Robert K. Massie's Castles of Steel is a fantastic book about the naval actions, personalities, ships, etc. of the British and Germans during WWI. It begins with the British and German belief war would not come between either country* to the scuttling of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919. You have all of the main personalities for both navies, some you'll see 20 years later and probably a few battles most aren't aware of, namely those off South America in 1914 and the Battle of Dogger Bank. People think of Jutland and unrestricted submarine warfare, but a lot more happened during the war.
Exhaustive at almost 900 pages it is well worth the read despite its size. The Royal Navy wasn't as good as I thought and the Germans were much better than I thought, particularly in their ship design and gunnery skills (they had the best rangefinders of the war). The politics of the Great War are discussed, at times in detail, which allows for an understanding of the people involved and the pressures they were under internally and externally. (Admiral Beatty's wife cucking him makes for an amusing chapter)
The level of detail matches the amount of time you'll spend with the book, but if you need a nearly definitive history of the naval war or are interested in such things, go grab the book.
5 out of 5 foggy, rainy days
* - The blood relations between the two countries gave that thought a lot of weight. In a few instances family fought family in the same battles. The current English House of Windsor is German. Seriously. The Mountbattens started life as the Battenbergs and the Windsors were the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Exhaustive at almost 900 pages it is well worth the read despite its size. The Royal Navy wasn't as good as I thought and the Germans were much better than I thought, particularly in their ship design and gunnery skills (they had the best rangefinders of the war). The politics of the Great War are discussed, at times in detail, which allows for an understanding of the people involved and the pressures they were under internally and externally. (Admiral Beatty's wife cucking him makes for an amusing chapter)
The level of detail matches the amount of time you'll spend with the book, but if you need a nearly definitive history of the naval war or are interested in such things, go grab the book.
5 out of 5 foggy, rainy days
* - The blood relations between the two countries gave that thought a lot of weight. In a few instances family fought family in the same battles. The current English House of Windsor is German. Seriously. The Mountbattens started life as the Battenbergs and the Windsors were the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
