For the naval wargamer there are suggestions for hypothetical scenarios among the details of individual voyages, such as these near encounters with the ill-fated SMS Karlsruhe in 1914:

[Rear Admiral] Cradock quickly reached the conclusion that he was unable to catch the faster German cruiser and made radio contact with two of his own ships, Bristol and Berwick, where were located along the course line that [Captain] Kohler has set. Bristol ... was on a reciprocal course to Karlsruhe and at 20.15 spotted her six miles distant, illuminated by a full moon. [Captain Fanshawe] swung Bristol on to a parallel course and opened fire at 7,000 yards. Karlsruhe replied but neither ship scored a hit in the gathering gloom. ... There was a chance that Berswick might have intercepted the German cruiser at about 08.00 next morning, but at the critical moment she made an alteration of course which took her away from her quarry.

That's not to say this information isn't often available elsewhere; it usually is. The exploits of most of the German warships are dealt with in other naval histories while William Putnam's The Kaiser's Merchant Ships in World War I gives a more detailed and comprehensive account of the German armed merchant raiders. Nonetheless the evenly balanced coverage of seldom presented material, such as the voyages of the SMS Karlsruhe and the SMS Königsberg, are gratifying. Unfortunately the author doesn't seem as comfortable with the global political or strategic context and is not reliably erudite or subtle with these topics. It is suggested, for example, that von Spee's intention to seek a decision with Cradock at Coronel was dismissive of commerce strategy when there are ample published insights into von Spee's thinking; including the notion of his "fleet-in-being" as a potential weapon of strategic commerce warfare. That this may have been flawed strategy is not the point.

This edition also betrays evidence of inappropriately frugal production; the maps are poorly reproduced from material in the public domain, there is no bibliography and the index seems an afterthought. There are also a number of obvious typographical errors in the text. One hopes this is an aberration in the clearly evolving business model of Pen and Sword Maritime. Unlike other recent published works of theirs on similar topics, this edition seems to have suffered from excessive editorial economy in spite of an interesting subject and an obvious investment in otherwise good physical book quality.

Shaun Appleby 05 August 2014