"Jellicoe, Beattey, Jutland - reading list ?" Topic

I finally got around to reading Correlli Barnett's The Swordbearers, and the section on the organisation (or lack of) of the Royal Navy, the failings of Beattey, the success of Jellicoe and the various mistakes/command burdens demonstrated at Jutland was particularly fascinating.

But – I'm aware this book was printed in 1963. There's been time for two, maybe three, waves of revisionist history since then. So – does Barnett's analysis of the battle still hold up ? For example he makes quite clear that he doesn't think much of Beattey (his comment on the "something wrong with out bloody ships today" remark was a genuine LOL). Is Beattey now a hero ?

Reading list suggestions are requested and thanks in advance.

I've read about the Royal Navy, the Battle of Jutland, Jellicoe and Beattie many many times in the last 50 years.

My main assessment of the leading Royal Navy characters is that Jellicoe was brought into the job too late but did not do too bad a job in very difficult circumstances.

Beattie, on the other hand, could have done better but could not have been any braver.

Both men are heroes amongst an age of heroes but if you were to ask an average man walking past in the street today they would probably have never heard of them.

Dreadnought, by…the name escapes me now – Robert Massie? There are a handful of excellent books about the battle itself and there are good biographies of the men involved. I just don't have my reading list handy at the moment. You can to go Amazon and just plug those names (one at a time) into the search engine and it will dredge up a number of books for you.

Can I suggest a book worth reading and would be complementary reading to anything about the Royal Navy.

'Luxury Fleet', The Imperial German Navy 1888-1918 by Holger H Herwig, published by Humanity Books.

I should have included Fisher in the list – he gets fairly short shrift for picking speed and guns over armour. A large part of the RN gets ticked off for not enjoying (or doing) gunnery practice (unlike the German navy who get much praise for this).

It's an interesting thesis, but I feel there must be some well informed person who refutes it totally !

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Dreadnought is by Robert K Massie, that book covers the naval buildup prior to the war and the impact made by the Dreadnought. He wrote a follow up book called Castles of Steel, which I have but have not read yet. It is about the Great War at sea. So it covers Dogger Bank and Jutland. Probably not in great detail but decent I am sure. He has an excellent writing style and makes the history interesting and in some cases gripping.

I've just ordered a second hand copy of The Swordbearers, from Amazon, for one penny!

I'll post my opinion once I have read it on my blog.

jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk

Massie's Castles of Steel is quite good, and covers the Dardanelles campaign (Churchill does not come off looking too good, frankly) as well as the North Sea.

I've just ordered a second hand copy of The Swordbearers, from Amazon, for one penny!

Bargain ! Mine was £1.50 GBP (originally 8/6 !) some years ago (some is a number greater than 15).

you can get it for 4p on amazon uk

There was no Amazon Uk when I bought it in a second hand book shop

Another vote for both of the Massie books.

Doug

One recent book, whose name escapes me, traces the development of grand tactical traditions in the late Victorian and early 20th century RN. It focuses on Jellicoe and Beatty as the representatives of the main ideas about fleet control in battle. I did not agree with the author's conclusions but found the analysis fascinating.

I really enjoyed, Rules of the Game. One of my favorite books on the period.

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I will also recommend the Massie books; if you want a somewhat more technical analysis, Friedman's book on battleship gunnery has extensive sections on the RN and German navy in WWI.

I have Dreadnought – somewhere squirreled away and as yet unread !

"Rule of the Game" is the book I was thinking of. When I Yahooed the name all I got were books about game rules and a novel!

Robert K Massie:

Dreadnought Britain,Germany and the Coming of the Great War
a good introduction to the period plus the rise of Beatty and Jellcoe

Castles of Steel: Britain Germany and thewnning of the great War at Sea

Nigel Steel & Peter Hart
Jutland Death in the Grey wastes 2003
a good basic history

V E Tarrant

Jutland: The German perspective: A New View of the Great battle , 31 May , 1916 1995 Naval Institute

Richard Hough The Great War at Sea 1914-1918
includes a large section on Jutland Oxford Press 1983

John Keegan: The Price of Admiralty
The naval equivalent of the Face of Battle includes asection on Jutland ( highly recommended )

very rare but with lots of illustrations

Dreadnoughts by David Howarth The Seafarers Series Time Life Books 1979

Thanks everyone !

A J Madder "From Dreadnought t0 Scapa Flow" is a great study of the Great War at Sea.

To understand Jellico at Jutland you can't do better than "The Rule of the Game" by Andrew Gordon.

I'd forgotten about Marder's book! Also, I should second Gordon's book as well. An excellent read.