User:Simon Harley/The Rules of the Game

The Rules of the Game: Jutland and the British Naval Command is a 1996 book by Dr. Andrew Gordon.

Critique

Page	Quote	Critique
p. 7.	"A senior officer's little joke."	How does he know that Captain Arthur Craig was joking?
p. 10.	"Fisher was still loath to be diverted from his super-cruiser concept."	Reading far too much into Ruddock Mackay, Fisher of Kilverstone.
p. 12.	Topic of fire control.	Gordon reveals his complete ignorance of fire control.
p. 13.	Criticising battlecruisers "would have injured his professional prospects."	Carlyon Bellairs can hardly be called an expert on the career prospects of the Royal Navy.
p. 17.	Jellicoe "as a small alert-looking man with a large nose and a rather yellow complexion."	Gordon deliberately chose the more insulting of Lorimer's two descriptions of Jellicoe. He could have chosen the far more revealing "He is an alert active-looking man. His responsibilities don't seem to weigh too heavily on him."
p. 33.	"Malice born of envy and frustration" in relation to opinions of Beatty.	It is certainly not for Gordon to speculate as to the reasons these people had such contempt for Beatty.
p. 35.	Jellicoe: "(having little interest in history.")	Doesn't account for Jellicoe's later close friendship with Sir Julian Stafford Corbett, his references in letters to Nelson and frigates, and his later foreword to The English Navy in the Revolution of 1688.
p. 506	Signals made "allegedly, one every sixty-seven seconds." Quoting Marder. Dreadnought to Scapa Flow. III. p. 228n.	Both Gordon and Marder can't count. The Battle Fleet made 129 signals in the time given by Marder (17:59 - 20:28), which is 8,940 seconds. The average is one every 69.3 seconds, not 67 as Gordon has it or the ambiguous 1.07 minutes as Marder gives it.
p. 517	"Shannon's GO was recommended for "not opening fire".	Seemingly not a very good target for criticism on this count. Shannon's Lieutenant-Commander (G) Frederic W. Bennett reported that the sights were set to a "purely arbitrary 15,000 yards" with "no possibility of either range-taking or spotting" at the time (8.30pm), and had only flashes for targets.
p. 603.	Helm Orders: "The matter was modernized in the mercantile world as a consequence of American pressure, in 1930, and the Royal Navy conformed."	Helm orders were standardised in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy on 1 January, 1933.