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Dreadnought: The Ship that Changed the World
The years leading to World War I were the 'Age of the Dreadnought'. The monumental battleship design, first introduced by Admiral Fisher to the Royal Navy in 1906, was quickly adopted around the world and led to a new era of naval warfare and policy. In this book, Roger Parkinson provides a re-writing of the naval history of Britain and the other leading naval powers from the 1880s to the early years of World War I. The years before 1914 were characterised by intensifying Anglo-German naval competition, with an often forgotten element beyond Europe in the form of the rapidly developing navies of the United States and Japan.
Parkinson shows that, although the advent of the dreadnought was the pivotal turning-point in naval policy, in fact much of the technology that enabled the dreadnought to be launched was a continuity from the pre-dreadnought era. In the annals of the Royal Navy two names will always be linked: those of Admiral Sir John 'Jacky' Fisher and the ship he created, HMS Dreadnought. This book shows how the dreadnought enabled the Royal Navy to develop from being primarily the navy of the 'Pax Britannica' in the Victorian era to being a war-ready fighting force in the early years of the twentieth century. The ensuing era of intensifying naval competition rapidly became a full-blooded naval arms race, leading to the development of super-dreadnoughts and escalating tensions between the European powers.
Providing a truly international perspective on the dreadnought phenomenon, this book will be essential reading for all naval history enthusiasts and anyone interested in World War I.
Parkinson shows that, although the advent of the dreadnought was the pivotal turning-point in naval policy, in fact much of the technology that enabled the dreadnought to be launched was a continuity from the pre-dreadnought era. In the annals of the Royal Navy two names will always be linked: those of Admiral Sir John 'Jacky' Fisher and the ship he created, HMS Dreadnought. This book shows how the dreadnought enabled the Royal Navy to develop from being primarily the navy of the 'Pax Britannica' in the Victorian era to being a war-ready fighting force in the early years of the twentieth century. The ensuing era of intensifying naval competition rapidly became a full-blooded naval arms race, leading to the development of super-dreadnoughts and escalating tensions between the European powers.
Providing a truly international perspective on the dreadnought phenomenon, this book will be essential reading for all naval history enthusiasts and anyone interested in World War I.
- GenresHistory
320 pages, Hardcover
First published December 4, 2014
2 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Roger Parkinson
53 books9 followersRoger Parkinson (b 1939), military historian.
Parkinson has written several books on the Second World War, and in particular on Dunkirk, the Desert Campaign and Pearl Harbour, and has published biographies of famous commanders such as Blucher, Clausewitz, Kutuzov, Ludendorff and Zapata.
His papers include typescripts and drafts of books and articles, some of which were published under the pseudonym of Matthew Holden; notes and files on military history, including the Vietnam War, NATO and Malaya; notes and files on the War Cabinet papers; photographs; and reel-to-reel audio tape recordings.
Parkinson has written several books on the Second World War, and in particular on Dunkirk, the Desert Campaign and Pearl Harbour, and has published biographies of famous commanders such as Blucher, Clausewitz, Kutuzov, Ludendorff and Zapata.
His papers include typescripts and drafts of books and articles, some of which were published under the pseudonym of Matthew Holden; notes and files on military history, including the Vietnam War, NATO and Malaya; notes and files on the War Cabinet papers; photographs; and reel-to-reel audio tape recordings.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 23, 2018
3.5 stars.
The subtitle must have been a publisher's decision, because Parkinson's argument - written cleanly and sharply, is more a robust analysis of how and why the Dreadnought did NOT change the world.
This style of writing made for quite a neat, easy read, which I appreciate as a casual reader. I think the writer has done a decent job of setting up the parameters and contexts for how and why the Dreadnought emerged when it did.
I came to this book to be entertained, perhaps thrilled by the accounts of naval battles.
In a satisfyingly unsatisfying kind of way, this professional historian reminds me that there are always deeper, wider circumstances to consider.
That said, the last third of the book made for pretty riveting reading, with breathless accounts of how the "greatest naval battle in history", the Battle of Jutland, played out. I can rarely follow such war accounts, but it is testament to Parkinson's deft, disciplined style that I was able to follow the action for the most part. Some areas I felt lacking in more detail and explanation, but overall this was a surprisingly decent read.
The subtitle must have been a publisher's decision, because Parkinson's argument - written cleanly and sharply, is more a robust analysis of how and why the Dreadnought did NOT change the world.
This style of writing made for quite a neat, easy read, which I appreciate as a casual reader. I think the writer has done a decent job of setting up the parameters and contexts for how and why the Dreadnought emerged when it did.
I came to this book to be entertained, perhaps thrilled by the accounts of naval battles.
In a satisfyingly unsatisfying kind of way, this professional historian reminds me that there are always deeper, wider circumstances to consider.
That said, the last third of the book made for pretty riveting reading, with breathless accounts of how the "greatest naval battle in history", the Battle of Jutland, played out. I can rarely follow such war accounts, but it is testament to Parkinson's deft, disciplined style that I was able to follow the action for the most part. Some areas I felt lacking in more detail and explanation, but overall this was a surprisingly decent read.
November 14, 2015
First off, the title of the book is entirely misleadingly (as much is admitted in the preface). It makes it sound as if the book is specifically about HMS Dreadnought. It's actually about the place of modern battleships it naval policy from the passage of the British Naval Defence Act in 1889 through to the end of the First World War and its immediate aftermath, with particular emphasis on British policy. The title was presumably chosen by some editor, and the vagueness of the subtitle is to some extent a reflection of the lack of overall focus of the book.
One noteworthy aspect of the book is the refusal to make a firm split into the pre-Dreadnough, Dreadnought era. The remarkably quick conception and completion of Dreadnought, which to some extent rendered earlier ships outdated. Yet, the earlier ships did not instantly disappear, and in any event, as the author emphasizes, those who developed the early stages of the modern major warships in the 1890's had no idea of the future, and the men who carried out the Dreadnought and her successors were the same men who'd been involved in the earlier practices and were naturally influenced by them.
This emphasis on the pre-dreadnought period is not surprising from the author of The Late Victorian Navy, and the most satisfying part of the book is the first third, which deals with the period before the launch of Dreadnought. In particular, there is a lot of discussion of the technological developments in electric power, steel production, and propulsion that changed the earlier 'iron-clad' into the precursor of the modern warship. Unlike a lot of books on military technology that merely throw around data without making it clear what the point of it all is, the author does a good job overall of making the significance of the technological developments clear in their own right (though I couldn't follow the stuff about shell plotting) and, more importantly, talks about comparable developments in various countries and how these affected each country's policies.
The construction and details of the title ship are surprisingly brief, and while the politics of the naval arms race that it unleashed is followed in some detail, the story of the transition from dreadnought to super-dreadnought in the years leading up to the outbreak of war in 1914 is less detailed than for the pre-dreadnought period. At this point, the book somewhat shifts focus, and there is more discussion of the political repercussions of the development of dreadnoughts. These sections of the book are less satisfying, taking the form of "potted history" (the section on the Emperor William II, with its sophomoric psychologizing, is particularly unsatisfactory). This takes up the middle third of the book.
The last third is basically about the strategic use (or non-use) of the fleets during the war. This part was least satisfying. There's the inevitable (though not very necessary or enlightening) section on Jutland. There isn't much new here, and some parts, like the treatment of the Washington Treaty of 1921, which marks the end of the story, are rather cursory. There is also some discussion of the German submarine policy, but that really isn't directly relevant to the topic of the book. A related thread is the reason for why convoys were rejected on principle going back to the 1890's and the deleterious effects this would have during the war. An interesting topic, no doubt, but not really relevant except to the extent that it lead to the concept of the battlecruiser, a class of ships disparaged by the author. (Basically, the idea was that it was inefficient to convoy modern swift merchants, and these would be attacked by swift raiders, and so the battlecruiser arose from the idea of having heavily armed ships that were at the same time lightly armored and so swift enough to catch the raiders. The problem arose when dreadnought-sized ships lacking their armor were attached to the main battle fleet, with disastrous consequences for the British at Jutland.)
The book is basically British-centric. The German policy under Tirpitz is treated a bit, but mostly in terms of how this affected British policy. There's a lot of discussion of personal conflicts, in particular the checkered career of Jacky Fisher, who championed both the successful Dreadnough and the not-so-successful battlecruisers. It's also clear that the author adopts a pro-British attitude, which may be understandable enough but at times the bias was obvious and a bit grating.
To some extent, the book can't make up its mind. Is it a technical work discussing how technological advances influenced naval policy? Or a discussion of the development of naval strategy, with perhaps an emphasis on technology? Or a treatment of the implementation of overall naval strategy during the war, with an emphasis on capital ships? The book treats all of these topics, with varying success. As should be clear, I found the first element, which is mostly in the first third of the book, most informative, and I wished the author had stuck to in the later sections of the book instead of veering off into a broader discussion of overall naval strategy. I might add that at several points the book could have done with a map for those not necessarily instantly familiar with, say, the strategic locations in the North Sea. The photos don't really contribute much.
Overall, the writing was workman like. Towards the end there were some of what I call 'jumble paragraphs' (meaning ones that contain a number of disparate elements for no readily apparent reason). I get the impression that the overall conception of the book began to wander towards the end, and the author's inspiration was fading.
The first third definitively could gotten a four-star rating, but the later sections detracted from this (though maybe only to 3.5 if such a rating were available).
One noteworthy aspect of the book is the refusal to make a firm split into the pre-Dreadnough, Dreadnought era. The remarkably quick conception and completion of Dreadnought, which to some extent rendered earlier ships outdated. Yet, the earlier ships did not instantly disappear, and in any event, as the author emphasizes, those who developed the early stages of the modern major warships in the 1890's had no idea of the future, and the men who carried out the Dreadnought and her successors were the same men who'd been involved in the earlier practices and were naturally influenced by them.
This emphasis on the pre-dreadnought period is not surprising from the author of The Late Victorian Navy, and the most satisfying part of the book is the first third, which deals with the period before the launch of Dreadnought. In particular, there is a lot of discussion of the technological developments in electric power, steel production, and propulsion that changed the earlier 'iron-clad' into the precursor of the modern warship. Unlike a lot of books on military technology that merely throw around data without making it clear what the point of it all is, the author does a good job overall of making the significance of the technological developments clear in their own right (though I couldn't follow the stuff about shell plotting) and, more importantly, talks about comparable developments in various countries and how these affected each country's policies.
The construction and details of the title ship are surprisingly brief, and while the politics of the naval arms race that it unleashed is followed in some detail, the story of the transition from dreadnought to super-dreadnought in the years leading up to the outbreak of war in 1914 is less detailed than for the pre-dreadnought period. At this point, the book somewhat shifts focus, and there is more discussion of the political repercussions of the development of dreadnoughts. These sections of the book are less satisfying, taking the form of "potted history" (the section on the Emperor William II, with its sophomoric psychologizing, is particularly unsatisfactory). This takes up the middle third of the book.
The last third is basically about the strategic use (or non-use) of the fleets during the war. This part was least satisfying. There's the inevitable (though not very necessary or enlightening) section on Jutland. There isn't much new here, and some parts, like the treatment of the Washington Treaty of 1921, which marks the end of the story, are rather cursory. There is also some discussion of the German submarine policy, but that really isn't directly relevant to the topic of the book. A related thread is the reason for why convoys were rejected on principle going back to the 1890's and the deleterious effects this would have during the war. An interesting topic, no doubt, but not really relevant except to the extent that it lead to the concept of the battlecruiser, a class of ships disparaged by the author. (Basically, the idea was that it was inefficient to convoy modern swift merchants, and these would be attacked by swift raiders, and so the battlecruiser arose from the idea of having heavily armed ships that were at the same time lightly armored and so swift enough to catch the raiders. The problem arose when dreadnought-sized ships lacking their armor were attached to the main battle fleet, with disastrous consequences for the British at Jutland.)
The book is basically British-centric. The German policy under Tirpitz is treated a bit, but mostly in terms of how this affected British policy. There's a lot of discussion of personal conflicts, in particular the checkered career of Jacky Fisher, who championed both the successful Dreadnough and the not-so-successful battlecruisers. It's also clear that the author adopts a pro-British attitude, which may be understandable enough but at times the bias was obvious and a bit grating.
To some extent, the book can't make up its mind. Is it a technical work discussing how technological advances influenced naval policy? Or a discussion of the development of naval strategy, with perhaps an emphasis on technology? Or a treatment of the implementation of overall naval strategy during the war, with an emphasis on capital ships? The book treats all of these topics, with varying success. As should be clear, I found the first element, which is mostly in the first third of the book, most informative, and I wished the author had stuck to in the later sections of the book instead of veering off into a broader discussion of overall naval strategy. I might add that at several points the book could have done with a map for those not necessarily instantly familiar with, say, the strategic locations in the North Sea. The photos don't really contribute much.
Overall, the writing was workman like. Towards the end there were some of what I call 'jumble paragraphs' (meaning ones that contain a number of disparate elements for no readily apparent reason). I get the impression that the overall conception of the book began to wander towards the end, and the author's inspiration was fading.
The first third definitively could gotten a four-star rating, but the later sections detracted from this (though maybe only to 3.5 if such a rating were available).
October 17, 2016
I enjoyed the rather wide coverage of the book, which in the course of following the evolution of ironclads to dreadnoughts looked at naval policy and diplomatic events that influenced said evolution/development.
Some parts of the books may have been rather draggy though, and the discussion was quite clearly from the perspective of Britain, even though there were some cursory examinations of other countries' naval developments. The main other country discussed was, unsurprisingly, Germany, although there was no in-depth discussion, and most of the German naval content was also discussed as it related to Britain's.
Some parts of the books may have been rather draggy though, and the discussion was quite clearly from the perspective of Britain, even though there were some cursory examinations of other countries' naval developments. The main other country discussed was, unsurprisingly, Germany, although there was no in-depth discussion, and most of the German naval content was also discussed as it related to Britain's.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews