David Seymour Posted 8 December , 2007 Share Posted 8 December , 2007 Has anybody read Filson Young's With the Battlecruisers? What are your opinions of it? With best wishes, David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonharley Posted 31 December , 2007 Share Posted 31 December , 2007 I've seen it many times before, and only read it because I found a free download. I did a bit of reading-up on Young before reading the book, and it was as I expected. Young was something of a hyper-active journalist who wangled his way into the R.N.V.R. The amount of exposure he had among the higher echelons of the Royal Navy is extremely impressive. His account of going about joining the Navy is interesting, though full of the usual griping about inefficiency, obstruction &c. I'm probably not the best suited to review the book as I'm prejudiced against the author, but aside from Young's needling comments against the Admiralty "With the Battlecruisers" is full of little every-day details about the Battle Cruiser Force which otherwise one wouldn't know about, as well as covering the Battle of the Heligoland Bight and the Dogger Bank. His Appendix at the end, where he criticises the Admiralty's control of the official records and the manner in which it was looked after is very interesting, though not for the acerbic reasons Young would wish perhaps. Admiral Alexander Berkeley Milne, he who is held responsible for the Escape of the Goeben, had a major problem in trying to ascertain who was in charge of materiel in the Official Naval History, this at least solves some of the question's he rose. The anti-Admiralty slant aside, the book is fascinating. I'll be re-reading it again in the next couple of days, just to see what else I can glean from it. Simon For anyone else interested in downloading it... http://icanhide.com/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL2...W5nJmFzX2Jycj0x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Seymour Posted 31 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 31 December , 2007 Simon, Thank you very much for your assessment of "With the Battlecruisers", and for the link to a download of the text. I am keen to read it but I cannot make any sense of the link when I click on it! Advice sought from an expert, please! With best wishes, David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 31 December , 2007 Share Posted 31 December , 2007 Welcome to the Forum, Simon, and thanks for letting us know about the free download. I too hope that you will be able to post a direct link to it. Interesting to hear that Young was critical of Admiralty control of official records. Official records of some operations that I am interested in are missing (and were noted as missing as early as 1922), so I shall be interested to read what he has to say on that subject. Why, incidentally, are you prejudiced against the author? Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonharley Posted 31 December , 2007 Share Posted 31 December , 2007 Apologies, the link had worked when I first put it in. If you're in the United States or Canada, just go to http://books.google.com and enter "With the Battlecruisers" in the search field. If not, then go to http://icanhide.com, THEN type the Google Books link in, THEN search for "With the Battlecruisers". Both the British and American publications are online, should you choose to search by author (different titles). From my experience, most people writing about the war-time Royal Navy have an axe to grind. I assumed form his bio that Young would the same (prolific author with a habit of being insurbodinate with editors), and to some extent he bore me out; some of his passages are shockingly rude (for example suggesting Churchill, Beatty and an Admiral he had just met were all stupid due to their differing answers to a question) and he's not afraid of being critical. Part polemic, part exceptional narrative history. Of course, the Admiralty's handling of official records could go a long way towards explaining his tone, and in his position, who knows, I might have done the same. I am sorry I can't really be more specific, other than it is a very good read for those interested in life and war at sea in the Great War. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Seymour Posted 31 December , 2007 Author Share Posted 31 December , 2007 Simon, I am still having trouble with this link. I must be doing something wrong. Clicking on the icanhide and pasting in the google link http://books.google.com comes up with a query from the icanhide site! Many thanks for your efforts. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 1 January , 2008 Share Posted 1 January , 2008 I'm having the same problem. Can Simon post a direct link? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonharley Posted 1 January , 2008 Share Posted 1 January , 2008 I have no idea why it's not working I'm afraid, as it works fine for me every time! In lieu of that, here's my copy; http://download.yousendit.com/C17A90EE2F86D2B0 Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 1 January , 2008 Share Posted 1 January , 2008 Thanks, Simon - that worked nicely. Now all I need is time to read it ... Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Seymour Posted 1 January , 2008 Author Share Posted 1 January , 2008 Thank you, Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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