The Price of Admiralty

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Military historian John Keegan’s gripping history of naval warfare’s evolution.

In The Price of Admirality, leading military historian John Keegan illuminates the history of naval combat by expertly dissecting four landmark sea battles, each featuring a different type of warship: the Battle of Trafalgar, the Battle of Jutland in World War I, the Battle of Midway in World War II, and the long and arduous Battle of the Atlantic.

“The best military historian of our generation.”—Tom Clancy
 
“The Price of Admirality stands alongside Mr. Keegan’s earlier works in its power to impart both the big and little pictures of war.”—The New York TimesIntroduction: Battle at Sea

1. Trafalgar
The Wooden World
The Strategic Background
Nelson versus Napoleon
Nelson versus Villeneuve
Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail
Battle off Cape Trafalgar
What Had Happened?
The Aftermath

2. Jutland
The Fall of the Wooden Walls
High Seas Fleet versus Royal Navy
The War at Sea before Jutland
The Ironclad World
The Battle of Jutland
The Experience of Action: Battlecruisers versus battlecruisers; battleships versus battleships; the smaller ships
The Aftermath

3. Midway
The Coming of the Aircraft Carrier
The Two Navies
The Pacific War before Midway
The Midway Campaign
The Battle of Midway: The battle over Midway island; the great carrier battle; the retreat from Midway
Counting the Cost

4. The Battle of the Atlantic: Convoys SC122 and HX229
The Emergence of the Submarine
Dönitz and the U-boat Service
The Battle of the Atlantic
The Underwater War: Convoy; U-boats; escorts; anti-submarine weapons; aircraft; radio intelligence; decryption
The Battle for Convoys HX229 and SC122: HX229 and SC122; the wolf-packs; the encounter; the massacre of HX229; the ordeal of SC122; the coming of the aircraft
The Balance of the Battle

Conclusion: An Empty Ocean

Glossary
Select Bibliography
Index

Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan (1934–2012), was one of the most distinguished contemporary military historians and was for many years the senior lecturer at Sandhurst (the British Royal Military Academy) and the defense editor of the Daily Telegraph (London). Keegan was the author of numerous books including The Face of Battle, The Mask of Command, The Price of Admiralty, Six Armies in Normandy, and The Second World War, and was a fellow at the Royal Society of Literature.

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