I Read Books: Battle At Sea
Battle At Sea
(This book was originally published under the title The Price Of Admiralty)
John Keegan has a look at what fighting a battle at sea is like. It turns out that it’s hard enough to sail on the ocean, to find an enemy fleet and fight it takes a supreme effort. Indeed until the 20th century most sea battles were fought not only in sight of land, but usually within a day's sail of one or both fleets bases. (The major exception being the Sea-Fight Off Ushant, known as The Glorious First Of June, fought 400 miles off the French Coast). More interestingly, during the age of sail it was very hard to force a decision of a battle; the downwind fleet would not tack upwind to attack in the face of enemy broadsides, and if they faced difficulty they would turn downwind and flee. Meanwhile they are built of wood, which floats, and the solid shot would rarely make a hole below the waterline. Fire might destroy a ship, yet unless it got into the magazine, the large crew of a warship would often be able to get it under control.
Yet decisive battles were fought and Keegan opens with Trafalgar, perhaps the most decisive of all age of sail open water naval battles. He moves on a century to Jutland, the first and last great clash of the dreadnought battleships, to Midway, the great aircraft carrier battle of the Pacific and finally the Battle of the Atlantic, the most asymmetric of the fights, with the U-Boat wolfpacks attacking the convoys and escorts.
In each case the navies, ships, men and situations are briskly yet well described, the experience of the those involved being given priority. Keegan in general keeps to the facts and what can be obviously drawn from the facts, saving his opinions and predictions for the epilogue. He does, however, and with little provocation, describe HMS Tiger, the 1913 Battlecruiser as “certainly the most beautiful warship in the world then, and perhaps ever”. I don’t know, maybe?
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| HMS Tiger |
Read This: For a good look at four naval battles and a
superior overview of naval warfare for the period from perhaps 1800-1945.
Don’t Read This: Sailing is hard enough without fighting a
battle while you’re at it.