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Naval War College Review Volume 60 Article 21 Number 2 Spring 2007 The aB ttle of eliogolH and Bight and Distant Victory: The aB ttle of utlJ and and the Allied Triumph in the First World War Holger H. Herwig Eric W. Osborne Daniel Allen Butler Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Herwig, Holger H.; Osborne, Eric W.; and Butler, Daniel Allen (2007) "The aB ttle of eH liogoland Bight and Distant Victory: The Battle of utlJ and and the Allied Triumph in the First World War," Naval War College Review: Vol. 60 : No. 2 , Article 21. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol60/iss2/21 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen BOOK REVIEWS 163 Herwig et al.: The Battle of Heliogoland Bight and Distant Victory: The Battle o Alton Keith Gilbert, a retired naval of- losses of personnel and equipment only ficer, uses a descriptive survey method enhances the understanding of the im- of research through letters, operational pact of that war on both the U.S. and documents, fitness reports, personal Japanese forces. The bibliography is a accounts, and awards to chronicle the great resource for anyone who desires biography of Admiral John “Slew” additional information on the topic. McCain. The only criticism I have relates to the The book builds a strong sense of the title. The book comes up a little short character and tenacity of McCain and on the actual leadership characteristics his ability as a warfighter through one of McCain, and I found myself search- of the most difficult periods of World ing for those qualities in his style and War II. From his commissioning as an character. Yet this is a must-read for ensign to admiral, McCain was influ- anyone who desires to learn about an- enced by the Navy’s greatest leaders. other one of the great admirals of The author describes the development World War II. of McCain as he progressed through his THOMAS ZELIBOR sea and shore assignments. The study Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired) culminates in a detailed description of Naval War College the war in the Pacific and the tactics used, particularly when dealing with Japanese kamikaze pilots, under McCain’s operational leadership. An intriguing aspect of this book is the Osborne, Eric W. The Battle of Heligoland Bight. Indianapolis: Indiana Univ. Press, 2006. 141pp. detailed description of the political $27.95 dealings among the Navy’s senior lead- ers. This allows the reader to under- Butler, Daniel Allen. Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World stand some of the activity behind the War. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security Interna- scenes that ultimately shaped the out- tional, 2006. 251pp. $44.95 come of the war. It is clear that McCain was a warrior’s warrior who literally After two decades of unrelenting pub- worked himself to death: “After Japan lishing on the land war of 1914–18, it is surrendered on September 2, 1945, nice to see attention being paid to the McCain flew back to his home in the war at sea, for that effort ranged from U.S. and died in his bed the next day— distant blockades, mine warfare, unre- perhaps from heart failure but more stricted submarine warfare, and dashing probably from exhaustion.” His dedica- destroyer melees, to the largest pitched tion to the country, accomplishment of surface fleet battle to that time. Both the mission, and loyalty to his superiors authors tell their stories with a passion are constant themes of the book. for narrative, paying close attention not only to admirals but also to the “com- The extensive resources and the author’s mon sailor” at war. Both come well pre- personal experience as a naval officer pared: Osborne, of Virginia Military make this a credible, historically accu- Institute, has published Britain’s Eco- rate work. Gilbert’s style brings to life nomic Blockade of Germany, 1914–1919 the experience of the Pacific War. In (2004) and Cruisers and Battle Cruisers: addition, specific data regarding the Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2007 1 C:\WIP\NWCR\NWC Review Spring 2007.vp Monday, May 14, 2007 3:57:52 PM Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen 164 NAVAL WAR COLLEGE REVIEW Naval War College Review, Vol. 60 [2007], No. 2, Art. 21 An Illustrated History of Their Impact notifying other commands; cruisers at- (2004), while Butler, a former U.S. tempted to ram their own submarines; Army officer and media commentator, submarines made attack runs on their is the author of The Age of Cunard own cruisers; and destroyers engaged a (2004). Norwegian neutral, mistaking it for a Osborne’s Battle of Heligoland Bight is German minelayer. The German com- solid naval history. On 28 August 1914 mand did not perform much better. It British cruisers, destroyers, and subma- failed to appreciate the size of the Brit- rines descended into the Heligoland ish force and refused to recognize that Bight and surprised German scouting it was supported by battle cruisers. It forces, which lost the light cruisers SMS also hesitated to send out its own battle Mainz, SMS Koln, SMS Ariadne, and cruisers in time to assist. The fact that the torpedo boat V-187, as well as 1,251 German battleships had to wait hours officers and men killed, wounded, or for high tide so they could cross the captured. The British, in contrast, suf- Jade Bar at Wilhelmshaven did not help fered damage to one light cruiser and matters, nor did the true “fog of war,” three destroyers, as well as thirty-five namely, a heavy fog that swirled around officers and men killed and forty Heligoland all that day. In short, this is wounded. Beyond these losses, the im- a superb book on the all but forgotten portance of the battle lies in the fact first surface battle of World War I. that it reinforced the already timid Distant Victory, of course, has the ad- stance of the German High Sea Fleet vantage that it is about a well known command. battle, the greatest in history to that Osborne’s two major contributions are date. On 31 May 1916, off Denmark’s at the command level and at the tactical Jutland Peninsula, twenty-four British level. Senior commanders, British and dreadnoughts and their escorts squared German, performed woefully. There off against sixteen German dread- was a lack of coordination with the noughts and their escorts—in all, 151 forces at sea and among the forces en- British warships against ninety-nine gaged in battle. There were also prob- German warships. Butler relates the re- lems with communication (delays in sulting battle in gripping, dramatic decoding messages and jammed trans- style. He has a keen eye for the bold missions) and an overall failure to pro- narrative, whether speaking of a de- vide commanders with intelligence on stroyer or a battleship, a commander or the composition and position of enemy a gunner. He follows the traditional forces. reading of Jutland, that it was a tactical German victory (fourteen British ships Officers who today fear that in a “real” were lost to the Germans’ eleven, and war the enemy may well deprive them 6,784 British casualties as against 3,058 of cybernetic capabilities must read this German) but a British strategic victory, book. Heligoland showed what it was insofar as the High Sea Fleet failed to like to fight “blind” and under adverse break the Grand Fleet’s iron grip on the conditions. Clausewitz’s “fog of war” exits of the North Sea. As the New York was omnipresent, especially on the Brit- Herald trenchantly put it on 3 June ish side: battle signals were misread; 1916, “The German fleet has assaulted major units put out to sea without https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol60/iss2/21 2 C:\WIP\NWCR\NWC Review Spring 2007.vp Monday, May 14, 2007 3:57:52 PM Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen BOOK REVIEWS 165 Herwig et al.: The Battle of Heliogoland Bight and Distant Victory: The Battle o its jailer, but it is still in jail.” Unfortu- submarine warfare, are not just inaccu- nately, Butler fails to draw on the great- rate but make a mockery of that schol- est strategic lesson for the Germans: on arship. Careful editorial work could 4 July Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the have averted some of this. Regrettably, “victor of the Skagaerrak,” informed it did not. Kaiser Wilhelm II that further fleet ac- HOLGER H. HERWIG tions would be futile and that only “the University of Calgary defeat of British economic life, that is, by using the U-boats against British trade,” could swing the balance in the war. Lamentably, Butler’s lack of familiarity with German documents and recent Henriques, Peter R. Realistic Visionary: A Portrait historiography mars an otherwise inter- of George Washington. Charlottesville: Univ. of esting book. Apart from misspelled Virginia Press, 2006. 256pp. $26.95 German words and ships’ names, there The man who was “first in war, first in are major howlers. Thus Ludendorff is peace and first in the hearts of his coun- raised to the nobility as “von,” Hugo trymen” is also first as a subject in the von Pohl in 1914 is listed as the High contemporary revival of popular inter- Sea Fleet’s chief of staff rather than as est in the founding fathers.