work which is rarely found elsewhere. This is not the first book from this author which I have reviewed and, once again, I am not disappointed with the content.

When Britain found itself at war with Germany in 1914, the Royal Navy was faced with it's sternest test since the days of Nelson. Just over 100 years had passed since the Battle of Trafalgar and, during that time, wooden warships had given way to the largest steel leviathans with massive deck guns which could now be swung through 180 degrees and where, below decks, the power source was the very latest in steam engine technology. For all these advances, however, the battle plan of the world's two major navies - Britain and Germany, was still basically the same. They would steam in line ahead towards the enemy in the hope of crossing the "T" before the same was done to them.

This classic work recounts all the major naval encounters from World War One with a strategic analysis of each battle.

With a good and relevant selection of historic photographs reproduced in the middle of the book, this product is best described as; Altogether, a good job well done.

NM

This is a good overview of naval warfare in WW1. Despite its age I would say it is one of the best and most readable books on the subject. The drawback is that it concentrates almost exclusively on Anglo - German battles.

While enjoying reading about naval battles, this book - while descriptive - gives a little too much detail, turning it into more of a textbook, which for me made it a little tough to really get into the book.
Despite this, it is informative and for those of you interested in finding out more about World War One naval battles, it is worth acquiring.