Notes to self on: WWI Naval Technical Reference Resources

This is a random 'pull together' of my current WWI (and slightly earlier Pre-Dreadnought) Naval Resources:  
Primary Data Sources (Books):
Conway's Pre (blue) and Dreadnought (green), as both types fought in WWI (see below):

Jane's, although it could be argued that it is a mixture of fact and fiction it certainly gives the flavour of the era (see below):

Brown who describes in great detail the RN's ship building programme (see below):

Source of "Ship counters/models and maps" to cover all nations and theatres in WWI:

Avalanche Press, Great War at Sea Series: 

Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 (see above), I also have these ships in 1/3000 courtesy of Navwar Tsushima Pack and extending out to cover the pre-Tsushima "Yellow Sea" and the like battles around Port Arthur
 

Board Game Vol. I - The Mediterranean (see above), I had been after this one for a while (seeing it for £60 at Salute in London years ago when I was in London I didn't mind buying it for £25 and waiting while it came from America). Likewise, I have the combatant nations ships (down to and including a representative few destroyers) in Navwar's 1/3000. 

Board Game Vol. II - The North Sea, where the big boys play. Jutland and everything else that went on in the North Sea including the American Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet. Yes I have the Navwar 1/3000 models (gaining a flying start with the Jutland Battle Pack and expanding afterwards) for this (down to the representative destroyer level), including the Americans, Baltic Russians and Swedish Fleets.

The remaining Avalanche Press WWI naval game of interest is the Cruiser Warfare (more "commerce raider" global strategy than "Fleet Action"). This would cover Von Spee's East Asiatic Squadron (which did have small squadron actions at Coronel and The Falklands), SMS Emden, SMS Karlschruhe and the SMS Konigsberg.

The Navwar lists have now by and large have been 'plundered' regarding WWI 'standard fair' and I seem to be now extracting the more and more exotic or "ships that never made it off the drawing board"

What Next?:
What is needed is to put all the above to some good use in a "Naval Wargame Campaign"

Mediterranean 1914/1915 including Gallipolli Books (Naval) - Notes to Self

For me there are the big five main reference works to the Naval situation in the Mediterranean during the early period of WWI. You cannot escape the mass of detail in the Official/Unofficial Admiralty (endorsed if not actively sponsored the RN) of the  Naval History of WWI by Sir Julian Corbett (see below):

"Naval operations (History of the Great War based on official documents, by direction of the Historical section of the Committee of Imperial Defence)"

In addition there are two other books by Dan Van Der Vat (nope that' his real name fokes) worthy of reading. First, there is his "one that got away" the SMS Goeben book (see below):

 
Then there is the follow on story about the (naval) events were a consequence of the fiasco (see below):

What was also fascinating was the finding of a FREE digital copy (courtesy of Microsoft and Toronto University) of the book published privately in the 1920's (at the Admiral's own expense) by the Senior British Naval Officer (C-in-C of the Mediterranean Fleet) basically defending his decision-making and actions (see below): 

All of this rich history has a certain connection with Sir Winston Churchill, sadly not in a positive light. 

As a good overview read of WWI Naval in general  you cannot go wrong with "Castles of Steel" (see below):

I feel a stirring in my "dreadnought 1/3000 fleets" before Xmas 2013 (perhaps 2014 would be more appropriate)

For those of Naval (WWI) disposition ...

Something for the weekend sir?

The curious affair of the Goeban and the Breslau in the opening weeks of the First World War is a compelling "murder mystery" that could have well had many different endings.

Thanks to the Internet Archive a rare book by one of the admirals involved is available through this link:
http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7024818M/The_flight_of_the_Goeben_and_the_Breslau

It is not a 'heavy' read but best read after a more modern history book (For example Van Der Vat's book on the Goeban, or Castles of Steel), it puts quite a 'sad case' (IMHO) of 'why it was not my fault' and was written in response to the 1920 Admiralty 'Official History' by Sir Julian Corbett

It all but begs for a mini-campaign (which I believe is available in an old issue of Strategy and Tactics)