Royal Navy Grand Fleet 191418: Britains last supreme naval fleet
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
Royal Navy Grand Fleet 191418: Britains last supreme naval fleet
By (Author) Angus Konstam
Illustrated by Edouard A. Groult
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Osprey Publishing
3rd June 2025
27th February 2025
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Battles and campaigns
Naval forces and warfare
Military vehicles
940.45941
Physical Properties
Paperback
80
Width 184mm, Height 248mm
Description
World War I was Britains last moment as the worlds naval superpower, and its Grand Fleet was then the most powerful ever seen. Fully illustrated, this explores its fighting power.
At the start of World War I, the Royal Navys forces were amalgamated into a single entity, the Grand Fleet, and stationed in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The Grand Fleet was the largest amalgamation of modern naval power the world had seen, with over 30 dreadnought battleships or battlecruisers, and a plethora of cruisers and destroyers. In 1917 it was reinforced further by a powerful American squadron.
In this book, based on extensive primary source research, naval expert Angus Konstam assesses the Grand Fleets ships, technology, organization, command and intelligence, and how it fought. While ship-for-ship its German counterparts were better designed, as a combined fleet Admiral Jellicoes armada was unstoppable. It took part in several clashes with its German foe during the war, but it was only at the Battle of Jutland, in 1916, that Jellicoe finally had the chance to destroy the enemy.
Although the High Seas Fleet deftly avoided the trap laid for it, the Grand Fleet's economic blockade then really began to bite, which led to Germanys surrender in November 1918. Packed with battle diagrams, spectacular artwork, and archive photos, this book is an essential guide to the last time the Royal Navy would be indisputably the worlds most powerful.
Author Bio
Angus Konstam hails from the Orkney Islands, and is the author of over 100 history books, 60 of which are published by Osprey. This acclaimed author has written widely on naval history, most recently The Pirate Menace. A former naval officer and museum professional, he worked as the Curator in both the Royal Armouries, Tower of London and the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He now works as a full-time author and historian, and lives in Orkney, Scotland.
