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Formidable: A True Story of Disaster and Courage
Formidable is the third in a trilogy of naval history books by Steve Dunn in which he unpicks the far-reaching effects of the social and political climate under which the First World War began – a period that he calls ‘Vicwardian’. The stifling atmosphere of rigid social hierarchy, pointless deference, and refusal to update rules of engagement that were largely unchanged since Nelson led, Dunn argues, to defective decision making and, ultimately, disaster.
Formidable sailed to her doom under a vice admiral who did not accept the threat posed by new technology – submarines, the U-boats. The accepted rules of war were such that to ambush a battleship unseen, from below the surface, would be ungentlemanly and therefore unthinkable. To seek shelter in bad weather, whatever the threat from U-boats, would be unmanly. The vice admiral kept his ships at sea. As a result, a major ship of the British navy’s battle fleet was lost and 583 men and boys met their deaths.
Formidable sailed to her doom under a vice admiral who did not accept the threat posed by new technology – submarines, the U-boats. The accepted rules of war were such that to ambush a battleship unseen, from below the surface, would be ungentlemanly and therefore unthinkable. To seek shelter in bad weather, whatever the threat from U-boats, would be unmanly. The vice admiral kept his ships at sea. As a result, a major ship of the British navy’s battle fleet was lost and 583 men and boys met their deaths.
235 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 2015
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