Churchill and Fisher: Titans at the Admiralty

A well-published historian of the Royal Navy, Gough provides an excellent and eminently readable account of the 1911-15 period when Churchill (and by 1914) Fisher served together--the former as First Lord of the Admiralty and the latter performing a brief final act as First Sea Lord. Arthur Marder, among other previous researchers, has gone over similar ground before. But Gough has gained access to some archives Marder never saw, and as a result has written a masterpiece. He carefully assesses both men, finding fault with each in the crucial months leading up to the Dardanelles disaster in mid-1915 that cost both their jobs. But Churchill returned to the cabinet in 1917 while the elderly Fisher could only fulminate from the sidelines. In one sense, this is a tragedy as we watch the once all-powerful Fisher decline to unimportance. Churchill had youth on his side, as well as a talent for constructive compromise and another for impressive public speaking. What happened in 1915, so well told here, helped prepare Churchill for the crisis of 1940.

Excerpts from the review on StrategyPage:'Gough draws on a remarkable command of both men’s papers, as well as many other documents. He discusses how each of these energetic innovators worked to modernize and prepare the fleet for war, usually working together, but often at odds. He fits their activities within the broader framework of events, so we how their actions affected and were affected by political and military developments not only in Britain but in Germany and elsewhere, and we also get looks at a lot of the other interesting people of their age.'Clearly rather fond of both men, Gough is by no means an apologist for their errors, and subjects both to some serious criticism at times, notably in his detailed look at Churchill’s improbable escapades at Antwerp in the opening weeks of the war.'"Churchill and Fisher" is required reading for anyone with an interest in the Royal Navy and the Great War at sea.'For the full review, see StrategyPage

An enthralling account, this is an academic work entirely accessible to the non-specialist . Written, as Albert Nofi suggests in his review, with affection for both men, Barry Gough is unsparing in his analysis of the issues, the great events of the period and the achievements and shortcomings of both men (and of the other players on the stage). The book covers the whole of Fisher's life, whereas so much of Churchill's is still to come - the story of Fisher's last years being particularly poignant. Churchill's later achievements seem all the more remarkable after reading this account.As a non-specialist, my knowledge of Fisher was previously restricted to Jan Morris's idiosyncratic pen portrait "Fisher's Face". My interest stemmed initially from researching family history, Fisher's mother being my great-great-grandmother's sister. When my father, aged 13, went for his Dartmouth interview a mere 13 years after Jacky's death, his aunts told him to be sure to mention to their lordships that Jacky was his cousin. We don't know if he did.

I have long been an admirer of Barry Gough. He is an extraordinary historian AND writer...Titans of the Admiralty is gripping reading...