The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships, 1871–1918

by Aidan Dodson

This illustrated study of the German Imperial Navy presents a ship-by-ship history from the dreadnaught era through WWI. The battleships of the Third Reich have been written about exhaustively, but there is little in English devoted to their predecessors of the Second Reich. In The Kaiser’s Battlefleet, Aidan Dodson fills this significant gap in German naval history by covering these capital ships and studying the full span of battleship development during this period.Kaiser’s Battlefleet presents a chronological narrative that features technical details, construction schedules and the ultimate fates of each ship tabulated throughout. With a broad synthesis of German archival research, Dodson provides fresh data and corrects significant errors found in standard English-language texts. Heavily illustrated with line work and photographs drawn from German sources, this study will appeal to historians of WWI German as well as battleship modelmakers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction, History

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2020

About the author

Aidan Dodson is Honorary Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Bristol, UK, was Simpson Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo in 2013, and Chair of the Egypt Exploration Society during 2011–16. Awarded his PhD by the University of Cambridge in 1995, he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2003. He is the author of some twenty-five books, including Sethy I, King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife (AUC Press, 2019), Rameses III, King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife (AUC Press, 2019), Amarna Sunrise: Egypt from Golden Age to Age of Heresy (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2016), Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the Fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2020), Poisoned Legacy: The Fall of the 19th Egyptian Dynasty (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2016), Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2018), and Monarchs of the Nile (AUC Press, paperback edition, 2015). Professor Dodson has also written on naval history from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day.

Reviews

[Bobble Hat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wasn’t sure what to expect, but really enjoyed this. There is a narrative design history, a service history and then a separate section of technical data, including - joy of joys- armour layouts.

The pre-dreadnought section goes right back to the 1860s and contains a mass of detail I don’t have elsewhere. The WW1 era obviously has little we didn’t know, but is presented from the German perspective which puts a whole new spin on things.

[Patrick Conner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever really wanted to know everything about pre-WWII German capital ships... this is it. It's an exhaustive history of the construction, service life, and refits of every big ship built by the Prussian and later German navies until 1918, and their ultimate fates after construction.

The book is long, detailed, and dry. It includes summaries of Germany's various political and economic situations and the ways they reorganized their navy over the decades. Their are extensive illustrations of German warships and it includes design layout of every major class at the end of the book.

[Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous Resource

This is a meticulous study of Imperial Germany’s naval programs leading up to the Great War and beyond.

Very readable and will be useful in the future as a reference, while reading other books on the period.

[Richard Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and interesting read

A good and intetesting read covering a wide timestamp in an accessible and knowledgeable way this is a great value purchase

[Patricia Crumpler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than most.

Well written and complete. I have read several books on this period and this is one of the best. Very interesting.