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Power at Sea #1
Power at Sea, Volume 1: The Age of Navalism, 1890-1918
The twentieth century was preeminently an age of warring states and collapsing empires. Industrialism brought not peace but the sword. And the tip of that sword was sea power.
In Power at Sea, Lisle A. Rose gives us an unprecedented narrative assessment of modern sea power, how it emerged from the Age of Fighting Sail, how it was employed in war and peace, and how it has shaped the life of the human community over the past century and a quarter. In this first volume, Rose recalls the early twentieth-century world of emerging, predatory industrial nations engaging in the last major scramble for global markets and empire. In such times, an imposing war fleet was essential to both national security and international prestige. Battleship navies became pawns of power politics, and between 1890 and 1914 four of them--Britain’s Royal Navy, the Imperial German Navy, the Japanese Navy, and the U.S. Navy--set the tone and rhythm of international life.
Employing a global canvas, Rose portrays the increasingly frantic naval race between Britain and Germany that did so much to bring about the First World War; he takes us aboard America’s Great White Fleet as it circumnavigated the world between 1907 and 1909, leaving in its wake both goodwill and jealousy; he details Japan’s growing naval and military power and the hunger for unlimited expansion that resulted.
Important naval battles were fought in those days of ostensible peace, and Rose brings to life the encounters of still young and relatively small industrial fighting fleets at Manila Bay and Tsushima. He also takes us into the huge naval factories where the engines of war were forged. He invites us aboard the imperial battleships and battle cruisers, exploring the dramatically divided worlds of the officers’ lordly wardroom with its clublike atmosphere and the often foul and fetid enlisted men’s quarters.
The Age of Navalism climaxed in the epic First World War Battle of Jutland, in which massive guns and maneuvering dreadnoughts determined that Imperial Germany would become the latest in a line of ambitious naval powers that failed to shake Britannia’s rule of the waves. Germany’s subsequent use of a revolutionary new strategy, unrestricted submarine warfare, nearly brought Britain to its knees, reduced the level of naval combat to barbarism, and brought the United States into the war with its own substantial navy, ultimately turning the tide of battle.
Focusing as much on social issues and technological advances as on combat, Power at The Age of Navalism tells a compelling story of newfound power that is fascinating in its own right. Yet, it is merely a prologue to more startling accounts contained in the author’s succeeding volumes.
In Power at Sea, Lisle A. Rose gives us an unprecedented narrative assessment of modern sea power, how it emerged from the Age of Fighting Sail, how it was employed in war and peace, and how it has shaped the life of the human community over the past century and a quarter. In this first volume, Rose recalls the early twentieth-century world of emerging, predatory industrial nations engaging in the last major scramble for global markets and empire. In such times, an imposing war fleet was essential to both national security and international prestige. Battleship navies became pawns of power politics, and between 1890 and 1914 four of them--Britain’s Royal Navy, the Imperial German Navy, the Japanese Navy, and the U.S. Navy--set the tone and rhythm of international life.
Employing a global canvas, Rose portrays the increasingly frantic naval race between Britain and Germany that did so much to bring about the First World War; he takes us aboard America’s Great White Fleet as it circumnavigated the world between 1907 and 1909, leaving in its wake both goodwill and jealousy; he details Japan’s growing naval and military power and the hunger for unlimited expansion that resulted.
Important naval battles were fought in those days of ostensible peace, and Rose brings to life the encounters of still young and relatively small industrial fighting fleets at Manila Bay and Tsushima. He also takes us into the huge naval factories where the engines of war were forged. He invites us aboard the imperial battleships and battle cruisers, exploring the dramatically divided worlds of the officers’ lordly wardroom with its clublike atmosphere and the often foul and fetid enlisted men’s quarters.
The Age of Navalism climaxed in the epic First World War Battle of Jutland, in which massive guns and maneuvering dreadnoughts determined that Imperial Germany would become the latest in a line of ambitious naval powers that failed to shake Britannia’s rule of the waves. Germany’s subsequent use of a revolutionary new strategy, unrestricted submarine warfare, nearly brought Britain to its knees, reduced the level of naval combat to barbarism, and brought the United States into the war with its own substantial navy, ultimately turning the tide of battle.
Focusing as much on social issues and technological advances as on combat, Power at The Age of Navalism tells a compelling story of newfound power that is fascinating in its own right. Yet, it is merely a prologue to more startling accounts contained in the author’s succeeding volumes.
384 pages, Paperback
First published December 28, 2006
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About the author
Lisle A. Rose
17 books3 followersLisle A. Rose grew up in Champaign, Illinois where his father was on the faculty of the University of Illinois. Rose enlisted in the U.S. Navy in July 1954 and served on three ships making cruises to the Far East, Latin America, and the polar regions. Aboard the icebreaker Staten Island he participated in Operation Deepfreeze II to Antarctica between November 1956 and April 1957. He was honorably discharged from the service in September of that year and obtained a BA in history from Illinois in 1961 and a PHd in American History from the University of California-Berkeley in 1966. Following teaching at various universities between 1966-72, Rose joined the U.S. Department of State's Historical Office from 1972-78 where he was one of a team of professional historians editing the ongoing official series Foreign Relations of the United States. Transferring to the Bureau of Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs, Rose was Polar Affairs Officer from 1978 to 1982 where he prepared an Arctic policy statement, negotiated the annual U.S. scientific program in Greenland with the Government of Denmark, and helped form an Interagency Arctic Policy Group to formulate official U.S. policy on that region. In 1980, he was a member of the United States Delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. In 1982 Rose transferred to the Office of Advanced Technology Affairs where he specialized in the international aspects of the U.S. Landsat earth remote sensing satellite program and was part of a two person negotiating team that with representatives from the Soviet Union, France, and Canada completed the COSPAS-SARSAT intenational search and rescue sattelite system. Rose retired from the Department of State in 1989 in order to resume an active writing career in Cold War, naval, and polar history.
Rose currently resides in Edmonds, Washington with his wife, historian Harriet Dashiell Schwar, and is Library Coordinator and member of the Board of Governors of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society. Rose's professional memberships include the American Polar Society, North American Society of Oceanic Historians, U.S. Naval Institute, other organizations.
Rose currently resides in Edmonds, Washington with his wife, historian Harriet Dashiell Schwar, and is Library Coordinator and member of the Board of Governors of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society. Rose's professional memberships include the American Polar Society, North American Society of Oceanic Historians, U.S. Naval Institute, other organizations.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 29, 2020
An interesting, and well written, discourse on the evolution of naval power in the period from the emergence of Dreadnaught-style battleships through the first World War. Rose explores the strategic issues, and imperatives, driving the epochal growth of fleets, the political concerns that affected the make-up of those fleets, and the results as demonstrated in combat through WW I. Primary focus of the book is understandably focused on the naval competition between Germany (the originator of the naval arms race) and Great Britain, and its consequences, both strategically and tactically, including the emergence of submarine and naval air warfare. He also examines the growth of Japanese naval power in the Pacific, its influences and stimulants and consequences, as well – including a relatively brief examination of Japan’s contributions to the wars at sea during WW I and the rewards that Japan reaped. Another section examines the US Navy and its evolution from a small, regional force into a global fleet, including a very interesting narrative of Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet and its voyage around the world.
Other navies are mentioned, pretty much in passing, due to their relatively minor status – Russia, France, Italy, Austria, Turkey. Rose comments on their strategic influence, and limitations, but the focus of the book is upon the major fleets of the era – Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States. An excellent introduction to the broad topic of Sea Power, its evolution and importance in national affairs.
Other navies are mentioned, pretty much in passing, due to their relatively minor status – Russia, France, Italy, Austria, Turkey. Rose comments on their strategic influence, and limitations, but the focus of the book is upon the major fleets of the era – Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States. An excellent introduction to the broad topic of Sea Power, its evolution and importance in national affairs.
September 6, 2018
Absolutely fabulous series that dispelled my notions that naval history was relatively mundane. Rose's series is, in my opinion, an absolute must read and the most authoritative work on this period. Thank you for sparking my interest in this topic.
August 8, 2007
Book one of a trilogy, The Age of Navalism charts the rise of the navies that challenged the RN for dominance on the world sea. The author focuses primarily on the technical and social aspects of naval development - although the coverage of the battles and campaigns of the First World War is more than adequate, a simple history of the conflict is not what this book is about.
Rather, it is about how navies adapted, or failed to adapt, to new technologies and to changes in the cultures of the nations they were part of. Further, the author looks at how central the navy - and societies perceptions of what the navy meant - were to the identity of countries like the UK and Germany.
The author judges the RN harshly as being far two classicist and conservative, while some of the upstarts - Germany, Japan, the US - come off in a much better light. This is not to say the narrative is anti-British or fails to look at the deficiencies in each of the other navies; just that the traditional image of England as almost inevitable masters of the world sea is shaken.
A fascinating book - and series - due to the focus on socio-cultural and technical aspects as opposed to just another series of battle histories.
Rather, it is about how navies adapted, or failed to adapt, to new technologies and to changes in the cultures of the nations they were part of. Further, the author looks at how central the navy - and societies perceptions of what the navy meant - were to the identity of countries like the UK and Germany.
The author judges the RN harshly as being far two classicist and conservative, while some of the upstarts - Germany, Japan, the US - come off in a much better light. This is not to say the narrative is anti-British or fails to look at the deficiencies in each of the other navies; just that the traditional image of England as almost inevitable masters of the world sea is shaken.
A fascinating book - and series - due to the focus on socio-cultural and technical aspects as opposed to just another series of battle histories.
April 6, 2012
A solid, but fairly unimaginative scan of naval matters in the period before, and during, World War One.
Rose's work would provide a good basic primer for those who know a little of the topic, since he synthesises a lot of secondary material and fairly well, and very quickly. But there are better books out there for people who know a bit already.
Also, he has that old-school "America knew better than everyone else and operated better than everybody else" attitude you sometimes encounter in these books. So patriotic Brits should beware.
Rated G. 3/5
Rose's work would provide a good basic primer for those who know a little of the topic, since he synthesises a lot of secondary material and fairly well, and very quickly. But there are better books out there for people who know a bit already.
Also, he has that old-school "America knew better than everyone else and operated better than everybody else" attitude you sometimes encounter in these books. So patriotic Brits should beware.
Rated G. 3/5
January 13, 2009
Reading for HIS 3543 History of Modern Warfare. Well-written overview of the rise of navalism through the Age of Sail and through the Great War.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews