Richard Hough: The Great War at Sea: 1914-1918

Roskill, Captain Stephen, Admira1 of t he Fleet Earl Beatty (1980). A more recent authorized biography by the distinguished official naval historian of the Second World War.

CHURCHILL

Churchill. Randolph/Gilbert, Martin. Winston S . Churchill . 27 vols., with Companion vols. of Papers (1966 – ). Randolph Churchill wrote the first two vols. The official biography. Readable, scholarly, definitive. See especially vols. ii, iii, and iv.

Roskill, Captain Stephen, Churchill and the Admirals (1977). The only worthwhile study

of this fascinating subject.

FISHER

Bacon, Admiral Sir Reginald, The Life of Lord Fisher of Kilverstone , 2 vols. (1929). The first authorized biography by one of ‘Jacky’s’ closest satellites. Predictable prejudice.

Hough, Richard, First Sea Lord : an authorized life of Lord Fisher (1969). American title, Admiral of the Fleet . With more emphasis on the man than below.

Mackay, Ruddock F., Fisher of Kilverstone (1971). The most recent biography with special emphasis on Fisher’s earlier work.

Marder, Arthur J., Fear God and Dreadnought : the Correspondence of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher of Kilverstone , 3 vols. (1952-9). With the editor’s sagacious interpolated biographical essays, these volumes provide the finest portrait of’ the idiosyncratic, brilliant, and not wholly lovable admiral though the third vol. can be skimmed.

JAMES

James, Admiral Sir William, The Sky was Always Blue (1951). Vivid and enthusiastically recounted memoirs of’ ‘years that were never dull, always happy and sometimes exciting.’

JELLICOE

Altham, Captain Edward, Jellicoe (1938). Sound.

Bacon, Admiral Sir Reginald, The Life of John Rushworth . Earl Jellicoe (1936). Authorized and too uncritical but essential reading.

Patterson, A.Temple (ed). The Jellicoe Papers . 2 vols. (1966-8). Brilliantly edited for the Navy Records Society.

Winton, John, Jellicoe (1981). A critical, balanced study of this fascinating admiral.

KEYES

Aspinall-Oglander, Brigadier-General C. F., Roger Keyes (1951). Authorized and uncritical.

Halpern, Paul G. (ed.), The Keyes Papers , 3 vols. (1972-81). See especially vol. i. which superbly evokes the man, his relationships, and his work.

Keyes, Admiral Sir Roger, The Naval Memoirs of Admiral of the Fleet Sir , Roger Keyes , 2 vols. (1934-5). Opinionated and belligerent but not without interest.

LLOYD-GEORGE

Lloyd George, David, War Memoirs of David Lloyd George , 6 vols. (1933-6). See especially vols. iii and iv.

RICHMOND

Marder, Arthur J. (ed.), Portrait of an Admiral : the Life and Papers of Sir Herbert Richmond (1952). Reveals the brilliance as well as the contentiouness of this officer.

SCHEER

Scheer, Admiral Reinhard, Germany’s High Sea , Fleet in the World War (1920). Egocentric, idiosyncratic, unreliable, and execrably translated, but should read.

SIMS

Morison, Captain E. E., Admiral Sims and the Modern American Navy (1942) Admirable, authorized.

Sims, Rear-Admiral William S., The Victory at Sea (1920). Irreplaceable for its account of the American contribution and the introduction of convoy.

TIRPITZ

Tirpitz., Grand-Admiral Alfred von, My Memoirs , 2 vols. (1919). Self-righteous, and self-satisfied but an essential contribution.

WESTER WEMYSS

Wester Weymess, Lady, Thr Life and Papers of Lord Wester Weymess (1935). The essence of the officer is not lost in this amateurishly compiled collection.

ENGAGEMENTS

CORONEL AND THE FALKLANDS

Bennett, Captain Geoffrey, Coronel and the Falklands (1962). Excellent and with new material.

Hickling, Vice-Admiral Harold, Sailor at Sea (1965). A moving and revealing account by an officer of the Glasgow .

Hirst, Paymaster Commander Lloyd, Coronel and After (1934). The story told by another of the Glasgow’s officers.

Hough, Richard, The Pursuit of Admiral von Spee (1969). American title. The Long Pursuit . The two engagements seen more from the German view.

Pochhammer. Captain Hans, Before Jutland : Admiral von Spee’s Last Voyage (1931). A moving narrative by the senior survivor of the Gneisenau .

DARDANELLES

Aspinall-Oglander, Brigadier-General C. F. History of the Great War . Military Operations . Gallipoli , 2 vols. (1929-32). The official account.

Brodie, C. G., Forlorn Hope 1915 The Submarine Passage of the Dardanelles (1956). Heroic.

Chatterton, E. Keble, Dardanelles Dilemma (1935). Sound, dramatic.

James, Robert Rhodes, Gallipoli (1965). The best popular account.

Samson, Air Commodore Charles R., Fights and Flights (1930). Good on the air side.

DOGGER BANK

Young, Filson, With the Battle Cruisers (1921). Includes a graphic account as seen from the Lion’s foretop.

JUTLAND

Bacon, Admiral Sir Reginald, The Jutland Scandal (1925). Heavily pro-Jellicoe but must be read. The title indicates its contentiousness.

Bennett, Captain Geoffrey, The Battle of Jutland (1964), As balanced as Bacon’s is prejudiced.

Fawcett, Lieutenant-Commander H. W., and Hooper, Lieutenant G.W. E. (eds.), The Fighting at Jutland (1921). Personal narratives, some very vivid.

Frost, Commander Holloway H., The Battle of Jutland (1936). Critical and comprehensive, but now superseded by that of his fellow-countryman, Marder, in vol. iii of From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow , q.v.

Legg, Stuart, Jutland (1966) _ Personal accounts well strung together.

Pastfield, the Reverend J. L., New Light on Jutland (1933). Interesting on the technical aspects.

NB Accounts of the battle, often of a personal nature, appear in numerous volumes of naval memoirs, e.g. Chalmers’s Beatty , q.v.

ZEEBRUGGE

Carpenter, Captain A. F. B., The Blocking of Zeebrugge (1922). The best account by a participating officer, the Vindictive’s captain.

Pitt, Barrie, Zeebrugge (1958). An enthusiastic more recent retelling.

MISCELLANEOUS

AVIATION

Macintyre, Captain Donald, Wings of Neptune : the Story of Naval Aviation (1963).

Popham. Hugh, Into Wind : a History of British Naval Flying (1969). Both books cover the field ably and accurately.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, Jones, H A., The War in the Air , 6 vols. (1922-8). Raleigh responsible for vol. i only. This official history covers all aspects of its subject and is especially good on the early days of naval aviation.

Roskill, Captain Stephen (ed), Documents Relating to the Naval Air Service , vol i. 1908-18 (1969). This Navy Records Society volume, the first of a proposed two, does not lack for detail or comprehensiveness.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT AND ‘ROOM 40’

Ewing, Alfred W., The Man of Room 40 : the Life of Sir Alfred Ewing (1939). A filial tribute.

James, Admiral Sir William, The Eyes of the Navy : a Biographical Study of Admiral Sir Reginald Hall (1955). American edition, The Code Breakers of Room 40 (1956). Lively, authorized.