Atlantic Fleet 1917 - 1918
A Historical Study

When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, the U.S. Navy possessed the third-largest battle fleet on the planet, behind those of Britain and Germany. The U.S. Army sent over two million men to France by the time the war ended, plus two brigades of Marines. Fewer than 700 of them would be lost along the way, to accidents and enemy action. That astounding record came thanks to the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Fleet.

Atlantic Fleet is a Historical Study of this little-discussed segment of the First World War’s naval aspect. To the best of our knowledge, this American naval deployment has never been fully described in a published history. Yet it was huge, involving almost every operational warship of the U.S. Navy. All operational dreadnoughts and pre-dreadnoughts, plus nearly all of the Navy’s cruisers, prepared to meet the challenge of German surface raiders sneaking past the Grand Fleet to wreak havoc on the vulnerable troop convoys carrying tens of thousands of Doughboys each.. A squadron of dreadnoughts joined the British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. Another detachment went to Ireland. Another battle force remained on alert at Hampton Roads, Virginia, while American warships escorted the convoys, cleared and laid minefields, and patrolled the Atlantic.

Atlantic Fleet discusses all of these, plus the broader story of the U.S. Navy in World War One, its ships and its men. Most of the Great War’s naval historiography is centered on Jutland, with precious little on the American effort, which involved essentially every available combat unit. That’s what historians call a lacuna (a pretentious Latin term for “gap”), and we aim to fill it.

Atlantic Fleet is a companion book to the Great War at Sea series. It’s a standalone book and you don’t need to know anything about the games to enjoy it.

Links:

Stock Code: APL7010

Price: $32.99

Status: Coming Soon