Endless Story: Destroyer Operations in the Great War

by H. Taprell Dorling, James Goldrick (Introduction)

A classic of Great War naval literature published over eighty-five years ago, Endless Story remains the only comprehensive account of the services of the Royal Navy's small craft during the First World War. A significant portion of the book focuses on the most famous battles in the North Sea and the English Channel, but the story also turns to the Gallipoli campaign, warfare in the Mediterranean, actions in the Pacific, and also pays tribute to the work of American destroyers in British waters after 1917. Every kind of operation is covered, from U-boat hunting and convoy escort to minelaying and

the Zeebrugge Raid.

While the author did not personally take part in the actions he describes, he knew the men who did and gleaned much of his information from personal contact with the sailors. As a result, the book has both authenticity and authority. Eminently readable and written with a novelist's flair, Endless Story is sure to charm a new generation of readers interested in the First World War.

464 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2011

About the author

Captain Henry Taprell Dorling, RN (1883–1968) was a British sailor, author, and journalist who served in the Royal Navy during both World War One and World War Two, giving his marine fact and fiction a notable authenticity. He wrote under the name "Taffrail."

Dorling was born in Berwick, the second son of Colonel Francis Dorling, and named Taprell Henry, but later changed the order of his names. He entered HMS Britannia in August 1897, his 1113 marks placing him fifty-eighth in merit among the sixty-three candidates accepted as naval cadets.[2] By then an acting sub-lieutenant, he was in late September 1902 transferred to the seagoing training brig HMS Dolphin.[3]

He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 31 December 1904, and commander on 31 December 1916. The following year he was appointed in command of the new R-class destroyer HMS Telemachus in her first commission.