Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era
£32.14
A landmark in the study of 20th century naval warfare - This is a pretty technical history book. It s a study of the development of naval gunnery from the end of the nineteenth century to the end of the big-gun era. The subject is vital for a proper understanding of the navies of the time, because the capabilities and limitations of fire-control systems shaped the doctrine of navies, and the expression of those doctrines in war shaped the history of the 20th century. The field started with Jon T Sumida, whose works are sadly out of print and has been touched on by many writers since. The previous gold standard in the field was John Brooks Dreadnaught Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland. Friedman has excelled him by far.There has been a fair amount of new research on this subject in the past few years. Much of it has been published in the journal Warship International, where I ve read it. It has been exquisitely detailed in its description of the mechanical computers that told gunnery officers where to point their guns, but lacking in appreciation of the effects that these systems had: the tactics shaped by them, and the ideas they prompted.That gap has now been filled, and all of that research integrated into a narrative. Naval Firepower is unusual in the way that it integrates analysis of the machinery, its development, and the politics that surrounded it, with the tactical ideas that it was designed to serve, and which were changed by the features of the systems. It has become, instantly, the primary text that everyone interested in the period needs to read, learn and digest. Friedman has produced definitive accounts of several strands of naval history. This book is that far rarer thing, a definitive analysis.