WWI Naval Bibliography

"The Course of the War" - Books (English)

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• Andrew, Christopher Secret Service
  Heinemann, 1985
  A history of the British Secret Service, from the 19th Century till the Cold War. Quite a bit of material on naval intelligence, etc.
• Atherton, L "Never Complain, Never Explain": Records of the Foreign Office and State Paper Office, 1500-c1960
  (Public Record Office Reader's Guide Number 7), PRO, London, 1994
  (courtesy of Edwin King (Edwin.King@VIRGIN.NET)). It obviously has loads of stuff relevant to WWI scattered throughout it, but under a section on special Wartime Depts it has entries on:
  • Arab Bureau, 1911-20
  • Contraband, 1914-16
  • Foreign Trade Dept, 1916-19
  • Jeddah Agency Papers, 191325
  • Minstry of Blockade, 1916
  • Political Intelligence Dept, 1918-20
  • Prisoners of War & Aliens, 1915-19
  • Prize Court Dept, 1914-20
  • Restriction of Enemy Supplies Dept, 1916-19
  • War Trade Intelligence Dept
  • War Dept (Eastern & Western Political Depts) 1914-20
• Bacon, Admiral Sir Reginald The Concise Story of the Dover Patrol
  Hutchinson & Company, 1932.
  Bacon commanded the Dover Patrol for part of the War.
• Bach, John The Australia Station. A History of the Royal Navy in the South West Pacific, 1821-1913
  NSW University Press, 1986.
  (courtesy Michael Moir-Bussy (mbussy@daltron.com.pg))
• Beesly, Patrick Room 40
  Hamish Hamilton, 1982.
  An account of British Naval Intelligence 1914-1918.
• Bennett, Geoffrey Naval Battles of the First World War
  Pan Books, 1974.
  A popular history of the naval war.
• Burdick, Charles BurtonThe Japanese siege of Tsingtau: World War I in Asia
  Shoestring Press, 1976.
  (courtesy of Steve McLaughlin (STEVEM@SFPL.LIB.CA.US)) I *believe* that this is the most detailed account of the 1914 siege of Tsingtao available in English; it is based on German and Japanese sources.
• Chatterton, E Keble Seas of Adventures: The Story of Naval Operations in the Mediterranean, Adriatic and Aegean
  Hurst & Blackett, 1936
  (courtesy of Gordon Smith (gordon.smith4@virgin.net) )
• Chatterton, E. Keble The Auxiliary Patrol
  Sidgwick and Jackson, 1923.
  Chatterton commanded several of these small vessels.
• Chatterton, E. Keble The Sea Raiders
  Hurst and Blackettett Ltd, 1931.
  About the surface raiders, although SMS Emden is not included. (Courtesy of A. Greenway)
• Corbett, Sir Julian and Newbolt, Sir Henry Naval Operations, 5 volumes
  Imperial War Museum + Battery Press, 1995 onwards (reprints of HMSO volumes, 1921-1940).
  The Official History of the Royal Navy's war at sea. Some of the information is now suspect, but there is a wealth of material, including details of politics (eg the various dealings in Greece) and related land operations. Many of the smaller, lesser known actions are well covered.
• Deacon, Richard The Silent War: A History of Western Naval Intelligence
  David and Charles, 1978
  (courtesy of Gordon Smith (gordon.smith4@virgin.net) )
• Dennis, L.G. The Lake Steamers Of East Africa
  Runnymede Malthouse Publishing, 1996
  (courtesy of Norbert Weismann (Weismann-Norbert@T-ONLINE.DE))
• Dorling, Captain Taprell ("Taffrail") Swept Channels
  Hodder and Stoughton Limited, 1935.
  "Being an account of the work of the Minesweepers in the Great War"- a very good, popular history, of the Royal Navy's minesweeping effort.
• Duguid, Colonel A. Fortesque Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War
  King's Printer (Ottawa), 1938
  (courtesy of David Kelly (dhkhiyou@mars.ark.com)) Although meant as an army history, it has a large amount of information on the convoy that carried the first contingent of the CEF across the Atlantic.
• Fitzsimons, Bernard (ed.) Warships and Sea Battles of World War I
  BPC Publishing Ltd, 1973.
  This book incorporates lots of drawings and diagrams of the ships themselves and does a very credible job of describing the technical differences in ship design philosophies of both sides as well as the tactical aspects thereof. Also, the book deals very well with the Channel war (ie the encounters between German destroyers, submarines and patrol boats) and, to a lesser extent, operations in the Far East and Mediterranean.
  (Courtesy of Edward Wittenberg (ewitten507@aol.com)).
• Fowler, Simon (et al) RAF Records in the PRO
  (PRO Readers' Guide No8), 1994, ISBN 1 873162 14 6
  (courtesy of Edwin King (Edwin.King@VIRGIN.NET)). The first section (25pp) covers records of British military aviation until the formation of the RAF in 1918.
• German, Commander Tony The Sea is at Our Gates: the History of the Canadian Navy
  McClelland & Stewart, 1990.
  A popular history of the RCN. Not altogether unbiased...
• Goldrick, Lieutenant James RAN The King's Ships Were At Sea
  Naval Institute Press, 1984.
  "The War in the North Sea August 1914 - February 1915", ie from the start of the war to the Dogger Bank Action.
• Grainger, John D. The Maritime Blockade of Germany in the Great War: The Northern Patrol, 1914-1918
  Navy Records Society (through Asgate Publishing Limited), 2003.
  The Navy Records Society's 145th volume: a huge collection of primary source documents, such as Reports of Proceedings, centred on the work the 10th Cruiser Squadron.
• Hadley, Michael L. U-Boats Against Canada: German Submarines in Canadian Waters
  McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990.
  The early chapters outline the First World War, though the bulk of the material deals with World War Two.
• Hadley, Michael L. and Sarty, Roger Tin-Pots and Pirate Ships: Canadian Naval Forces and German Sea Raiders 1880-1918
  McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991.
  A good chronicle of the war on the eastern seaboard of North America and the efforts of the newly minted Royal Canadian Navy.
• Halpern, Paul G. A Naval History of World War I
  Naval Institute Press, 1994.
  A study of the complete naval war, without concentrating on the North Sea. Notable are the accounts of riverine warfare in the Balkans.
• Halpern, Paul G. The Mediterranean Naval Situation 1908-1914
  Harvard University Press, 1971.
  Very useful background reading, and much interesting content: although broken down by chapter, Halpern takes a holistic view of the region. Too bad he keeps using the word "cannon" for guns.
• Halpern, Paul G. (editor) The Royal Navy in the Mediterranean 1915-1918
  Navy Records Society, 1987.
  Papers relating to the Mediterranean Theatre, primarily from a Royal Navy point-of-view.
• Herwig, Holger H. 'Luxury Fleet' The Imperial German Navy 1888-1918
  George Allen & Unwin, 1980.
  A scholarly history of the rise and fall of the Kaiser's fleet.
• Herwig, Holger H Politics of Frustration: The United States in German Naval Planning, 1889-1941
  Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1976.
• Humphreys, RoyThe Dover Patrol 1914-18
  Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1998.
  A nice little volume describing the travails of Royal Navy's attempts to control the Straits of Dover. Primarily a 'popular history', it does provide a good introduction.
• Hunt, Barry and Adrian Preston (editors) War Aims and Strategic Policy in the Great War
  Croom Helm, 1977.
  A nice little book that contains conference papers: Britain (by John Gooch); France (Douglas Johnson); Canada (! - Robert Craig Brown); the United States (Edward M. Coffman); Italy (John Whittam) and Germany (Fritz Fischer) are all covered. Very useful reading.
• Jellicoe, Admiral Viscount of Scapa The Crisis of the Naval War
  Cassell and Company, 1920.
  The defence of British merchant shipping by the former First Sea Lord.
• Jellicoe, Admiral Viscount of Scapa The Grand Fleet 1914-1916, It's Creation, Development and Work
  Cassell and Company, 1919.
  By it's commander...
• Jones, Jerry W. U.S. Battleship Operations in World War I
  Naval Institute Press, 1998.
  The story of the "6th Battle Squadron" of the Grand Fleet.
• Kennedy, Paul M. (editor) The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880-1914
  George Allen & Unwin, 1979.
• Koburger, Charles W. The Central Powers in the Adriatic, 1914-1918: War in a Narrow Sea
  Praeger, 2001.
  Quite a good, albeit succinct, summary of the war at sea in the Adriatic, focussing on the navy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• Lumby, E. W. R. (editor) Policy and Operations in the Mediterranean 1912-14
  Navy Records Society, 1970
  Papers relating to the Mediterranean Theatre, primarily from a Royal Navy point-of-view.
• Marder, Arthur J. From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow- The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era 1904 - 1919, 5 volumes
  Oxford University Press, 1961 - 1978.
  This is perhaps the place to start, being a work which outlines the evolution of naval technology, thought, tactics, Anglo-German naval rivalry, and the course of the war.
• Massie, Robert K. Dreadnought
  Random House, 1991.
  The story of the Anglo-German naval rivalry.
• Miller, Geoffrey British Naval Policy in the Mediterranean, 1900-1914, the Commitment to France and British Intervention in the War
  1998 (due date)
  (courtesy of the author himself, Geoffrey Miller (manorhouse@clara.co.uk)).
• Miller, Geoffrey Straits
  1997
  Anglo-Turkish relations in the period 1908-1915 (courtesy of the author himself, Geoffrey Miller (manorhouse@clara.co.uk)).
• Miller, Geoffrey Superior Force - the conspiracy behind the escape of Goeben and Breslau
  1996
  (courtesy of the author himself, Geoffrey Miller (manorhouse@clara.co.uk))
• Milner, Marc Canada's Navy: the First Century
  University of Toronto Press, 1999.
  A high-level look at the evolution of the Royal Canadian Navy and the naval component of the Canadian Forces until the 1990's. There is some useful information on the WW1 era.
• Mitchell, Donald W. A History of Russian and Soviet Sea Power
  Andre Deutsch, 1974
  (courtesy of Gordon Smith (gordon.smith4@virgin.net) )
• Nekrasov, George Black Sea Fleet at War 1914-1917
  Columbia University Press, 1992
  (courtesy of Byron Angel (trdntint@TIAC.NET) )
• Padfield, Peter The Great Naval Race
  Granada Publishing, 1974.
  A solid account of the competition between the United Kingdom and Imperial Germany.
• Paine, Ralph D. The Fighting Fleets
  Houghton Mifflin, 1918.
  "Five Months of Active Service with the American Destoryers and their Allies in the War Zone". Interesting period reading.
• Pochhammer, Captain Hans Before Jutland, Admiral von Spee's Last Voyage, Coronel and the Battle of the Falklands
  Jarrolds, 1931.
  (translation) An impressive account of the German Far East Fleet and its cruise from Tsingtau to its destruction at the Battle of the Falklands. Written by the First Officer of the Gneisenau. (Courtesy of Kevin Foster (kboatman@erols.com)).
• Pollen, Arthur The Navy in Battle
  Chatto & Windus, 1919.
  A survey of the naval war, by someone with an axe to grind.
• Sarty, Roger The Maritime Defence of Canada
  The Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, 1996.
  This is a collection of papers concerned primarily with the coast defence of Canada during both world wars. There is good stuff dealing with Esquimalt and Halifax.
• Scheer, Admiral Germany's High Sea Fleet in the World War
  Cassell and Company, 1920.
  (translation) Scheer's side of the story.
• Schubert, Paul and Langhorne Gibson Death of a Fleet, 1917-1919
  Hutchinson & Co., no date (circa 1933?).
  This book has an excellent bibliography of sources on the mutinies; events in Kiel, and the internment and scuttling- almost all are in German. (courtesy Kevin Foster, kboatman@erols.com)).
• Seligmann, Matthew S. (editor) Naval Intelligence from Germany - The REports of the British Naval Attaches in Berlin, 1906-1914
  Ashgate Publishing, for the Navy Records Society, 2007.
  Difficult to slot into the existing bibliographic categories on this site, this book shows the information that the British Admiralty were getting on the Imperial Germany Navy prior to the war.
• Shrubb, Lt-Cdr R. E. A. RN and Captain A. B. Sainsbury, RNR The Royal Navy Day by Day
  Centaur Press, 1979
  (courtesy of Gordon Smith (gordon.smith4@virgin.net) )
• Shankland, Peter The Phantom Flotilla: The Story of the Naval Africa Expedition 1915-16
  Collins, 1968.
  (courtesy of Andrew Sellon (andrew.sellon@LINEONE.NET))
• Simpson, Michael (editor) Anglo-American Naval Relations 1917-1919
  Navy Records Society, 1991.
  The early days of the alliance between the two great maritime powers.
• Sokol, Anthony E. The Imperial And Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy
  Naval Institute Press, 1968.
  (courtesy of Lincoln Paine (lpaine1@MAINE.RR.COM))
• Sondhaus, Lawrence The Habsburg Empire and the Sea: Austrian Naval Policy, 1797-1866
  West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue Univ. Press, 1989.
  (courtesy of Lincoln Paine (lpaine1@MAINE.RR.COM))
• Sondhaus, Lawrence The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary 1867-1918: Navalism, Industrial Development, and the Politics of Dualism
  Purdue University Press, 1994.
  It is a very broad treatment, and not an operational history, but nearly half of this 400-page book is devoted to WWI or the immediate preliminaries. It is a very fine book. (courtesy of Hunt Tooley (htooley@austinc.edu)).
• Sridharan, Rear-Admiral K. A Maritime History of India
  New Delhi, 1982
  Section V, part three of this book contains information on the activities of the Royal Indian Marine during World War One. (courtesy of Glen Robert-Grant Hodgins (grhicomm@SRI.LANKA.NET).
• "Taffrail" Endless Story
  Hodder and Stoughton, 1938
  (courtesy of Gordon Smith (gordon.smith4@virgin.net) ) RN Destroyer actions.
• Thomas, David A Companion to the Royal Navy
  Harrap, 1988
  (courtesy of Gordon Smith (gordon.smith4@virgin.net) )
• Thomas, David Battles and Honours of the Royal Navy
  Leo Cooper, 1998.
  A list of all the Battle Honours of the Royal Navy, from the Armada to the Falklands Campaign of 1982. Small summaries of each battle, but most importantly, a list of ships present, including Commonwealth warships.
• Tracy, Nicholas (editor) The Collective Naval Defence of the Empire 1900-1945
  Navy Records Society, 1997.
  An important collection of documents which lay out the origins of what became a series of fully independant navies.
• Trumpener, Ulrich Germany and the Ottoman Empire, 1914-1918
  Princeton University Press, 1968.
  (courtesy of Stephen McLaughlin)
• "T124" (Grenfell, Captain Russel) Sea Power
  Jonathan Cape, 1940.
  An explanation of the influence of the Navy on the First World War.
• Usborne, Vice-Adm C V Smoke on the Horizon: Mediterranean Fighting 1914-18
  Hodder and Stoughton, 1940
  (courtesy of Gordon Smith (gordon.smith4@virgin.net) )
• van Der Vat, Dan The Ship That Changed the World - the Escape of the GOEBEN to the Dardanelles in 1914
  Alder & Alder, 1986
  Not only a full account of the successful escape of Goeben to Turkish waters, the book goes into her WW1 career in the Black Sea, and argues with success that this battlecruiser had an effect on world affairs that is significant to this day.
• Walter, John The Kaiser's Pirates
  Arms and Armour Press, 1994.
  The story of the German surface raiders.
• Wegener, Vice Admiral Wolfgang The Naval Strategy of the World War
  Naval Institute Press, 1989. (part of the Classics of Seapower series)
  (translation) A view of German naval strategy.
• Wilmott, Ned Strategy & Tactics of Sea Warfare
  Marshall Cavendish, 1979.
  A general overview of naval warfare during the 20th Century, the description of the war at sea during WW1 (almost entirely from an US/British viewpoint) is a useful summary of the main points.
• Wilson, H. W. Battleships in Action, 2 volumes
  Sampson Low, Marston, no date (circa 1925).
  The history of naval warfare from the introduction of armour plate. Volume 2 deals with World War One, and includes many actions outside of the North Sea- good, albeit dated.
• Whittaker, Robert E. Dragon master: the Kaiser's one-man air force in Tsingtau, China, 1914
  Compass Books-Video-Films, 1994
  A detailed account of the siege (courtesy of Steve McLaughlin (STEVEM@SFPL.LIB.CA.US)).
• Wright, Peter Spycatcher
  Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, 1988.
  A controversial book, primarily concerned with Cold War espionage (British/Soviet 'spy vs spy' stuff), there are a few pages which describe the WW1 British Intelligence service and the role played in the development of direction finding by the book's author and the Marconi company.
• Yates, Keith Graf Spee's Raiders
  Naval Institute Press, 1995.
  The story of the ships of Graf Maximilian von Spee's squadron.

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