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Confusion and poor staff work in the Admiralty led to a failure to make proper use of the vital information gleaned by Room 40, the brilliant Admiralty intelligence centre, which was able to read German signals traffic. Many years of totally irrelevant experience and inappropriate disciplines in the Victorian and Edwardian navies were poor preparation for 20th century warfare, and led to bad decisions being made by senior officers during the battle. Careless ammunition handling resulted in the loss of three battle cruisers and over 3,000 deaths.British warships were designed for world-wide cruising and to project naval might on a global basis, instead of being optimised for encounters close to home, in the North Sea. By contrast the German fleet performed magnificently and their ships proved extremely durable, but this was not enough to enable them to mount a serious challenge to superior British fire power and numbers. The book argues that the building of the High Seas Fleet was a strategic blunder on the part of the Germans, who could have forced Britain out of the war completely if they had instead concentrated on their submarine fleet and on mine-laying.  Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the British Grand Fleet, was in the unenviable position of having to give overriding priority to keeping his fleet intact, rather than inflicting a crushing defeat on the enemy. 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A superb seaman, inspiring leader and fearless fighter he immediately caught the eye of senior figures in the naval establishment as well as the up and coming politician, Winston Churchill. The relationship between these two brave men survived disappointment, disagreement and eventually disillusion. Unlike some of his contemporaries Keyes was unable to make the transition from sailor to politician and was inclined to embarrass his friends and allies by his intemperate language and total lack of political acumen. Always eager to lead from the front and hurl himself at the enemy his mind set tended to be that of a junior officer trying to prove himself, not that of a senior Admiral.  Trained in some of the last of Britain's sailing warships, Keyes served in submarines in the North Sea, destroyers in China and as a senior staff officer in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. As commander of the Dover Patrol he planned and led the highly controversial Zeebrugge Raid and successfully combated U-boats passing along the English Channel. In World War II he begged to be given a combat command but, in spite of their close personal friendship, Churchill realised that he was too old to be suitable for a front line role and his undisguised contempt for many senior Naval and Airforce officers made him extremely unpopular in official circles.  To his credit, Churchill did not let his personal friendship and admiration of Keyes blind him to his temperamental and intellectual limitations. 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Between 1892, when the first destroyers were laid down, and 1918, destroyers evolved radically from 27-knot, 250-ton ships into 35-knot, 1,530-ton ships. All these ships were involved in some form during World War I; the smaller, original destroyers in an auxiliary support role and the newer, larger destroyers at some of the greatest sea battles of the war. This account highlights the role the destroyers played in the North Sea during the crucial battles to control the Heligoland Bight, as well as the major fleet action at the battle of Jutland in 1916.  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Two young cousins, one a highly motivated professional pilot, the other a rather effete young artist, are serving in opposing air forces but in love with the same girl, Angela. Disenchanted with the Nazi regime, Hans, the German, finds himself under a deadly threat from which only Angela can save him. Meanwhile his cousin William, now a reluctant bomber pilot, has to save his crew from the clutches of the Gestapo. 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