The great war at sea : 1914-1918 / Richard Hough

List of plates.

List of maps.

Preface.

Abbreviations.

1. "AN ENORMOUS SHIP" The influence of the german emperor - Britain´s new alliances - Admiral Fisher appointed First Sea Lord - The need for naval reforms - The conception of the Dreadnought, and her critics.

2. THE ANGLO-GERMAN BATTLESHIP RACE. Admiral Fisher´s attributes - The dreadnought race begins - Admiral Beresford´s vendetta against Fisher - The german Emperor´s intransigence - The dreadnought battle-cruiser - The "we want eight and we won´t wait" campaign and Winston Churchill´s opposition - The Prime Minister´s committee to enquire into the conduct of naval affairs - Fisher´s resignation.

3. CHURCHILL AT THE ADMIRALTY. Churchill becomes first Lord following the Agadir Crisis - Admiral Wilson superseded - Churchill´s over-extended travels, lack of tact, and disagreement with the king - The 15-inch gun and Queen Elizabeth class of super-dreadnought - Churchill switches the Navy to oil - His enthusiasm for submarines and aviation - Fisher´s support and guidance - Percy Scott´s director and the opposition to it - Dreyer´s fire control system - The creation of a Naval War Staff - Lower-deck reform.

4. THE ACCELERATION TOWARDS WAR. Relative dreadnought construction figures, and the worsening relations with Germany - The Hankey mission and Churchill´s proposed "naval holiday" - Austrian and italian dreadnought construction and the Mediterranean scene - Opposition to the withdrawal of British strenght from the Mediterranean - Ever-increasing naval expenditure - The qualities of British an German dreadnoughts compared - Inferior British mines and torpedoes - British and German personnel, their training and contrasting characters - The shortage of exceptional talent among British and German admirals.

5. WAR AND EARLY MIXED FORTUNES. The july 1914 Test Mobilization - Battenberg´s order to "stand the fleet fast" - The close blockade of Germany, and its consequences - The lack of east-coast bases: a weakness revealed - Jellicoe as C.-in C. - The submarine and mine perils - The loss of three armoured cruisers and the super-dreadnought

6. MEDITERRANEAN MISFORTUNES. Admiral Milne´s responsabilities - The Goeben threat - She shows a clean pair of heels - Unclear Admiralty instructions - Admiral Souchon´s shadower - Admiral Troubridge´s opportunity and failure to exploit it - A false report from London - Milne´s dilemma - The Goeben successfully finds her way to Constantinople - Dire consequences for the Allies.

7. TRAGEDY IN THE PACIFIC. The search of Admiral Spee - His interference with Pacific commerce and troop movements - Admiral Cradock takes up the hunt in the Atlantic, and later, off the chilean coast - His inadequate force - Spee and Easter Island, Cradock at the Falkland Islands - The clash off Coronel and defeat of Cradock - Escape of the Glasgow - The mystery of the Canopus.

8. TROUBLE IN THE ADMIRALTY, TRIUMPH IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC. The persecution and resignation of Prince Louis of Battenberg - The reinstatement of Fisher as first sea Lord against the King´s judgement - Countermeasures against Admiral von Spee - Admiral Sturdee sails with his battle-cruiser squadron - Captain Luce joins him - Spee doubles the horn - The Canopus becomes a fortress - Sturdee arrives at the Falkland Islands - Spee decides to attack and faces a surprise british squadron - The pursuit and defeat of Spee - The aftermath of mixed spite and adulation.

9. FIRST CLASH OF THE DREADNOUGHTS. The paramountcy of the battle-cruiser - Defensive German strategy - British intelligence superiority and the creation of Room 40, which predicts a battle-cruiser raid - Poor signalling and sudden poor visibility preclude an interception by Admiral Beatty - Fisher calls the operation "a hash" - The Dogger Bank pursuit and engagement of Admiral Hipper - The Battle a conditional British victory - Beatty´s anger and frustration - The controversial aftermath.

10. THE DARDANELLES FIASCO AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, The need to assist Russia and the search for a diversion - The Baltic project and associated island-seizing enterprises - The Fisher-Hankey amphibious Gallipoli plan - Churchill embraces the Navy-only solution - The record unfavourable to naval attacks on forts - Early Gallipolli bombardments confirm the historical view - Air supprt shunned by gunnery officers - The mine menace and heavy battleship losses - The War Council authorizes landings - Fisher´s growing disenchantment and resentment - The final rift, Fisher´s resignation and the fall of Churchill.

11. THE UNDERSEA WAR. The opening of U-boat warfare - Strong internal division in Germany on the breaking of international law and the pursuit of unrestricted U-boat warfare against merchantmen - The "hawks" prevail - The Lusitania torpedoing and hostile American reaction - Early German U-boat losses - Fisher and the founding of the British submarine force - Hazardous and productive operations in the Baltic - The Dardanelles campaign and the equal daring and skill of British submarine crews in the Straits and Sea of Marmora - The development of the RNAS and early operations at Gallipoli.

12. THE SEARCH FOR DECISIVE ACTION. The new team at the Admiralty - Less inspiration, greater steadiness - Jellicoe´s concern for his Fleet´s strenght, his personal health and the health of his admirals - Restlessness for action among both belligerentes - The new german C.-in-C. provides a response - The lowestoft raid - Consequent agitation for swifter defence and counter-action - British and German efforts to trap the enemy with similar plans - Jellicoe´s operation pre-empted - The fleets sail - Their quality compared.

13. JUTLAND: BATTLE-CRUISER ACTION. Dearth of intelligence in British and German fleets - Misleading admiralty signals to Jellicoe - And his failure to bring his aircraft-carrier - The importance, and belated arrival, of the 15-inch.gunned battleships - "Enemy in sight" - More signalling failures in the Battle Cruiser Fleet - Germans open fire with singular light advantage - The fierce artillery duel in the "run to the south" - The first british catastrophes - The flotillas go in - Commodore Googenough´s brilliant scouting - The appearance of the High Seas Fleet - Beatty reverses his course - 5th Battle Squadron takes a beating but gives as good as it receives.

14. JUTLAND: BATTLE FLEETS IN ACTION. The Grand Fleet´s deployment dilemma and Jellicoe´s decisiveness - Admiral Hood engages the enemy - Hipper´s shock at discovering more of the enemy offset by further successes - The end of the defence and Invincible a preliminary to the main fleets´contact - Scheer´s first turn-about and retreat - The manoeuvre repeated - Hipper´s "death ride" - Brief renewed contact - The blind ride to the south - Night actions - Chances missed by the Grand Fleet before the High Seas Fleet reaches safety at dawn.

15. JUTLAND: A RETROSPECTION. The need for GFBOs, but their needlessly detailed, restrictive and defensive nature - Jellicoe´s unwillingness to consider alterations to them - Contrasting qualities of British and German men o´war - The "flas" clue to battle-cruiser losses and the attribution of blame - British shell and the reasons for its poor quality - Gunnery records examined - British weakness in reporting and signalling, and its cause - Admiralty failure to inform Jellicoe of intercepted German signals - The absence of the Campania possibly a grave loss to the Grand Fleet - Post-engagement speculations and the acrimonious aftermath to the battle - The performance of individual commanders.

16. THE DEFEAT OF THE U-BOAT, SURRENDER, AND SCUTTLE. Post-Jutland reforms - The 19 august sortie - Jackson replaced by Jellicoe, Balfour by Carson, at the Admiralty - The advent of unrestricted U-boat warfare - The Navy´s countermeasures inadequate - Jellicoe´s resistance to the introduction of convoy - American entry into the war - Convoy again provides the antidote to the guerre de course - Geddes replaces Carson, and Jellicoe´s peremptory sacking - Harmony prevails between the RN and USN - The success of the Geddes-Wemyss administration but failure to exploit air power - The abortive Zeebrugge raid - Surrender of the High Seas Fleet.

Note of sources.

Notes.

Suggestions for further reading.

Index.

La contienda entre las armadas alemana y británica durante la Primera Guerra Mundial fue el conflicto naval más grande de la historia. En este volumen, Richard Hough presenta un relato vívido y detallado de esta guerra marítima, comenzando con los preparativos de la guerra y terminando con la capitulación de Alemania a finales de 1918.
Esta contienda, que es tanto una historia de hombres como de armas y barcos, enfrentó al inglés Winston Churchill, un líder arrogante pero trabajador; el influyente ex Primer Lord del Mar "Jacky" Fisher; y el Comandante en Jefe de la Gran Flota, Sir John Jellicoe, contra el autocrático Kaiser Wilhelm de Alemania y los hombres bajo su mando. Cuando estalló la guerra, en agosto de 1914, Gran Bretaña había gobernado los mares, casi sin oposición, durante casi 100 años y contaba con el acorazado más grande y con mayor armamento del mundo, el Dreadnought. Los submarinos alemanes y las minas flotantes pusieron a prueba esta supremacía y obligaron
Los líderes navales británicos idearon técnicas, como el convoy, para combatir la tecnología alemana. Hough describe las batallas mayores y menores de la guerra (luchadas en las Malvinas, el Mar del Norte y los Dardanelos) y especialmente su clímax, la Batalla de Jutlandia de 1916, una confrontación indecisa que decepcionó amargamente a la Royal Navy. Entre las muchas ideas e interpretaciones que Hough aporta a este trabajo está su conclusión de que la derrota de la Kriegsmarine por parte de la Royal Navy fue el factor principal en la rendición de las fuerzas terrestres de las potencias centrales a finales de 1918. Con vívidos retratos de Figuras históricas, historias de batallas políticas detrás de escena y numerosos mapas y fotografías, La Gran Guerra en el Mar ofrece un relato vivo y autorizado de una era dramática de la historia naval.