: Tim Benbow
: Naval Warfare 1914-1918 From Coronel to the Atlantic and Zeebrugge
: Amber Books Ltd
: 9781908273123
: 1
: CHF 8.10
:
: Geschichte
: English
: 224
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

The struggle for naval supremacy and the naval arms race inspired by HMS Dreadnought may have captured the headlines, but the opening stages of the naval war were dominated by the threat from German cruisers stationed outside European waters, until they were hunted down and sunk by the Royal Navy, notably at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914.
Germany switched its focus to the U-boat, seeing it as a weapon capable of winning the war by starving Britain into surrender. Unrestricted submarine warfare led to the sinking of millions of tons of shipping, but it would also force the USA to enter the war on the Allied side in 1917.
In the Mediterranean, the French fleet took the lead, while Austria-Hungary supported German actions. The Allied attempt in 1915 to use maritime power to break the strategic deadlock with an amphibious operation in the Dardanelles ultimately failed, although Allied sea power helped sustain the successful campaigns against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East.
What would prove to be the decisive naval engagement of the war took place in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland. Whilst the clash itself was inconclusive, the German High Seas Fleet would be all but confined to port for the rest of the war, handing the initiative to the Royal Navy. The resultant command of the seas allowed the Allies to carry fresh American armies and much-needed supplies to Europe in 1917.
However, victory for the Allies was ultimately delivered by the naval economic blockade. By preventing the import of war materials and food, the fighting power and morale of the German armed forces was weakened. It was the mutiny of the High Seas Fleet in October 1918 that prompted the German Revolution and the subsequent abdication of the Kaiser.
With the aid of over 300 photographs, complemented by full-colour maps,Naval Warfareprovides a detailed guide to the background and conduct of World War I naval operations, describing the struggle to win control of the high seas around the globe.

The Royal Navy battleships that would fight World War I were all but unrecognizable from those that had fought under Nelson. Steam propulsion, iron hulls and great advances in guns and armour revolutionized navies. Sea power was central to the causes and outcome of the war.

INTRODUCTION


The Coming of War


At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain enjoyed an unrivalled predominance on the seas. The British rule of the waves sustained the ‘Pax Britannica’ throughout the nineteenth century, deterring great power rivals as well as permitting expansion of the empire. By the end of the century, however, as storm clouds began to gather over Europe, this maritime strength had changed utterly in composition.

Britain's maritime strength also appeared to be losing much of its value as the industrial revolution threatened to reduce the advantages of Sea Powers relative to Land Powers. A new Continental enemy arose, which was less dependent on the sea and hence less vulnerable to naval power. This might have marginalized the struggle at sea in any future conflict. Yet when the great powers of Europe fought each other once again, the war at sea was to prove just as important as in almost all of the previous or later conflicts.

The nineteenth century saw the sailing warship, which for centuries had been the key instrument of naval warfare, displaced by a very different kind of vessel, as the effects of the industrial revolution were felt at sea. Changes in technology gave rise to major developments in naval tactics and strategy, and also affected wider issues such as the place of naval power within national policy. The most significant of these were the adoption of steam power, the advent of iron hulls, rapid advances in guns and armour and the development of underwater weapons.

The great powers in Europe on the eve of World War I were very different to those that had fought the Napoleonic Wars, mainly due to the unification of Italy and Germany.

STEAM POWER

The most momentous change was the gradual move from sail to steam as the means of ship propulsion. Adopting steam power freed warships from dependence on the wind, reducing journey times as well as making them more predictable, and making feasible some routes that had previously been impossible. In battle, warships became easier to manoeuvre, which greatly simplified tactics as well as changing the range of skills required to handle a ship or a squadron effectively. A steam-powered warship also had a good chance of either securing a favourable tactical position against a sailing ship or, alternatively, of avoiding battle altogether. This freedom, however, came at the cost of the need for fuel – initially coal, though the move to oil began just before the outbreak of World War I – which tied ships to their bases far more closely than hitherto. Strategically, this favoured local over more distant powers and also made the acquisition of overseas bases more important. At the widest level, it changed the physical and human resources needed to be a great naval power, although Britain still enjoyed an early lead in the production of coal and steel, and industrial capacity.

J.M.W. Turner's paintingThe Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up (1838). This picture, recently voted Britain's most popular, symbolizes the demise of the old sailing battleships that had dominated naval warfare for centuries, replaced by the steam-powered offspring of the Industrial Revolution. The ship depicted was launched in 1798, and was named after a ship captured from the French; she also fought at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Steam power was initially taken up with greatest enthusiasm by merchant shipping. It was first introduced to navies on a large scale by Britain, with France also showing considerable interest, and some experiments took place in the United