Rick's Reviews > Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command

“The Rules of the Game” by Andrew Gordon is a deconstruction of the great 1916 naval battle between the Grand Fleet of England and the High Seas Fleet of Germany near Jutland in the North Sea. At the time, this battle was shaping up as the pivotal moment for World War I naval activities. Although the battle ended up with a relatively benign result, the book is a fascinating tale of the chess moves – as one fleet tried to get the other engaged. And through it all – Gordon’s detail is wonderful.

The tale is broken into five sections: Part 1…dealing with how British naval vessels had developed over the years (battlecruisers versus battleships) and how the British Grand Fleet was assembled; Part 2…addressing initial efforts to engage the German High Seas Fleet; Part 3…detailing all the back story; Part 4...focusing on the final meet of the two battle fleets; and Part 5…musing about the aftermath. For my taste – sections 1, 2, and 4 were five-star stuff … wonderful battle scenes, intricately drawn with very helpful maps, in an easy-going writing style. Section 5 was an excellent wrapping up of the 600-page narrative. Section 3 was my only problem – it took up some 300 pages on mostly backstory – maybe 100 pages of which were interesting. Were it not for this third section, the book earns five stars.

A number of interesting facets applied in this battle and are highlighted in the narrative, such as: Nelson-era warriors (Captains of War) were those trained in decades of warring during the days of sail and they acted with a personal relationship with their commander, versus peacetime-warriors (Captains of Ships) who were trained during peacetime in the days of steel and they acted on a less-personal relationship with their commanders. Nelson-era leaders stayed in one-on-one contact with their subordinates by visits on his flagship … so subordinates knew what he wanted in the larger picture, and they could act and take initiative with respect to the overall goal when opportunities were offered. This was in contrast to the peacetime leaders who did not as a rule visit their subordinates one-on-one but rather relied so much more on an evolving flag system of communication and a still-emerging Marconi invention of wireless. Nelson-era captains expected their juniors to show creativity (like Nelson’s cutting the line of the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar), while Captains of Ships expected their juniors to follow orders (largely fleet maneuvers) without objection. There is much else in this narrative.

Overall – four stars, and if you speed through the middle section it is five-star stuff. Recommended.