The state of the British Navy in 1915

[Naval Review]. The Naval Review. Vol. III, No. 4. November, 1915.

€ 500.00

A fascinating and evidently quite scarce overview of the state of the British Navy in the early years of the First World War. Of particular interest are the chapters "The Persian Gulf", "Three Months on the Syrian Coast", "A Short Description of the Landing of the Australians at Gaba Tepe", and "The Suez Canal": all operations which shaped the Muslim world in the 20th century. Detailed herein are the Mesopotamian Campaign, in which the British travelled from the Gulf up the river Tigris to conquer Baghdad, the failed landings at Gallipoli, and defensive action at the Suez. Illustrated throughout with maps, some folding, of naval campaigns and strategic land garrisons. The chapter "The Persian Gulf" includes two of the four maps in this volume, showing British progress up the Tigris from the Gulf and a plan of the district around Kurna, Turkish positions, and the geography of the battlefield - though noting that the distinction between dry and marshland was non-existent, as the whole thing was "under water, except the few ridges marked".

The Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart holds a few early issues (BZ 3953), though none from the third year, as here.