What do you think?
Rate this book
Dreadnought: A History of the Modern Battleship
The modern battleship era began with the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906.
In their day, battleships were the biggest and most complicated things built by human hand and they became symbols of national prestige.
Despite their crippling costs, these mighty ships were built by many of the world's navies and many remain household names.
The losses of the Hood, Bismarck, Yamato and Arizona still echo through the decades because of their fascinating stories.
The era of the dreadnought lasted little more than 40 years. By then, these majestic warriors of the sea were overshadowed by the dominance of air power.
A few lingered on, but the golden age of the battleship was over.
Richard Hough provides the reader with an informative and exciting tour through the Dreadnoughts history. From the political anxieties that the first Dreadnought inspired to the battles that the ships won and lost.
"Hough is a good storyteller with a refreshing, breezy style." The Wall Street Journal
Richard Hough, the distinguished naval historian, was the author of many acclaimed books in the field, including ‘The Fleet That Had to Die’,’ Admirals in Collision’, ‘The Great War at Sea: 1914-18’, and ‘The Longest Battle: The War at Sea 1939-45’. He was the biographer of Mountbatten, and his last biography, ‘Captain James Cook’, became a world bestseller.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.
In their day, battleships were the biggest and most complicated things built by human hand and they became symbols of national prestige.
Despite their crippling costs, these mighty ships were built by many of the world's navies and many remain household names.
The losses of the Hood, Bismarck, Yamato and Arizona still echo through the decades because of their fascinating stories.
The era of the dreadnought lasted little more than 40 years. By then, these majestic warriors of the sea were overshadowed by the dominance of air power.
A few lingered on, but the golden age of the battleship was over.
Richard Hough provides the reader with an informative and exciting tour through the Dreadnoughts history. From the political anxieties that the first Dreadnought inspired to the battles that the ships won and lost.
"Hough is a good storyteller with a refreshing, breezy style." The Wall Street Journal
Richard Hough, the distinguished naval historian, was the author of many acclaimed books in the field, including ‘The Fleet That Had to Die’,’ Admirals in Collision’, ‘The Great War at Sea: 1914-18’, and ‘The Longest Battle: The War at Sea 1939-45’. He was the biographer of Mountbatten, and his last biography, ‘Captain James Cook’, became a world bestseller.
Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.
268 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1964
50 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Richard Hough
140 books24 followersRichard Alexander Hough was a British author and historian specializing in naval history. As a child, he was obsessed with making model warships and collecting information about navies around the world. In 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force and trained at a flying school near Los Angeles. He flew Hurricanes and Typhoons and was wounded in action.
After World War II, Hough worked as a part-time delivery driver for a wine shop, while looking for employment involving books. He finally joined the publishing house Bodley Head, and then Hamish Hamilton, where he eventually headed the children’s book division.
His work as a publisher inspired him to turn to writing himself in 1950, and he went on to write more than ninety books over a long and successful career. Best-known for his works of naval history and his biographies, he also wrote war novels and books for children (under the pseudonym Bruce Carter), all of which sold in huge numbers around the world. His works include The Longest Battle: The War at Sea 1939-45, Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century and best-selling biographies of Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Captain James Cook. Captain Bligh and Mr Christian, his 1972 account of the mutiny on the Bounty, was the basis of the 1984 film The Bounty, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.
Hough was the official historian of the Mountbatten family and a longtime student of Churchill. Winston Churchill figures prominently in nine of his books, including Former Naval Person: Churchill and the Wars at Sea. He won the Daily Express Best Book of the Sea Award in 1972.
After World War II, Hough worked as a part-time delivery driver for a wine shop, while looking for employment involving books. He finally joined the publishing house Bodley Head, and then Hamish Hamilton, where he eventually headed the children’s book division.
His work as a publisher inspired him to turn to writing himself in 1950, and he went on to write more than ninety books over a long and successful career. Best-known for his works of naval history and his biographies, he also wrote war novels and books for children (under the pseudonym Bruce Carter), all of which sold in huge numbers around the world. His works include The Longest Battle: The War at Sea 1939-45, Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century and best-selling biographies of Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Captain James Cook. Captain Bligh and Mr Christian, his 1972 account of the mutiny on the Bounty, was the basis of the 1984 film The Bounty, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.
Hough was the official historian of the Mountbatten family and a longtime student of Churchill. Winston Churchill figures prominently in nine of his books, including Former Naval Person: Churchill and the Wars at Sea. He won the Daily Express Best Book of the Sea Award in 1972.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 19, 2019
History has a sense of inevitability. The all big gun era of battleships which started with HMS Dreadnought in 1906 now seems like an obvious step forward, but it was hugely controversial at the time. The Edward VII class, which immediately preceded Dreadnought, carried four 12-inch guns as main armament and four 9.2-inch as secondary, plus 6-inch and 12 and 3 pounders. The 9.2s were themselves a significant advance over previous battleship armament, and the Royal Navy was satisfied that these ships represented the state of the art in warship design. At the time they were commissioned naval tactics envisioned sea battles being decided at a range of 5000-6000 yards, so the 12-inchers were intended to start the battles from long range and then gradually close to bring the 9.2s into action. The 12-inch fired more slowly but packed a bigger punch, while the 9.2-inchers were faster, resulting in what the naval strategists called a rain of shellfire on the enemy vessels. Meanwhile, the lighter guns were there to ward off the dreaded torpedo boats. It all seemed well thought out and entirely suitable for any anticipated naval engagements.
These vessels were, however, already behind the curve of technological advancement. Modern fire control systems started to replace the old method, where gunners would look through the barrels of their guns to estimate range and bearing, and the expected range of first shot began growing. If 12-inchers could accurately engage before the 9.2s even got in range, what need was there for the secondary guns? Furthermore, Japan’s experience at Tsushima showed that when the fighting did get close enough to engage secondary batteries, the spotters could not easily distinguish between the splashes of primary and secondary armament, throwing off their corrections for the larger guns.
The idea for an all big gun battleship had been in the air for a decade, and someone was going to build the first one. The surprise was that it was Britain, building HMS Dreadnought in great secrecy. It was admiral John “Jacky” Fisher’s pet project, and its audacity was shocking. When Dreadnought took to the waves the navies of all the other countries were suddenly obsolete, but so was Britain’s own. Worse, everyone would now be starting from a level playing field, so England’s enormous previous advantage in ships and shell weight was irrelevant. Germany took up the challenge and the great battleship race was on.
Fisher’s other big contribution to ship design was the battlecruiser, but if the dreadnoughts were great successes, the battlecruisers were expensive failures. They were built with battleship guns and powerful turbine engines, the idea being that they could outshoot anything that could catch them, and outrun anything that could fight them on equal terms. Fisher’s mantra was that “speed equals protection,” but to get that speed their armor was made dangerously thin. Though they could have served as fast scouts (a function that smaller, less expensive cruisers could do just as well), their heavy guns tempted fleet commanders to put them into the line of battle where their thin armor meant they were one penetrating hit away from destruction. The British lost three of them in that way at Jutland, along with 3300 sailors, and they came within seconds of losing a fourth before its magazine was successfully flooded. In addition, HMS Hood, a World War I battle cruiser which arrived too late for that war, but stayed in service until the next one, was sunk by the Bismark in May, 1941, with a loss of 1415 sailors.
During this time other countries were building battleships, but they wisely declined to join the great race. France, Italy, Austria, Turkey, and Japan all built them in their own shipyards or contracted with Britain to do so. The United States also embarked on a large scale naval expansion, and even Brazil and Argentina bought battleships as a source of national pride and to threaten each other.
The United States built fine ships, taking the best features from foreign navies, and adding their own innovations. Superfiring turrets, where one turret is placed above and behind another, were an American invention. Accepted wisdom in ship design had held that the concussion from the top turret would damage the one below and injure or kill its crew, but once the US designs proved this was not true, superfiring was adopted by all countries.
The big guns kept getting bigger. Germany at first opted to keep its 11-inch guns, which had a higher muzzle velocity and greater rate of fire than Britain’s 12-inchers. During Jutland the German battlecruiser Von Der Tann engaged the British battlecruiser Indefatigable for fourteen minutes, ultimately blowing it up with a hit to its magazines, without being hit once in return.
From 12-inch the next step was to 13.5, then to 14 and 15. In their final forms during World War II they would go to 16-inch in the United States ships and the massive 18-inchers on Japan’s Yamato and Musashi. Caliber increased as well, going from 45 to 50 calibers in most big guns, which gave greater range and muzzle velocity. Fire control systems also showed significant evolution, moving from telescopic sights inside the turrets to Spotting Tops high on the masts, to radar control, which greatly increased accuracy.
After World War I the race slowed in Europe and shifted to the Pacific, where Japan was building excellent modern battleships, with speed, armor, firepower, and state of the art fire control. With German out of the picture for the time, Britain scrapped many of the ships it had under construction, or converted them to aircraft carriers, the new queens of the fleet.
The last of the great ship to ship battleship duels took place on the night of 15 November 1942, when the US Navy intercepted a Japanese force headed to bombard Guadalcanal. It started badly for the United States, with Kirishima pummeling USS South Dakota, crippling her and knocking out radar, communications, and gunnery, but by concentrating on South Dakota they lost track of USS Washington, which was was able to approach undetected to less than 6000 yards, point-blank range for a capital ship. Kirishima was hit with at least nine 16-inch shells, and fourteen 5-inch, and went down in flames.
By the end of World War II it was obvious that the day of the battleship was over. Although they contributed to shore bombardments, they had been mostly relegated to anti-aircraft platforms protecting the carriers. With the end of the war most of them were mothballed and then scrapped, although the USS New Jersey, going in and out of commission, hung on long enough to conduct shore bombardments in Korea and Vietnam. It is said that the 16-inch shells were the only ones the Vietcong truly feared, because they could collapse tunnels for a hundred yards around the impact site.
And they were brought back for a few years in the 80s, mostly as a flag-waving display, but they were too expensive to maintain and operate, and are now museum ships. I visited the Wisconsin in Norfolk and the New Jersey in Camden a few years ago, and they were in poor condition. Their once immaculate wooden weather decks, in particular, were rotting away in many places, the gaps becoming trip hazards.
The battleships were beautiful, stately ships, the pride of their nations. There was an elegance to them that no submarine or aircraft carrier could match. But they were also enormously expensive, so much so that they were used conservatively to limit exposure to air or torpedo attack, which reduced their ability to affect naval strategy. They are long gone now, but for forty years they ruled the waves, the very embodiment of Jackie Fisher’s motto, “Fear God and dread nought.”
These vessels were, however, already behind the curve of technological advancement. Modern fire control systems started to replace the old method, where gunners would look through the barrels of their guns to estimate range and bearing, and the expected range of first shot began growing. If 12-inchers could accurately engage before the 9.2s even got in range, what need was there for the secondary guns? Furthermore, Japan’s experience at Tsushima showed that when the fighting did get close enough to engage secondary batteries, the spotters could not easily distinguish between the splashes of primary and secondary armament, throwing off their corrections for the larger guns.
The idea for an all big gun battleship had been in the air for a decade, and someone was going to build the first one. The surprise was that it was Britain, building HMS Dreadnought in great secrecy. It was admiral John “Jacky” Fisher’s pet project, and its audacity was shocking. When Dreadnought took to the waves the navies of all the other countries were suddenly obsolete, but so was Britain’s own. Worse, everyone would now be starting from a level playing field, so England’s enormous previous advantage in ships and shell weight was irrelevant. Germany took up the challenge and the great battleship race was on.
Fisher’s other big contribution to ship design was the battlecruiser, but if the dreadnoughts were great successes, the battlecruisers were expensive failures. They were built with battleship guns and powerful turbine engines, the idea being that they could outshoot anything that could catch them, and outrun anything that could fight them on equal terms. Fisher’s mantra was that “speed equals protection,” but to get that speed their armor was made dangerously thin. Though they could have served as fast scouts (a function that smaller, less expensive cruisers could do just as well), their heavy guns tempted fleet commanders to put them into the line of battle where their thin armor meant they were one penetrating hit away from destruction. The British lost three of them in that way at Jutland, along with 3300 sailors, and they came within seconds of losing a fourth before its magazine was successfully flooded. In addition, HMS Hood, a World War I battle cruiser which arrived too late for that war, but stayed in service until the next one, was sunk by the Bismark in May, 1941, with a loss of 1415 sailors.
During this time other countries were building battleships, but they wisely declined to join the great race. France, Italy, Austria, Turkey, and Japan all built them in their own shipyards or contracted with Britain to do so. The United States also embarked on a large scale naval expansion, and even Brazil and Argentina bought battleships as a source of national pride and to threaten each other.
The United States built fine ships, taking the best features from foreign navies, and adding their own innovations. Superfiring turrets, where one turret is placed above and behind another, were an American invention. Accepted wisdom in ship design had held that the concussion from the top turret would damage the one below and injure or kill its crew, but once the US designs proved this was not true, superfiring was adopted by all countries.
The big guns kept getting bigger. Germany at first opted to keep its 11-inch guns, which had a higher muzzle velocity and greater rate of fire than Britain’s 12-inchers. During Jutland the German battlecruiser Von Der Tann engaged the British battlecruiser Indefatigable for fourteen minutes, ultimately blowing it up with a hit to its magazines, without being hit once in return.
From 12-inch the next step was to 13.5, then to 14 and 15. In their final forms during World War II they would go to 16-inch in the United States ships and the massive 18-inchers on Japan’s Yamato and Musashi. Caliber increased as well, going from 45 to 50 calibers in most big guns, which gave greater range and muzzle velocity. Fire control systems also showed significant evolution, moving from telescopic sights inside the turrets to Spotting Tops high on the masts, to radar control, which greatly increased accuracy.
After World War I the race slowed in Europe and shifted to the Pacific, where Japan was building excellent modern battleships, with speed, armor, firepower, and state of the art fire control. With German out of the picture for the time, Britain scrapped many of the ships it had under construction, or converted them to aircraft carriers, the new queens of the fleet.
The last of the great ship to ship battleship duels took place on the night of 15 November 1942, when the US Navy intercepted a Japanese force headed to bombard Guadalcanal. It started badly for the United States, with Kirishima pummeling USS South Dakota, crippling her and knocking out radar, communications, and gunnery, but by concentrating on South Dakota they lost track of USS Washington, which was was able to approach undetected to less than 6000 yards, point-blank range for a capital ship. Kirishima was hit with at least nine 16-inch shells, and fourteen 5-inch, and went down in flames.
By the end of World War II it was obvious that the day of the battleship was over. Although they contributed to shore bombardments, they had been mostly relegated to anti-aircraft platforms protecting the carriers. With the end of the war most of them were mothballed and then scrapped, although the USS New Jersey, going in and out of commission, hung on long enough to conduct shore bombardments in Korea and Vietnam. It is said that the 16-inch shells were the only ones the Vietcong truly feared, because they could collapse tunnels for a hundred yards around the impact site.
And they were brought back for a few years in the 80s, mostly as a flag-waving display, but they were too expensive to maintain and operate, and are now museum ships. I visited the Wisconsin in Norfolk and the New Jersey in Camden a few years ago, and they were in poor condition. Their once immaculate wooden weather decks, in particular, were rotting away in many places, the gaps becoming trip hazards.
The battleships were beautiful, stately ships, the pride of their nations. There was an elegance to them that no submarine or aircraft carrier could match. But they were also enormously expensive, so much so that they were used conservatively to limit exposure to air or torpedo attack, which reduced their ability to affect naval strategy. They are long gone now, but for forty years they ruled the waves, the very embodiment of Jackie Fisher’s motto, “Fear God and dread nought.”
August 13, 2016
Older than Robert Masse's classic, but in many ways better explains the *theory* behind Dreadnoughts and their use. Richard Hough is both respectful of Admiral Fisher's innovations and contemptuous of his failings as a strategist--indeed, he calls him "retrogressive."
"But there was never a more pathetic misnomer than Dreadnought. With her coming, the battleship's ability to intimidate reached an unprecedented level.… In the days of sail and solid shot nobody thought of defending themselves or their ships. You attacked, and sometimes -- but rarely --fled. but you did not defend."
"[Yet,] with every increase in the power of the high-explosive shell, with the coming of the automatic torpedo, the mine, the torpedo boat, the submarine, and the size and cost of the ship itself, its preservation overcame all other considerations.…These men -- Jellico and Scheer, Beatty and Hipper, Sturdee and Schmidt, Burney and Engleheart, and all the other admirals and ships' commanders too -- had been incurably infected during all their responsible careers by the cult of caution.…the disaster of defeat must always be greater than the rewards of victory."
"[S]uccessive German governments, seeking respect, [confused] it with fear."
"The torpedo won Jutland. It nearly won the war for the Germans. But in the end, it defeated them by drawing in the United States on the Allied side."
"But there was never a more pathetic misnomer than Dreadnought. With her coming, the battleship's ability to intimidate reached an unprecedented level.… In the days of sail and solid shot nobody thought of defending themselves or their ships. You attacked, and sometimes -- but rarely --fled. but you did not defend."
"[Yet,] with every increase in the power of the high-explosive shell, with the coming of the automatic torpedo, the mine, the torpedo boat, the submarine, and the size and cost of the ship itself, its preservation overcame all other considerations.…These men -- Jellico and Scheer, Beatty and Hipper, Sturdee and Schmidt, Burney and Engleheart, and all the other admirals and ships' commanders too -- had been incurably infected during all their responsible careers by the cult of caution.…the disaster of defeat must always be greater than the rewards of victory."
"[S]uccessive German governments, seeking respect, [confused] it with fear."
"The torpedo won Jutland. It nearly won the war for the Germans. But in the end, it defeated them by drawing in the United States on the Allied side."
May 9, 2020
Shorter than expected
Richard Hough wrote this in the 60s when dreadnoughts still existed or had only very recently gone to the breakers. The world was a different place; WW2 was just two decades previous.
Hough obviously did great research and had in-depth knowledge of the subject. What jarred was the length of the book - Hough got through the whole history of Dreadnoughts in perhaps half the number of pages your reader hoped for. That's not to say this isn't worth the effort; it is, but it's just not as detailed as you might like or expect.
Richard Hough wrote this in the 60s when dreadnoughts still existed or had only very recently gone to the breakers. The world was a different place; WW2 was just two decades previous.
Hough obviously did great research and had in-depth knowledge of the subject. What jarred was the length of the book - Hough got through the whole history of Dreadnoughts in perhaps half the number of pages your reader hoped for. That's not to say this isn't worth the effort; it is, but it's just not as detailed as you might like or expect.
June 7, 2024
The best book explaining why battleships were deigned, how they were deigned, and how they were used. It is not a history of individual WW2 battles and ship losses that many of us find interesting.
The notes imply there are photos and diagrams not found in the Kindel edition, specifically motioned is armor arrangement. It is an abstract topic based moe on theory than experience, so there is little loss.
The notes imply there are photos and diagrams not found in the Kindel edition, specifically motioned is armor arrangement. It is an abstract topic based moe on theory than experience, so there is little loss.
July 21, 2019
I can't speak to the historical accuracy of the book, but as someone largely unfamiliar with the subject this was an interesting and quite short summary of the history of modern battleships. Some famous characters are mentioned, but the focus is on the technology.
June 19, 2021
An Excellent Work
The author provides a thorough and very readable history of the battleship. I would say this is a must read for anyone interested in the naval warfare of World Wars I and II.
The author provides a thorough and very readable history of the battleship. I would say this is a must read for anyone interested in the naval warfare of World Wars I and II.
January 6, 2018
Dreadnought: A History of the Modern Battleship, by Richard Hough, is an interesting look back at the history and development of the battleship. As expected, the book starts off with HMS Dreadnought, the ship that started it all, and ends with the Iowa Class of United States battleships that represented the pinnacle of dreadnought development.
There is not much new in this book that I hadn’t already come across in previous books, but it is a nicely formed chronological biography of the big gun ships. I think this subject has been well and truly covered now, and although I would happily recommend this tome to someone who is beginning an interest in naval history, for the diehard historian like myself, it is not a necessary purchase.
Still, Richard Hough, as we would expect, has done a great job of researching the various ships and their histories, making the book an interesting refresher.
Reviewed by Daniel L Little – January 6 2018 - www.daniellittle.com
There is not much new in this book that I hadn’t already come across in previous books, but it is a nicely formed chronological biography of the big gun ships. I think this subject has been well and truly covered now, and although I would happily recommend this tome to someone who is beginning an interest in naval history, for the diehard historian like myself, it is not a necessary purchase.
Still, Richard Hough, as we would expect, has done a great job of researching the various ships and their histories, making the book an interesting refresher.
Reviewed by Daniel L Little – January 6 2018 - www.daniellittle.com
August 9, 2016
Review from https://darrengoossens.wordpress.com/2016/08/09/16-inches-is-not-enough-a-review-of-dreadnought-by-richard-hough/.
Dreadnought by Richard Hough, Michael-Joseph 1965 (268 pages).
They day of the battleship was over by 1940 at the latest, though they did valuable work right through WWII. The Dreadnought was launched in 1906. In those few years -- historically, very few indeed -- vast quantities of steel and oil and coal and human misery were expended on The Battleship, a symbol of sovereignty and national pride, and for some time seemingly a measure of nations and empires. They became a sort of international pissing competition. Whose gun was biggest? Who had the most, the fastest, the longest, the strongest?
The front cover of Dreadnought by Richard Hough.
In truth they achieved little, especially in WWI. Economically they were money-pits and helped sink the British Empire as much as save it. They strike me as a symbol of everything that is stupid about war -- the wasted resources, ingenuity, and lives, the misplaced effort. How many people could be lifted out of poverty for the price of a battleship?
The back.
And yet for all that they remain magnificent creations; fast, powerful (thrusting?), impressive.
The attractions of the technology of war is an interesting topic to me. As a kid I glued together Spitfires and read about the Nazis sweeping across Europe, about the Manhattan project and the bouncing bomb. Books like The Dam Busters and Night Fighter might keep track of the men lost and comrades who suffered death and disfigurement, but despite themselves they give off a glimmer of glamour. The lone genius in his laboratory developing the weapon that will save us from Hitler, the brave pilot battling a dozen Fokkers (or a dozen Camels -- stories come from all sides) over the Western Front. The fascination is undeniable. Yet all that bravery and technical brilliance is for what? So old men could refuse to apologise to each other, or take what was not theirs? (Or what their grandfathers had possessed for a few years decades earlier, and which they therefore saw as 'theirs'?) (Yes, I am using male pronouns; that was the world of which I am speaking.)
My reading has largely moved from the machines to the history. Dreadnought covers the technology,the politics and the tactics of the 20th century battleship. It is authoritative, slightly astringent (pleasingly so), well-illustrated (though I believe there may be a paperback version, which of course would be less so) and essentially, given that apart from brief flurries (Vietnam, Lebanese Civil War, Gulf War) the battleship story was over when it came out, definitive. Hough's writing is very easy yo read -- this is the third book of his I have read after The Fleet that Had to Die and The Hunting of Force Z -- and I can recommend it as a quick read for anyone who's curious about the big boats with big guns, or who has heard of the Yamato or the Bismarck or the Missouri and would like to see them in context, rather than as modern myths.
What is it good for?
Dreadnought by Richard Hough, Michael-Joseph 1965 (268 pages).
They day of the battleship was over by 1940 at the latest, though they did valuable work right through WWII. The Dreadnought was launched in 1906. In those few years -- historically, very few indeed -- vast quantities of steel and oil and coal and human misery were expended on The Battleship, a symbol of sovereignty and national pride, and for some time seemingly a measure of nations and empires. They became a sort of international pissing competition. Whose gun was biggest? Who had the most, the fastest, the longest, the strongest?
The front cover of Dreadnought by Richard Hough.
In truth they achieved little, especially in WWI. Economically they were money-pits and helped sink the British Empire as much as save it. They strike me as a symbol of everything that is stupid about war -- the wasted resources, ingenuity, and lives, the misplaced effort. How many people could be lifted out of poverty for the price of a battleship?
The back.
And yet for all that they remain magnificent creations; fast, powerful (thrusting?), impressive.
The attractions of the technology of war is an interesting topic to me. As a kid I glued together Spitfires and read about the Nazis sweeping across Europe, about the Manhattan project and the bouncing bomb. Books like The Dam Busters and Night Fighter might keep track of the men lost and comrades who suffered death and disfigurement, but despite themselves they give off a glimmer of glamour. The lone genius in his laboratory developing the weapon that will save us from Hitler, the brave pilot battling a dozen Fokkers (or a dozen Camels -- stories come from all sides) over the Western Front. The fascination is undeniable. Yet all that bravery and technical brilliance is for what? So old men could refuse to apologise to each other, or take what was not theirs? (Or what their grandfathers had possessed for a few years decades earlier, and which they therefore saw as 'theirs'?) (Yes, I am using male pronouns; that was the world of which I am speaking.)
My reading has largely moved from the machines to the history. Dreadnought covers the technology,the politics and the tactics of the 20th century battleship. It is authoritative, slightly astringent (pleasingly so), well-illustrated (though I believe there may be a paperback version, which of course would be less so) and essentially, given that apart from brief flurries (Vietnam, Lebanese Civil War, Gulf War) the battleship story was over when it came out, definitive. Hough's writing is very easy yo read -- this is the third book of his I have read after The Fleet that Had to Die and The Hunting of Force Z -- and I can recommend it as a quick read for anyone who's curious about the big boats with big guns, or who has heard of the Yamato or the Bismarck or the Missouri and would like to see them in context, rather than as modern myths.
What is it good for?
August 11, 2016
Interesting but flawed study of modern battleships
This review is of the Kindle edition
The author is to be commended for his thorough study of the design and construction of the Dreadnought-class battleships. Prior to the Dreadnought class, battleships (so named because they comprised the "line of battle") carried heavy primary large caliber guns, but also large numbers of secondary smaller guns. Sir Jacky Fisher of the Royal Navy designed the Dreadnought to be "all big gun" since the secondary armament would be outranged much of the time anyway. All nations immediately followed this lead, and virtually all battleships post-1906 were designed in accord with this concept.
Hough's writing style is generally good, but he sometimes loses the reader (me anyway) in some of his labyrinthine paragraphs. Also, the work is weakened by a lack of any photos, drawings, or tables. This is a major problem in a book dealing with design.
This review is of the Kindle edition
The author is to be commended for his thorough study of the design and construction of the Dreadnought-class battleships. Prior to the Dreadnought class, battleships (so named because they comprised the "line of battle") carried heavy primary large caliber guns, but also large numbers of secondary smaller guns. Sir Jacky Fisher of the Royal Navy designed the Dreadnought to be "all big gun" since the secondary armament would be outranged much of the time anyway. All nations immediately followed this lead, and virtually all battleships post-1906 were designed in accord with this concept.
Hough's writing style is generally good, but he sometimes loses the reader (me anyway) in some of his labyrinthine paragraphs. Also, the work is weakened by a lack of any photos, drawings, or tables. This is a major problem in a book dealing with design.
July 20, 2015
Very nice survey of the modern battleship
Wasn't sure what to expect but a very readable account of the early overbought through WW II battleship with a focus on their design, evolution and military mileage. Especially nice for covering the Italians and Japanese better than some treatments. Don't expect detailed battle accounts.
Wasn't sure what to expect but a very readable account of the early overbought through WW II battleship with a focus on their design, evolution and military mileage. Especially nice for covering the Italians and Japanese better than some treatments. Don't expect detailed battle accounts.
September 5, 2016
I was nicely surprised with this book; it's quite good. I picked this up after being disappointed in reading a history of political side of the Anglo-German naval race in the early 1900s. I was looking for more of a technical history and this book delivers. Fun read. It's a bit dated, from the later 50s, but otherwise is pretty solid.
December 19, 2015
The author covers the subject thoroughly, telling the history of the weapon system, through technology, politics, strategy, tactics, economics as well as employment. It is not necessary to be a naval architect to follow the developments. Very interesting.
December 13, 2016
Battleships from Dreadnaught through WW2
Well written; from the British perspective; this book is a fair recounting of the evolution and use of the battleship and battle cruiser. Lighter reading than the title suggests. Great for WoWs fans.
Well written; from the British perspective; this book is a fair recounting of the evolution and use of the battleship and battle cruiser. Lighter reading than the title suggests. Great for WoWs fans.
January 25, 2017
A great primer on the development and history of the famed Dreadnought battleship type
I felt the author does a great job of exploring the arms race to the modern battleship and its rise and fall as a premiere capital ship
I felt the author does a great job of exploring the arms race to the modern battleship and its rise and fall as a premiere capital ship
September 23, 2015
Interesting read
Didn't know much about the subject and this felt like a good overview of the topic . Covered a long period of history fluidly - very readable.
Didn't know much about the subject and this felt like a good overview of the topic . Covered a long period of history fluidly - very readable.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews