Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command

by Andrew Gordon

Overview

Foreword by Admiral Sir John Woodward. When published in hardcover in 1997, this book was praised for providing an engrossing education not only in naval strategy and tactics but in Victorian social attitudes and the influence of character on history. In juxtaposing an operational with a cultural theme, the author comes closer than any historian yet to explaining what was behind the often described operations of this famous 1916 battle at Jutland. Although the British fleet was victorious over the Germans, the cost in ships and men was high, and debates have raged within British naval circles ever since about why the Royal Navy was unable to take advantage of the situation. In this book Andrew Gordon focuses on what he calls a fault-line between two incompatible styles of tactical leadership within the Royal Navy and different understandings of the rules of the games.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591143369
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	02/21/2013
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	736
Sales rank:	639,484
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Andrew Gordon was the Class of '57 Distinguished Chair of Naval Heritage at the U.S. Naval Academy from 2007-09. He has a PhD in war studies and is the author of British Sea Power and Procurement between the Wars an acclaimed exploration of naval policy and administration in the 1920s and 1930s.

Table of Contents

	Illustrations	ix
	Acknowledgements	xi
	Foreword	xiii
	Introduction	1
I	Background to Battle
1	A Ship which can do Everything	7
2	The Grand Fleet	17
3	The Fifth Battle Squadron	37
4	The Grass Was Never Greener	52
5	Another Wild Goose Chase	66
II	Chasing Hipper & Evading Scheer
6	Failure to Concentrate	81
7	The Battlecruiser Duel	102
8	Standing into Danger	129
III	The Underlying Reason Why
9	The Long Calm Lee of Trafalgar	155
10	Sir George Tryon's Action Principles	193
11	Meanwhile, by Royal Appointment	215
12	Nemesis	243
13	Court-Martial	250
14	Their Lordships' Predicament	275
15	Counter-Reformation	295
16	Regulate Britannia	315
17	Ordo ab Chao	340
18	An Example to Our Countrymen	371
19	Commence Hostilities Against Germany	386
IV	Bringing Scheer to Jellicoe
20	Utmost Speed	403
21	The Clash of Battle-Fleets	433
22	Night Inaction	472
V	Aftermath
23	Something Wrong With Our System	503
24	Dirty Work Somewhere	537
25	Perspective	562
Appendix I	Time and Space at Jutland	603
Appendix II	Track-Charts	606
Appendix III	Time and Space at the 'Turn to the North'	611
Appendix IV	German Targeting at the 'Turn to the North'	614
Appendix V	Tryon's formal explanation of his Tactical Doctrine	620
	Notes	623
	Bibliography	692
	Index	697

Editorial Reviews

Gordon provides a convincing argument that leadership personalities, acceptance of risk, and how a force conceptualizes their next conflict — and trains towards it — can make or break the most formidable of forces.” —War on the Rocks

“This is history at its very best: properly raising the questions that we most want to have answered . . . . For all its learning – technical, historical, cultural – this book is always clear, vivid, and insightful. In short, great reading.” —StrategyPage

From the Publisher