Platapus
06-10-12, 10:20 AM
Gray, E (1971) The Underwater War: Submarines 1914-1918. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
World War One submarines have been an interest of mine for a while. I was pleased when I had an opportunity to purchase a copy of this book for my library.
This book covers, primarily from the British side, the development of submarine tactics and policy. This is not a book for people interested in technical details about WWI submarines. This is a book for people interested in the political environment where submarines became a viable weapon system.
The book is written in a narrative format where the author is reporting conversations and telling a story. This contrasts with a more formal and traditional stating of facts in context. Unfortunately, the book has no citations at all so there is no way to tell when the author is faithfully reporting documented conversations and when the author is guessing what is being said. From a research reference use, this book ranks fairly low.
However, simply because the book is in an non-cited narrative format does not mean the book is without value. The narrative format makes this book an easy read. Gray does a very good job of explaining how the British submarine doctrine evolved. For readers unfamiliar with WWI submarine operations, the narrative format is just what is needed so that readers are not driven away by dry statements of historical fact.
What is of particular value in this book is the explanations of British submarine operations in the Mediterranean. This is an area not always addressed in WWI submarine books.
Some interesting history to whet your appetite:
Most everyone here is familiar with the problems with torpedoes in WWII. One of the earliest problems was that countries were using torpedoes with heavier warheads than when practice warheads were used. It appears that the British had this same problem with their submarine torpedoes back in 1914. Sometimes the torpedo designers don’t learn from past mistakes.
The British submarine E-11’s crew came up with a novel way of loading torpedoes during wartime environments -- through the torpedo tube as opposed to lowering it through the deck torpedo loading hatch. The E-11’s crew was able to successfully do this while the boat was submerged for all but the very first steps. Quite an innovative technique.
Submarine vs. submarine tactics were first developed in WWI. Gray gives some very nice information on how “bait” trawlers would be towing a submerged submarine. When a U-boat threatened the trawler, the submerged submarine would detach and attack the attacking U-boat. A complicated system that did not work well, but worked good enough for the C.24 to sink the U-40. Pretty cool considering the technology back then.
I would give this book a solid “B”. The lack of citations is a big mark against it being a useful secondary source type history book. However, the narrative format does give a very good overview of an, in my opinion, under-reported aspect of submarine history -- the development of the doctrine.
All in all, I am pleased to have added to this my library.
World War One submarines have been an interest of mine for a while. I was pleased when I had an opportunity to purchase a copy of this book for my library.
This book covers, primarily from the British side, the development of submarine tactics and policy. This is not a book for people interested in technical details about WWI submarines. This is a book for people interested in the political environment where submarines became a viable weapon system.
The book is written in a narrative format where the author is reporting conversations and telling a story. This contrasts with a more formal and traditional stating of facts in context. Unfortunately, the book has no citations at all so there is no way to tell when the author is faithfully reporting documented conversations and when the author is guessing what is being said. From a research reference use, this book ranks fairly low.
However, simply because the book is in an non-cited narrative format does not mean the book is without value. The narrative format makes this book an easy read. Gray does a very good job of explaining how the British submarine doctrine evolved. For readers unfamiliar with WWI submarine operations, the narrative format is just what is needed so that readers are not driven away by dry statements of historical fact.
What is of particular value in this book is the explanations of British submarine operations in the Mediterranean. This is an area not always addressed in WWI submarine books.
Some interesting history to whet your appetite:
Most everyone here is familiar with the problems with torpedoes in WWII. One of the earliest problems was that countries were using torpedoes with heavier warheads than when practice warheads were used. It appears that the British had this same problem with their submarine torpedoes back in 1914. Sometimes the torpedo designers don’t learn from past mistakes.
The British submarine E-11’s crew came up with a novel way of loading torpedoes during wartime environments -- through the torpedo tube as opposed to lowering it through the deck torpedo loading hatch. The E-11’s crew was able to successfully do this while the boat was submerged for all but the very first steps. Quite an innovative technique.
Submarine vs. submarine tactics were first developed in WWI. Gray gives some very nice information on how “bait” trawlers would be towing a submerged submarine. When a U-boat threatened the trawler, the submerged submarine would detach and attack the attacking U-boat. A complicated system that did not work well, but worked good enough for the C.24 to sink the U-40. Pretty cool considering the technology back then.
I would give this book a solid “B”. The lack of citations is a big mark against it being a useful secondary source type history book. However, the narrative format does give a very good overview of an, in my opinion, under-reported aspect of submarine history -- the development of the doctrine.
All in all, I am pleased to have added to this my library.