Castles of Steel

[Peter Beckett]

ISBN 1-8441-3411-3 UK List price GBP 9.99 Paperback 865 pages with maps and B&W photos.

Picked this book up the other day and I am only half way through and not checked for accuracy but it certainly is very readable and enlightening. So far the Battles of Coronel, Falklands and the shelling of the east coast towns and just starting the Dogger Bank section.

It has certainly helped me to understand how the Navy has fitted in so far and even goes into the background of all major participants such as Fisher, Jellicoe, Beatty, Cradock, Churchill, Von Spee, Scheer and Hipper just to mention a few.

It deals mainly with the use, etc of the big 'uns, ie dreadnaughts, battle cruisers, etc.

I certainly recommend it to anyone wants a clear, lucid picture of the Royal Navies involvement up to and including the Great War

Peter

[Guest]

I also thought it was excellent, but I have two criticisms.

First, the quality of maps is poor. you cannot really use the few there are to follow battles. Jutland is an example of this.

Second, the U-boat war, covered in the latter part of the book, is not covered in anywhere near the same detail. For instance, there seems to have been little research by the author on the development of ASW tactics and weapons. One particular omission is the role of the large fleet of USN wooded "sub-chasers", which from memory do not get a mention.

Still, overall, I would highly recommend the book, particularly as a guide to British naval strategy up to Jutland, including a good analysis of the naval Dardanelles campaign.

[Steven Broomfield]

From memory (it's a few years since I read it), 'Dreadnought' by the same author is a very good insight into the power politics (and dislike by the Kaiser of his English mother) which led us to the war we are all obsessed by.

[AndyHollinger]

There is a thread on this book somewhere in the back shelves of this forum ... I found the book well done and well written. To me, it brought the magnitude of Dreadnought warefare to the reader ... sheer horror of battle and the capabilities of the worlds largest weapons systems.

[paul guthrie]

Massie is from Lexington Kentucky, I am predisposed to like him and do, this is a terrific book for a look at the personalities of men involved, the guy is a most entertaining writer, keeps you at it.

[lassuy]

I've read both Dreadnought, and recently, Castles of Steel, and found them both to be excellent reads. Massie writes lucidly and to the point, very easy reading. The books are intimidating from the sheer size, but once started, are difficult to put down. Massie's strong point is his ability to show the "big picture"--to put the naval war in context of the rest of the era. If there is any criticism, it's that he doesn't go into enough detail in the various battles. But then, entire books have been written about single battles, so one can't expect the same kind of coverage in an overview. Very highly recommended.

[MartinWills]

It's rare to find a naval volume that places things in context but invaluable when it happens. I've been thinking about buying "castles of steel" and given the comments I am even more encouraged - even if he is from Kentucky (famed for its Naval Bases...).

I have just started upon Keyes account of the Naval Campaign at Gallipoli which serves to remind one the extent to which the Naval campaign integrated with and supported the land campaign - now there is another link with D-Day in addition to the amphibious landings.

[Ste]

I haven't read this one, but I have read Dreadnought and Nicholas and Alexandria. Massie certainly favours the 'epic' touch, and a right ripping read he makes of it. He seems to stray into anecdote at times, but his style is gripping and no doubt serves to entice readers new to his subject to read further.

Cheers,

Ste

[spike10764]

Having read the reviews, I've seen this book in my local library recently and I think I'll give it a go.....

[Peter Beckett]

Just finished the section on Jutland.

So far so good except he keeps calling the Kaiser, William instead of Wilhem. It gets confusing sometimes so I have to refer back to make sure he is writing about the Kaiser and not someone called Bill who has just walked into the room.

Back to the reading room, only another 2 inches to get through

Peter

[Guest Audacious]

Sorry to bring up a bit of an old topic but I can't praise this book enough. I read Dreadnought about 5 years ago and was blown away by its detail and was disappointed when the book ended and there was nothing about the actual fighting. I thought the author was dead because I believe his age to be in his 70's.

I was in my local bookstore a few weeks back when I saw Castles of Steel I actually stood there with my mouth open in shock that Massie had released another book

I kind of agree about the comment on the detail of the maps but tbh the maps would need to be very very detailed to provide information on the 200+ ships present at the battle of Jutland. I'd love to see some computer generated type program such as 'Line of Fire' describe the battle of Jutland.

Another excellent book by Massie is Peter the Great.

[spike10764]

I'm reading it now and the book is very interesting- the battle descriptions of Jutland are excellent- they really make you want to read more. eg-in the chapter Beatty vs Hipper-

"On both sides, the massed torpedo attacks on the enemies capital ships quickly dissolved into numerous individual small ship battles. Churning white foam, their signal flags whipping frantically in the wind, their 4 inch guns banging incessantly, the little ships lunged at one another in the no mans land between the lines of big ships "....

And in the next chapter-Jellicoe vs Scheer.

"Soon the Grand Fleet's broadsides, merged into a solid, unbroken wave of endless thunder. Hercules fired on Seydlitz; Colossus and Revenge on Derfflinger; Neptune and St Vincent on Derfflinger and Moltke. Marlborough, ignoring her torpedo injury, fired fourteen salvoes in six minutes and saw four of them hit. Monarch, Iron Duke, Centurion, Royal Oak, King George V, Temeraire, Superb, Neptune -all reported scoring hits. By 7.14 p.m., fire from the whole of the British line was sweeping the length of the German line at ranges from 10,000 to 14,000 yards.

I still haven't finished but will add my comments on the book as a whole when I have....

[spike10764]

Finally finished the book and it has taught me much I did not know about the war at sea. The style of the book is easy on the eye (even for 800 pages) and the feel for the complexities of the War At Sea is obvious.

The book clearly comes down in favour of Sir John Jellicoe, as the man most responsible for maintaining the blockade of the Germans and ultimately the blockade being a major part in the eventual victory. It is very supportive of Jellicoe and somewhat sceptical of his successor David Beatty- I must say I agree with the author on this ( but then I have yet to read a book with another opinion on the two).

Churchill comes in for a bit of a battering too, his dynamism and ideals are set out, but his tendency to blame all but himself and distance himself from disaster come across very strongly early on.(Maverick is not too harsh a word for the way he is portrayed here). All in all the book is well worth the time it took to read.

As a lighter aside- the Senior Service had a wonderful plethora of strange and exotic names in charge during the Great War, many of which tickled me

Sir John Jellicoe(did he, at Jutland, wobble?), Beatty(did he beat anyone?), Frederick Doveton Sturdee (was he?), Sackville Hamilton Carden (??) Henry Limpus (???) John de Roebeck, Reginald Tyrwhitt......

'aig French and Rawly....eat yer 'eart out

[Steven Broomfield]

I'm reading it now and the book is very interesting- the battle descriptions of Jutland are excellent- they really make you want to read more. eg-in the chapter Beatty vs Hipper-

"On both sides, the massed torpedo attacks on the enemies capital ships quickly dissolved into numerous individual small ship battles. Churning white foam, their signal flags whipping frantically in the wind, their 4 inch guns banging incessantly, the little ships lunged at one another in the no mans land between the lines of big ships "....

And in the next chapter-Jellicoe vs Scheer.

"Soon the Grand Fleet's broadsides, merged into a solid, unbroken wave of endless thunder. Hercules fired on Seydlitz; Colossus and Revenge on Derfflinger; Neptune and St Vincent on Derfflinger and Moltke. Marlborough, ignoring her torpedo injury, fired fourteen salvoes in six minutes and saw four of them hit. Monarch, Iron Duke, Centurion, Royal Oak, King George V, Temeraire, Superb, Neptune -all reported scoring hits. By 7.14 p.m., fire from the whole of the British line was sweeping the length of the German line at ranges from 10,000 to 14,000 yards.

I still haven't finished but will add my comments on the book as a whole when I have....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't tell us the ending - I want to find out who won!

[spike10764]

Don't tell us the ending - I want to find out who won!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Depends on how you want to look at it...it appears