Falling into Battle

It's a book.  In a series called the War to End All Wars.  Four Brit midshipmen on the St. Vincent get promoted to sub lietenant and sent off on their separate ways.  In 1914.  Well, three.  One just doesn't fit in an is not promoted. This loser leaves naval and joings the national guard, or Territorials because his father insists he make something of himself or get cut out.  One Toff gets assigned to the flagship Iron Duke, one orphan with an inherited private income gets a Destroyer, and the other gets a Cruiser in the South Atlantic, the Good Hope.

It starts a little over expository, and does a decent historical job. It's about the events surrounding in 1914, and less about the people.  I want more detail on lives from 100 years ago.  Details we are quickly losing if not lost already.  No mention of shaving brushes or brands of razor blades.  What tobacco products they use.  But that's me being picky.  There is some of that, it's not just a history book, the personal narratives are more than adequate.  

This book concentrates on the Destroyer man and the Terrier (and Army life suits him, despite being reflexively lazy until things start to go down), more than the other two.  Though the poor Cruiser guy has SO much foreshadowing...  That's a thing.  Shocking how the end come.  The Destoyer man, Sturton, watches a sister ship hit a mine and then the screws drive the ship under.  All hands, gone.  Submarines are pooh-poohed until they sink 3 combat ships in quick succession in the North Atlantic.  The Brits underestimate them because their own subs had so little luck.  So much death.  That happened.    

And ship design was awful.  The Acorn class forward 4" gun could not be used when the ship was moving at any decent speed.  So many of the older ship were obsolete, yet still put to sea to fight, filled with old reservist men and boys.  If the subs didn't sink them they stood no chance against modern combatants.  THESE were the ships tasked to patrol and sally out.  The modern British vessels were holed up in Scotland waiting to go big fleet versus big fleet against the Hun.  Just and awful way to run a war.

Thank God for Jackie Fisher or there would have been many more obsolete ships on the lists to be victimized.  

Anyway, the book itself.  It's not Otto Prohaska novel, but it is still pretty good.  I recommend to any interested in the Great War.