WW1 at Sea

Images of WWI in the popular consciousness normally involve the bloody attrition of trench warfare, the miles of mud, the shattered earth, the tangled miles of barbed wire. However there was another significant arena of war - the battle for control of the sea. In 1914 at the beginning of the war, Britain's maritime supremacy had remained unchallenged for around a hundred years. Many expected another Battle of Trafalgar but advances in technology saw a very different kind of warfare with the widespread use of mines, submarines and torpedoes. This book examines the events that led to war and the naval arms race between Britain and Germany. It traces the events of the war at sea looking at the major battles as well as the effects of unrestricted submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania. It also profiles key figures such as Fisher, Beatty, Tirpitz and Graf von Spee.

Victoria Carolan is a cultural historian specialising in maritime history and film. She has just completed her doctoral thesis, British Maritime History, National Identity and Film 1900-1960 at Queen Mary, University of London. She previously held a two year research fellowship at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht funded by the Dutch Government, looking at maritime identities through history, philosophy and photography.