Bibliography

If anyone feels like doing some "conventional" reading on the subject of this site, some of the following might be a good place to start.  Some of the books are still available from your local/internet bookstore, others you may need to rummage around libraries or second hand stores.

British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 by HMSO, published by Sutton Publishing Ltd.
Reprint of the official list of British merchant and warship losses.

Conways all the Worlds Fighting Ships 1890-1905, 1906-1921 published by Conway Maritime Press.
Two volumes of the excellent reference books which cover most ships of the era.

German Warships of World War I published by Greenhill Books.
Based on Royal Navy intelligence at the time, like Jane's lacks the benefit of hindsight but still very interesting.

Jane's Fighting Ships of Word War I published by Jane's Publishing Ltd.
Re-print of the famous reference book from the period.  As you would expect for a book published at the time not all that accurate but still interesting.

Navy List August 1914, published by HMSO
The Navy List at the outbreak of war.

Official Naval Dispatches published Fernmoor Publications Ltd.

Reprint of Royal Navy official dispatches for 1914.

The Naval Who's Who 1917 published by J. B. Hayword & Son.
Re-print of 1917 Who's who of Royal Nay and Royal Marine officers plus listing of British personnel lost at Jutland.

Alexander, Roy - The Cruise of the Raider Wolf published by The Noontide Press.
Account of life as a prisoner on the German disguised raider.

Bennet, Geoffry - Coronel and the Falklands published by Birlinn
Good account of the two battles.

Bennet, Geoffry - Naval Battles of the First World War published by Pan
Single volume history of the main events.

Bennet, Geoffry - The Battle of Jutland published by Wordsworth Editions Limited.
Re-print of what was the first non-official account of Jutland to have access to the suppressed Harper Papers.

Breyer, Siegfried - Battleships and Battlecruiser 1905-1970 published by Macdonald
Technical details in the period covered.

Breyer, Siegfried - Battleships of the World 1905-1970 published by Conway Maritime Press
Pictorial account of 'modern' battleships.

Brook, Peter - Warships for Export, Armstrong Warships 1867-1927 published by World Ship Society
Good account of Armstrong built warships.

Brown, D K - The Grand Fleet published by Chatham Publishing.
RN warship design from Dreadnought to 1922.

Brown, D K - Warrior to Dreadnought published by Chatham Publishing.
Excellent technical history of Royal Navy warship technical development from the last days of sail to the "modern" battleship.

Burt, R A and Trotter, W P - Battleships of the Grand Fleet published by Arms and Armour Press
Good selection of unusual British dreadnought photographs.

Burt, R A - British Battleships 1889-1904 published by Naval Institute Press
Pre-dreadnoughts era excellent technical and service history details.

Burt, R A - British Battleships of World War 1 published by Naval Institute Press
Doesn't cover pre-dreadnoughts but excellent technical and service history details.

Burt, R A - British Cruisers in World War One published by Arms and Armour Press
Photographic guide.

Burt, R A - British Destroyers in World War One published by Arms and Armour Press
Photographic guide.

Burt, R A - German Battleships 1897-1945 published by Arms and Armour Press
Photographic guide.

Campbell, N J M - Battle Cruisers published by Conway Maritime Press
Excellent guide to WW1 Battlecruisers.

Campbell, N J M - Jutland - An Analysis of the Fighting published by Conway Maritime Press.
Very detailed, almost shell-by-shell account of the battle, very technical and it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture of the battle, but still very good.

Chalmers, Rear-Admiral W S - The Life and Letters of David, Earl Beatty published by Hodder and Stoughton.
A Beatty friendly biography of the Admiral by someone who served under him.

Chatfied, Lord E - The Navy and Defence published by Windmill Press
Memoirs of captain of HMS Lion and Beatty's flag captain and later First Sea Lord.

Dorling, Captain Tappell - Endless Story published by Hodder and Stoughton.
Allied destroyer operations during World War 1.

Dittmar, F J and Colledge, J J - British Warships 1914-1919 published by Ian Allan Ltd.
Comprehensive listings of British warships during the Great War.

Ellis, Richard and Walton, Ben - The Royal Navy at Malta (2 vols) published by Maritime Books
Excellent set of Royal Navy ship photographs.

Fisher, John - Memories published by Hodder and Stoughton
Assorting ramblings of the great Admiral.

Friedman, Norman - Battleship Design and Development 1905-1945 published by Mayflower Books.
Good overview of battleship design considerations.

Friedman, Norman - U.S. Battleships - An Illustrated Design History published by Naval Institue Press
Good overview of battleship design considerations.

George, S C - Jutland to Junkyard published by Birlinn Ltd.
The story of the raising of the High Seas Fleet from Scapa Flow.

Goldrick, James - The Kings Ships Were at Sea published by United States Naval Institute.
Excellent account of the first six months in the North sea, until just after Dogger Bank.

Gordon, Andrew - The Rules of the Game - Jutland and British Naval Command published by John Murray Ltd.
Excellent (and often amusing) account of British command failings at Jutland and how they came about.

Grant, Robert M - U-Boats Destroyed published by Periscope Publishing.
Descriptive account of German submarine losses in World War 1.

Grant, Robert M - U-Boats Intelligence published by Periscope Publishing.
The role of intelligence in the U-boat war.

Groner, Erich - German Warships 1815-1945 (2 vols) published by Conway Maritime Press.
Covering German capital ships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines and mine warfare vessels..  Technical details and brief histories.

Halpern, Paul G - A Naval History of World War I published by Naval Institute Press.
Excellent single volume account of WW1 at sea, covering many of the lesser known actions (unlike this site!), not just the famous battles.

Halpern, Paul G - The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1914-1918 published by Naval Institute Press.
Good account of WW1 at sea in the Mediterranean.

Hayward, Roger - Cruisers in Camera published by Sutton Publishing Ltd.
Good pictorial history of Royal Navy cruisers in the 20th century.

Herwig, Holger H - Luxury Fleet - The Imperial German Navy 1868-1918 published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
The rise and fall of the High Seas Fleet.

Hodges, Peter - The Big Gun published by Conway Maritime Press.
Battleship main armament from 1860 till the end of the battleship.

Hough, Richard - Admiral of the Fleet - The Life of John Fisher published by The Macmillian Company
Biography of the great and controversial Admiral who was largely responsible for creating the RN of World War 1.

Hough, Richard - The Great War at Sea 1914-18 published by Birlinn Limited
Resonable single volume history concentrating on the main events rather than the lesser theatres.

Hoyt, Edwin P - Defeat at the Falklands published by Robert Hale.
The Story of Graf Spee's squadron including Coronel and the Falklands battles and the exploits of Emden.

Humphreys, Roy - The Dover Patrol 1914-18 published by Sutton Publishing Ltd.
A potted history of the Dover Patrol.

Ireland, Bernard - Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century published by Harper Collins.
Nice looking book, but you won't learn much new if you know much about battleships.

Jellicoe, Admiral Viscount of Scapa -The Grand Fleet 1914-16 published by Cassell and Company Ltd.
Jellicoe's memoirs as commander of the Grand Fleet.  Most interesting for his explanations of why he made certain decisions, especially at Jutland.

Jones, Jerry W - U.S. Battleship Operations in World War I published by Naval Institute Press.
The contribution made by US capital ships to the Allied naval effort.

Kemp, Paul - Austro-Hungarian Battleships published by ISO Publications.
Mostly a book of captioned photographs of one of the lesser know battlefleets.

Kemp, Paul - British Warship Losses of the 20th Century published by Sutton Publishing Ltd.
Title says it all, good but a few missing.

Kemp, Paul and Wilson, Michael - Mediterranean Submarines published by Crecy Publishing.
Submarine warfare in the Mediterranean.

Kemp, Paul - Monitors of the Royal Navy published ISO Publications
Photographic guide.

Kemp, Paul - U-Boats Destroyed published by Arms & Armour press
German U-Boat losses during both world wars.

Lambert,  Nicholas - Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution published by University of South Carolina Press
Fisher's impact on pre-war policy and the reasons why, very interesting.

Lambert,  Nicholas (editor) - The Submarine Service 1900-1918 published by the Navy Records Society
Well selected collection of documents relating to British submarine service of the period.

Layman, R D - Naval Aviation in the First World War published by Chatham Publishing.
A period of great strides and interesting operations well described.

Le Fleming, H M - Warships of World War 1 published by Ian Allen Ltd.
Combined volume of the various short technical references in this series.

Le Fleming, H M - Warships of World War 1 - Destroyers published by Ian Allan Ltd.
Reference on British and German destroyers.

Leslie, H W - The Royal Mail War Book published by William Heinemann
Some of the actions of the ships of the Royal Mail Steam Packet company which saw service as Armed Merchant Cruisers, troopships, hospital ships and normal merchant roles.

Locher, R K - The Last Gentleman of War published by Stanley Paul and Co. Ltd.
The story of the Emden including the dramatic journey back to Germany during the war of some of the crew which escaped her destruction.

Marder, Arthur - From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow (5 vols) published by Oxford University Press
Comprehensive account of the Royal Navy in the Fisher era.

Marder, Arthur - Portrait of an Admiral - The Life and Papers of Sir Herbert Richmond published by Harvard University Press
Selected papers of the controversial officer.

Marsay, Mark - Bombardment - The Day the East coast Bled published by Great Northern Publishing.
Account of the Scarborough raid, concentrates on the effects on land of the attack.

Massie, Robert - Dreadnought - Britain, Germany and the coming of the Great War published by Pimlico
Readable account of political build-up to World War 1.

McL Ranft, B (editor) - The Beatty Papers (2 volumes) published by Navy Records Society.
Assorted correspondence of the controversial admiral.

Messiner, Dwight R - Find and Destroy published by Naval Institue Press
Good history of anti-submarine warfare in World War 1.

Miller, Geoffrey - Superior Force published by The University of Hull Press.
The story and politics of the escape of Goeben to the Ottoman Empire.

Morris, Douglas - Cruisers of the Royal and Commonwealth Navies published by Maritime Books.
Brief technical and service details but some good pictures.

Murfett, Malcolm (editor) - The First Sea Lords published by Praeger
Excellent series of essays of the impact of First Sea Lords on policy.

Padfield, Peter - Aim Straight published by Hodder and Stoughton Ltd.
Biography of Percy Scott, 'father of modern naval gunnery'.

Parkes, Oscar - British Battleships, Warrior to Vanguard published by Seely Service and Co. Ltd.
'Classic' heavyweight technical history of British battleships.

Patience, Kevin - Königsberg - A German East Africa Raider published by the author.
A readable account of the war history of the German cruiser, some excellent pictures.

Patterson, A Temple (editor) - The Jellicoe Papers (2 volumes) published by Navy Records Society.
Assorted correspondence of the controversial admiral.

Perry, Lawrence - Our Navy in the War published by Charles Scribner's Sons
Dull account of the US Navy in World War 1.

Preston, Anthony - Battleships of World War 1 published by Stackpole Books
Technical details and brief service histories of battleships.

Ritchie, Carson - Q Ships published by Terence Dalton.
The story of the controversial disguised merchant ships used to combat U-Boat attacks.

Roberts, John - Anatomy of the Ship: The Battleship Dreadnought published by Conway Maritime Press
Mainly detailed drawings of the famous ship.

Roberts, John - Battlecruisers published by Chatham Publishing
Excellent technical history of British battlecruisers.

Roberts, John - Warship Monographs: Invincible Class published by Conwat Maritime Press
Short but good technical history.

Roskill, Capt. S W - HMS Warspite published by William Collins & Sons Ltd.
The story of the famous dreadnought that served in both world wars.

Ross, Stewart - Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman published by Baily's
Biography of the First Sea Lord most famous for his controversial sacking by Churchill.

Sumida, Jon Tetsuro - In Defence of Naval Supremacy - Finance, Technology and British naval policy 1889-1914 published by Routlidge.
The Dreadnought and Battlecruiser revolution and especially the story of the Pollen fire control system.

Sumida, Jon Tetsuro (editor)- The Pollen Papers 1901-1916 published by Navy Records Society
Papers of the pioneer in fire control.

Tarrant, V E - Battlecruiser Invincible published by Arms and Armour Press
Dissapointing history of the first battlecruiser.

Tarrant, V E - Jutland - The German Perspective published by Arms & Armour Press.
The first English language account of the battle based heavily on German sources.  Not as detailed as Campbell's but much more readable.

Taylor, John C - German Warships of World War 1 Published by Ian Allen
Short technical details of German warships.

Thomas, Roger D - Dreadnoughts in Camera and Brian Patterson, published by Budding Books
Mostly pictures of British Dreadnoughts at various stages of construction.

Weir, Gary E - Building the Kaisers Navy published by United States Naval Institute.
The story of how Tirpitz transformed the German Navy and how the German naval industry was run.

Wegener, Vice Admiral Wolfgang - The Naval Strategy of the World War published by Naval Institute Press
Critical look at German naval strategy (or lack of it).

Williams, David - Naval Camouflage 1914-1945 published by Chatham Publishing
The story of camouflage in both world wars.

Wilson, H W - Battleships in Action published by Conway Maritime Press.
Two volume history of armoured ships in the 19th century and WW1, interesting but dated.

van der Vat, Dan - The Grand Scuttle published by Waterfront Communications Ltd.
Scuttling of the German fleet as Scapa, also includes an interesting section on the salvage operations afterwards.

van der Vat, Dan - The Ship that Changed the World published by Birlinn
The escape of the German Batllecruiser Goeben to Turkey.

von Hase, Georg - Kiel and Jutland published by Skeffington and Son Ltd.
Memoir of the gunnery officer of SMS Derfflinger.

Yates, Keith - Flawed Victory - Jutland 1916 published by Naval Institute Press
Yet another account of Jutland.  Actually very readable and covering the key points well.

Yates, Keith - Graf Spee's Raiders published Leo Cooper.
The story of Emden, Königsberg, Karlsruhe and Spee's squadron.

Young, Filson - With Beatty in the North Sea published by Little, Brown and Company.
The author was a journalist and writer who served on Beatty's staff early in the war.