The Last Days Of The High Seas Fleet

“Much fresh material . . . an excellent historical narrative of the events leading up to the Great Scuttle, the terrible day itself and its aftermath.” —Warships: International Fleet Review On June 21, 1919, the ships of the German High Seas Fleet—interned at Scapa Flow since the Armistice—began to founder, taking their British custodians completely by surprise. In breach of agreed terms, the fleet dramatically scuttled itself, in a well-planned operation that consigned nearly half a million tons, and 54 of 72 ships, to the bottom of the sheltered anchorage in a gesture of Wagnerian proportions. This much is well-known, but more than a century after the “Grand Scuttle” many questions remain. Was von Reuter, the fleet’s commander, acting under orders or was it his own initiative? Why was June 21 chosen? Did the British connive in or even encourage the action? Could more have been done to save the ships? Was it legally justified? And what were the international ramifications? This new book analyzes all these issues, beginning with the fleet mutiny in the last months of the war that precipitated a social revolution in Germany and the eventual collapse of the will to fight. The Armistice terms imposed the humiliation of virtual surrender on the High Seas Fleet, and the conditions under which it was interned are described in detail. Meanwhile the victorious Allies wrangled over the fate of the ships, an issue that threatened the whole peace process. Using much new material from German sources and a host of eyewitness testimonies, the circumstances of the scuttling itself are meticulously reconstructed, while the aftermath for all parties is clearly laid out. The story concludes with “the biggest salvage operation in history” and a chapter on the significance of the scuttling to the postwar balance of naval power. This is an important reassessment of the last great action of the First World War.

While bookshelves groan with works on the capital ships of the German Third Reich, there is little in English devoted to their predecessors of the Second Reich, so this new book will fill a clear gap in its study of German cruisers of the period, from wooden-hulled corvettes, through the fusion of ‘overseas’ and ‘home’ vessels into the modern small cruisers that evolved and fought in the First World War. The book covers the full range of cruising vessels operated or ordered by the Imperial German Navy between 1871 and 1918, excluding the large cruisers, previously covered by the author’s companion volume The Kaiser’s Battlefleet. These include corvettes, avisos, sloops, torpedo cruisers, III- and IV-class cruisers and small cruisers, and are described and arranged in a chronological narrative. This includes both design and operational histories, the latter continuing down to the end of ships’ service after the fall of Imperial Germany, and it is accompanied by an extensive selection of many rare photographs. The ships’ technical details are tabulated in the second half of the book which also includes sketches of ships’ internal layouts and armour and changes in appearance over time. The authors have made extensive use of archival material, particularly relating to the political and technical background to design and procurement, and present a developmental history of this ship class which is unique in the English language. It will have huge appeal to all those with an interest in the German navy and to those who have been waiting avidly for the sequel to The Kaiser’s Battlefleet.

Admiral Reinhard Scheer (1863-1828) served as the last Commander of the German Navy during WWI. In this book he provides inside information about the German Navy, its techniques and the actions in the entire war. Reprint of the original book (1920).

For over 40 years, Warship has been the leading annual resource on the design, development, and deployment of the world's combat ships. Featuring a broad range of articles from a select panel of distinguished international contributors, this latest volume combines original research, new book reviews, warship notes, an image gallery, and much more, maintaining the impressive standards of scholarship and research with which Warship has become synonymous. Detailed and accurate information is the keynote of all the articles, which are fully supported by plans, data tables, and stunning photographs.

This important new work describes how the Imperial German Navy, which had expanded to become one of the great maritime forces in the world, second only to the Royal Navy, proved, with the exception of its submarines, to be largely ineffective throughout the years of conflict.?The impact of this impotence had a far-reaching effect upon the service. Germany, indeed most of Europe, was in the grips of a spirit of militant nationalistic fervour, and the inactivity of the great Imperial Navy caused deep frustration, particularly among the naval officers. Not only were they unable to see themselves as heroes, they were also ridiculed on the home front and felt profoundly humiliated. With the exception of the one sea battle at Jutland, their ships saw little or no action at sea and morale slowly collapsed to a point where, at the end of the war, the crews were in a state of mutiny. The seemingly ludicrous order that forced the fleet to go to sea against the British in 1918 was driven by a sense of humiliation, but coming at the war's end it triggered a revolution because the German sailors wanted no part in such madness. The internment at Scapa Flow was the ultimate shaming. ?This is a fascinating and perceptive analysis of a whole era, and it contributes substantially to our understanding of the war and its consequences _ consequences, sadly, that helped pave the way for the Third Reich.

In the Spring of 1917, America went to war with an innocent determination to re-make the world. When the smoke lifted in November 1918, the nation emerged with its sense of purpose shattered, its certainties shaken, and with a new and unwelcome self-knowledge. Seventy-five thousand American soldiers were dead, and back home a Pandora's box of suspicions and surveillance had been opened. The Last Days of Innocence reveals how the fight to preserve freedom abroad led to the erosion of freedom at home. Drawing on American, British, and French archival material, the authors reveal unplanned and uncoordinated field efforts, as well as the unsavory activities of anti-dissent groups, from the Committee for Public Information to the Anti-Yellow Dog League, including a posse of children organized to listen for antiwar talk among families and friends. Here is the story of the fifty-billion-dollar war that gave birth to the Selective Service Act, threatened labor rights, stoked the fires of racial and religious intolerance, and concentrated the nation's wealth into fewer hands than ever before. The Last Days of Innocence tells the untold story of the war that rudely thrust Americans into an uncertain future--a war whose effects remain with us today. "Well-crafted in every way...a vivid and authoritative history."--Cleveland Plain Dealer "A neatly plaited narrative...rich in detail. A splendid history."--Washington Times

Based on two years of research, a Master's Thesis "Two Front War Between the Wars" and a lecture series entitled "Caught Red Starred", Curtis B. Robinson's first book narrates, analyzes, and reconstructs the shadowing and the apprehension of members of the Woolwich Spy-Ring in Britain in the closing days before the Second World War. Here is the story of an of the observation of shady characters like Percy Glading and his friends by a the Secret Service with the help of a double agent informant who managed to infiltrate the spy-ring undetected. Their goal was to assist Joseph Stalin in his plans to elevate the Soviet Union to the status of world power by - in the days before the bomb was the measure for power - creating a powerful naval force, as prescribed by Alfred Thayer Mahan. Utilizing some of the latest documents to be declassified as well as an abundance of other archival materials, and written from the perspective of behind a desk at MI5, he argues that the Woolwich case provides a clear demonstration that it was not only the duty of secret servicemen to uphold the Official Secrets Act by, in this case, attempting to deny naval secrets to the Soviet Union who under Stalin was undergoing an ambitious rearmament program, but also to confront their ideological enemy - the communist movement in Great Britain.