Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland

This new book reviews critically recent studies of fire control, and describes the essentials of naval gunnery in the dreadnought era. With a foreword by Professor Andrew Lambert, it shows how, in 1913, the Admiralty rejected Arthur Pollen's Argo system for the Dreyer fire control tables. Many naval historians now believe that, consequently, British dreadnoughts were fitted with a system that, despite being partly plagiarised from Pollen's, was inferior: and that the Dreyer Tables were a contributory cause in the sinking of Indefatigable and Queen Mary at Jutland. This book provides new and revisionist accounts of the Dreyer/Pollen controversy, and of gunnery at Jutland. In fire control, as with other technologies, the Royal Navy had been open, though not uncritically, to innovations. The Dreyer Tables were better suited to action conditions (particularly those at Jutland). Beatty's losses were the result mainly of deficient tactics and training: and his battlecruisers would have been even more disadvantaged had they been equipped by Argo. It follows the development of the Pollen and Dreyer systems, refutes the charges of plagiarism and explains Argo's rejection. It outlines the German fire control system: and uses contemporary sources in a critical reassessment of Beatty's tactics throughout the Battle of Jutland.

ISBN 0415407885   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780415407885 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 566 Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd   Published in London Imprint Routledge   Series title Cass Series: Naval Policy and History Format Paperback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 06 Apr 2006   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 940.456   Spine width (mm) 21 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Postgraduate Pages 336

1. Old Controversies, New Histories 2. Long Range Naval Gunnery 3. Progress in Gunnery 4. A.C. and Argo The Dreyer Tables 5. Influences and Choices 6. Into Battle 7. Jutland and After 8. An Exceptional Case

'For anyone seriously interested in that period of naval history, this book is indispensible.' Ruddock Mackay 'In a clear, dispassionate and compelling manner, Brooks gives us an excellent account of dreadnought gunnery at Jutland and of its previous technical evolution.' Ruddock Mackay

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