The Dreadnought and the Edwardian Age

When the HMS Dreadnought first entered British naval service in 1906, she was by no means the first to bear that name, but in recognition of the technological revolution the ship represented and its impact on naval history an entire class of ship came to be known as Dreadnoughts, although the iconic status of the Dreadnought reached well into spheres beyond naval technology and strategy. In this volume, Blyth (curator of imperial and maritime history, National Maritime Museum, UK), Lambert (naval history, King's College, UK), and Ruger (modern European history, U. of London, UK) present 11 papers from a conference held on the centenary of the launching of the Dreadnought for the purpose of bridging gaps between naval history and other sub-disciplines of history in consideration of the ship's importance to the Edwardian age. Topics addressed include the symbolic value of the Dreadnought; the significance of the Dreadnought for British foreign policy and German naval policy; maritime symbolism in Edwardian gender politics; technological, economic, and strategic contexts of the Dreadnought; and the place of the Dreadnought in the evolution of grand battle-fleet tactics. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Robert J. Blyth is curator of imperial and maritime history at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK. Andrew Lambert is Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies at King's College, London, UK. Jan RA?ger is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.