Book description
Based on gripping first-hand testimony from the archives of the
Imperial War Museum, this book reveals what it was really like to serve
in the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was a period of huge
change - for the first time the British navy went into battle with
untried weapon systems, dreadnoughts, submarines, aircraft and airships.
Julian Thompson blends insightful narrative with never-before-published
stories to show what these men faced and overcame.
Officers and men, from admirals down to the youngest sailors faced the
same dangers, at sea in often terrible weather conditions, with the
ever-present prospect of being blown to pieces, or choking to death
trapped in a compartment or turret as they plunged to the bottom of the
sea. In their own words they share their experiences, from from long
patrols and pitched battles in the cold, rough water of the North Sea to
the perils of warfare in the Dardanelles; from the cat-and-mouse search
for Vice-Admiral Graf von Spee in the Pacific to the dangerous raids on
Ostend and Zeebrugge. We see what it was like to spend weeks in the
cramped, smelly submarines of the period, or to attack U-boats from
unreliable airships. After a distinguished career in the Royal
Marines, General Julian Thompson is now visiting professor in the Dept
of War Studies, Kings College. He is the author of nine other works of
military history.
