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At the start of the First World War Imperial Germany had the second most powerful fleet in the world, despite being a largely continental power, with a short coastline and limited overseas commitments. As a result one of the first things the author tackles is the purpose behind the High Seas Fleet,
The author makes some good points about the purpose of the High Seas Fleet, in particular the ‘Risk Theory’ that had been used to justify creating it. This was the idea that although the High Seas Fleet would probably never be powerful enough to actually defeat the Royal Navy, it could inflict so much damage on it that the British would be left dangerously vulnerable to other rivals. As the author points out, by 1914 the British were allied with the French, Russians and Japanese. Italy had a potentially dangerous fleet, but remained neutral in 1914 and could be left to the French if they did enter the war. The United States was neutral, and extremely unlikely to suddenly embark on a war against Britain, so there was nobody left to exploit any potential British defeat. In addition the British were out-building the Germans so could increasingly afford to suffer significant losses without losing their naval edge.
We then move on to an examination of the ships of the High Seas Fleet. What we find here is that the British and Germans were very well matched – German battleships tended to have better armour but be slower, have less powerful guns but be more accurate. Their battlecruisers were clearly better designed for fighting in the North Sea than their British opponents. At smaller sizes the two sides were individually well matched, but the Germans were outnumbered. The High Seas Fleet was well led, but again suffered from a lack of clear purpose, and also from interference from the Kaiser, whose unwillingless to risk his ships often restricted the freedom of action of his commanders. There is an interesting section on the fleet’s bases, in particular Wilhelmshaven, a purpose built naval base but one that wasn’t designed for a fleet as large as the High Seas Fleet, and suffered from only being fully accessible at high tide.
Next comes a look at the combat performance of the High Seas Fleet. This covers the well known battles – Dogger Bank, Heligoland and Jutland, but also the less familiar coastal raids. The impression here is of a fleet that was just as well trained and led as the British Grand Fleet, but too badly outnumbered to actually achieve much. It was also led down by its intelligence services – in general the British knew when the Germans were at sea, but the opposite wasn’t the case – this was the case at Jutland, where the presence of the main part of the Grand Fleet wasn’t known in advance of contact.
This is a useful study of this rather controversial fleet, giving a good idea of the high quality of its individual components, but also of its lack of a real purpose and limited impact on the fighting during the First World War.
Chapters
The Fleet’s Purpose
Fleet Fighting Power
How the Fleet Operated
Combat and Analysis
Author: Angus Konstam
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 80
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2023