Securing the Narrow Sea

The Dover Patrol, which brought together an assortment of vessels ranging from the modern to the antique and included cruisers, monitors, destroyers, trawlers, drifters, yachts and airships, was commanded by a series of radical and polarizing personalities and increasingly manned by citizen volunteers. Between 1914 and 1918, the men of the Patrol sought to shut down German access to the Atlantic via the narrows of the English Channel, with the goal of preventing German bound trade going in and U-boats, commerce raiders and warships going out. Their story has rarely been told, but it was the longest, and probably the most arduous, continuous naval campaign of the war, demanding much sacrifice of ships and men. Using firsthand accounts of the participants, the book examines the wide-ranging exploits of the Dover Patrol from shore bombardment, barrage building and maintenance, antisubmarine work and escort duties to the protection of troops and supplies to the Western Front and ship-to-ship engagements with German forces. It also charts the infighting at the Admiralty, which led to two changes of command and examines the personalities of the men involved. The author paints a vivid picture of a vital and little known part of the war at sea, bringing its exploits and challenges to life and culminating with the infamous Zeebrugge and Ostend raids. An important new book.