Military history has always fascinated me. I grew up in Britain with my parents’ tales of service in the Second World War on land, sea, and in the air. The First World War saw the zenith of British sea power and was an obvious draw. The scale and scope of the fighting were huge, and I’ve been researching the naval war in depth for over thirty years. The high levels of literacy of the combatants mean that it is also possible to gain deep insights into their experiences. This makes for stories I'm passionate about discovering as a reader and telling as an author. I hope this list helps you discover them too.
I wrote
Harwich Submarines in the Great War: The First Submarine Campaign of the Royal Navy in 1914
If there is one story to fire the imagination about naval action in the First World War, it is that of the German cruiser Emden and her crew. Her commander, Karl von Müller, showed skill and chivalrous humanity in equal measure.
Emden raided the Indian Ocean, pursued by numerous Allied warships, causing havoc to commerce. The cruise ended in an epic final action with the Australian cruiser Sydney. Part of the crew then made an audacious escape home across the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Desert.
Lochner’s research is thorough, making extensive use of archive material to tell the story. This is essential for writing well-informed history, but he also brings the crew and their adventures vividly to life.
Based on German, French, and English sources, this World War I saga of the German cruiser Emden provides a colorful portrait of a lost era of naval warfare and a lasting tribute to a legendary merchant raider. Though dauntless in pursuit of enemy ships, the Emden treated captured crews with great courtesy and is remembered today as the last man-of-war that adhered to a chivalric code of conduct. The bold and gallant raids against Allied merchant ships in the Indian Ocean earned the Emden the admiration of friend and foe alike. In a single raid it sank a Russian cruiser…
The remarkable story of the Royal Navy Submarine Service in the First World War deserves greater recognition. This book takes you inside their world.
It tells the story of an action-packed patrol by submarine E.11 into the dangerous Turkish waters of the Sea of Marmora during the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915. E.11’s captain, Martin Nasmith VC, pushed the limits of what was possible to attack enemy warships and supplies, even swimming out to disarm a torpedo that failed to explode in order to use it again!
The book resembles a novel, but the events are entirely factual to the historical record. Nasmith and his crew collaborated closely in the drafting. It is this that gives the book the feel of experiencing the events with them as they unfold.
David Fletcher needs a surgeon, stat! But when he captures a British merchantman in the Caribbean, what he gets is Charley Alcott, an apprentice physician barely old enough to shave. Needs must, and Captain Fletcher takes the prisoner back aboard his ship with orders to do his best or he’ll…
The work of Bletchley Park in the Second World War is well known. The equally important role that the enigmatically named Room 40 played in the First World War is less well known.
This book unravels the story of this formidable naval code breaking and intelligence unit. It was made up of men from all walks of life, under the leadership of the maverick genius and spymaster, Rear-Admiral ‘Blinker’ Hall.
Without the work of Room 40 there would have been no naval battles at Dogger Bank and Jutland. The U-Boat campaign against commerce would have been much harder to overcome. Most importantly, read how their work on the infamous Zimmermann Telegram led directly to the American declaration of war.
Recounts World War I intelligence operations of the British, shows how broken German codes were used to help control the shipping lanes, and identifies the events in which Naval Intelligence played a key role
Successful amphibious operations are hard to pull off. The Allies failure at Gallipoli is well known.
This book tells the story of Operation Albion, the successful German seizure of the Russian islands in the Baltic. A large part of the German Fleet was involved and had to overcome stubborn resistance by the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers of the Russian Fleet to break into the Gulf of Riga.
The Baltic is a little-known theatre of naval operations. The book draws on both Russian and German sources to show how the German Fleet and Army worked hand in hand to achieve a decisive victory in this theatre of the naval war.
In late 1917, the Russians, despite the revolution, were still willing to continue the war against Germany. This is an account of Operation Albion, the highly-successful seaborne operation launched by the Germans to change their minds. The Baltic Islands were pivotal for the defence of the Finnish Gulf and St. Petersburg, so their capture wasessential for any campaign towards the Russian capital. Only after the fall of the islands did Russia begin peace negotiations (freeing nearly half a million German soldiers for the Kaiser's last gamble on the Western Front). This then was a campaign of great significance for the…
An enthralling portrait of the Bloomsbury Group’s key figures told through a rich collection of intimate photographs. Photography framed the world of the Bloomsbury Group. The thousands of photographs surviving in albums kept by Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Dora Carrington, and Lytton Strachey, among others, today offer us a private…
This is a five-volume history focusing on the Anglo-German naval rivalry from its origins in 1904 to the ultimate demise of the Imperial German Fleet in 1919. This is history writing at its epic best.
Marder’s approach to history is even handed and avoids partisanship. His research is monumental is scale and he developed a network of relationships with many of the key figures in the story. The result is an incredibly well researched and informed history of the naval war, with great depth of insight, all written in an approachable style.
A true classic of naval literature that is a joy to read and is unlikely to ever be surpassed.
Arthur Marder's critically acclaimed five volume series, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, represents one of the finest contributions to the literature of naval history since the work of Alfred Mahan. These new editions of the series are published with a new introduction by Barry Gough, distinguished Canadian maritime and naval historian, that provide an assessment of the importance of Marder's work and anchors it firmly amongst the great naval narrative histories of this era.
"His naval history has a unique fascination. To unrivalled mastery of sources he adds a gift of simple narrative . . . He is beyond…
The commanders of British submarines in the First World War were daring, highly skilled individuals, who took enormous risks taking the fight to the enemy. This is the story of how their crews pushed deep into German waters to attack their Fleet. This played a critical and often overlooked part in enabling British naval success in the North Sea in 1914.
Extensive research into naval archives, letters, diaries, memoirs, and contemporary photographs are used to give a complete account of the planning, personalities, and action of the 1914 campaign. The text is supported by 50 specially prepared charts and illustrations. Nominated for the Maritime Foundation’s 2022 Mountbatten Award for Best Book, with a foreword by Rear Admiral Jonathan Westbrook CBE, former Royal Navy Submariner.
A spy school for girls amidst Jane Austen’s high society.
Daughters of the Beau Monde who don’t fit London society’s strict mold are banished to Stranje House, where the headmistress trains these unusually gifted girls to enter the dangerous world of spies in the Napoleonic wars. #1 NYT bestselling author…
Benghazi: A New History is a look back at the enigmatic 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, its long-tail causes, and devastating (and largely unexamined) consequences for US domestic politics and foreign policy. It contains information not found elsewhere, and is backed up by 40 pages of…
