The War in the North Sea: The Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy 1914-1918

摘要

Quintin Barry, who has previously written several books on military history, has now tackled the entire naval war in the North Sea from 1914 to 1918. Beginning with four introductory chapters on the prewar years, he then devotes a single chapter to each of the major surface actions and eleven to the Battle of Jutland. The narrative is interspersed with chapters that describe the changes in the high commands on both sides - those on 'the Byzantine complexity of the management of the German navy' provide new insights - and also more extended campaigns like that of the Dover Patrol, the distant blockade, the battle against the U-boats and the eventual adoption of convoy. There are numerous monochrome illustrations, although the 24 small reproductions of paintings (mostly by Wyllie) are of limited historical value. The 19 specially-commissioned maps cover the most important actions (eleven for Jutland); regrettably there are no indications of the sources used.