The British Navy in Battle

The story of the destruction of _Koenigsberg_ by the twin monitors _Severn_ and _Mersey_ in the Rufigi Delta, has an interest that far transcends the intrinsic military importan...

In looking back over the last four years, the sharpest outlines in the retrospect are the ups and downs of hopes and fears. Indeed, so acutely must everyone bear these alternati...

Von Spee’s mistakes we have seen in the course of my comment on the narrative. They were broadly fourfold. Three arose from an inability to realize from the very beginning the t...

In the course of the night April 22-23, an attack was made on the two Flemish bases, Ostend and Zeebrügge, with a view to blocking the entrances of both by the familiar method o...

Having established the truth that the primary purpose of a navy is to fight and its immediate object victory, we must next pass on to ask of what it is that naval force consists...

The battle off Jutland Bank, which took place on May 31, 1916, was the first and, at the time of writing, has been the only meeting between the main naval forces of Great Britai...

What do we mean by “sea-power” and “command of the sea”? What really is a navy and how does it gain these things? How come navies into existence? Of what constituents, human and...

There are several matters of technical and general interest to be noted about this action. In the two torpedo attacks by destroyers on Sir David Beatty’s fleet, we see the first...

At the beginning of hostilities the strategic position in the Pacific and Indian oceans should have been one that could have caused no possible naval anxiety to the Allies. Japa...

The issue of the day would now depend upon how the commanders of the three separate forces appreciated the tasks set to them; the principles that governed the plans for their ex...

The naval operations suggested and described in the following chapters are the surprise attack that Germany did _not_ deliver, the destruction of _Koenigsberg_, the capture of _...

War is a condition which arises when the appeal to reason, justice, or fear has failed and a nation wishes, or in self-defence is compelled, to bring another to its will by force.

On November 11, 1914, the Secretary of the Admiralty issued a statement which, after referring to the self-internment of _Koenigsberg_ in the Rufigi River, and the measures take...

Before passing to the actions, it is important to have a clear idea of two things which these actions illustrate. The first is the nature of the advantage which heavy guns have...

We can safely accept the German official statement, that their objective on May 31 was to cut off and chastise that portion of our advanced forces that had so often swept across...

What in fact happened was this. Beatty, as we have seen, had led due east at six o’clock, closing the enemy from 14,000 yards to 12,000 yards, and was overhauling the head of hi...

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was fought on December 8th by a squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir F. Doveton Sturdee, K.C.B., C.V.O., C.M.G., against the German China Squadron-...

Take it for all in all, the most remarkable thing about the naval war is that it took the Germans by surprise. They had planned the most perfect thing imaginable in the way of a...

At about 1 P.M., when the _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ turned to port to engage the _Invincible_ and _Inflexible_ the enemy’s light cruisers turned to starboard to escape; the...

Towards the end of August, 1914, the submarines under Commodore Roger Keyes discovered a _rôle_ of quite unexpected utility. Their immediate function had been to watch the appro...

In the afternoon of May 31 the main sea forces of Great Britain and Germany were all in the North Sea. The Grand Fleet, under the command of Sir John Jellicoe, accompanied by a...

“The fire of the battle-cruisers was directed on the _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_. The effect of this was quickly seen, when at 1:25 P.M., with the _Scharnhorst_ leading, they...

We do not wish you a Merry Christmas, for to none of us, neither to you at sea nor to us on land, can Christmas be a merry season now. Nor, amid so much misery and sorrow, does...

The flotillas and light cruiser squadrons were now regrouped--some ahead, some alongside of the battle-cruiser and battleship squadrons, and the whole steered to the northward,...

The two bombardments of the early winter of 1914 have been variously explained. They may have been meant to force us to keep our main forces concentrated: or simply to cheer up...