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| To Crown the Waves : The Great Navies of the First World War
ISBN: 9781612512693
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / Naval Institute Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: History;
The only comparative analysis available of the great navies of World War I, this work studies the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, the German Kaiserliche Marine, the United States Navy, the French Marine Nationale, the Italian Regia Marina, the Austro-Hungarian Kaiserliche und K#65533;nigliche Kriegsmarine, and the Imperial Russian Navy to demonstrate why the war was won, not in the trenches, but upon the waves. It explains why these seven fleets fought the way they did and why the war at sea did not develop as the admiralties and politicians of 1914 expected.
After discussing each navy's goals and circumstances and how their individual characteristics impacted the way they fought, the authors deliver a side-by-side analysis of the conflict's fleets, with each chapter covering a single navy. Parallel chapter structures assure consistent coverage of each fleet--history, training, organization, doctrine, materiel, and operations--and allow readers to easily compare information among the various navies. The book clearly demonstrates how the naval war was a collision of 19th century concepts with 20th century weapons that fostered unprecedented development within each navy and sparked the evolution of the submarine and aircraft carrier. The work is free from the national bias that infects so many other books on World War I navies. As they pioneer new ways of viewing the conflict, the authors provide insights and material that would otherwise require a massive library and mastery of multiple languages. Such a study has special relevance today as 20th-century navies struggle to adapt to 21st-century technologies.
Vincent P. O'Hara is the author of The German Fleet at War (2004) The U.S. Navy Against the Axis (2007) and Struggle for the Middle Sea (2009) all published by Naval Institute Press. Mr. O'Hara's work has also appeared in Warship, MHQ, World War II Quarterly, World War II Magazine, and Storia Militare. He holds a history degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Chula Vista, CA.
Richard Worth is a freelance writer and historian who specializes in warship design. He is the author of author of Fleets of World War II , In the Shadow of the Battleship), and Raising the Red Banner. He lives in Bolivar,MO.
W. David Dickson , has been called "the foremost Western expert on Japanese naval doctrine and carrier design" and is also an authority on communications and tactics. He is the author of The Battle of the Philippine Sea and lives in Hernando, MS. |
