Castles of Steel

On the eve of the war in August 1914, Great Britain and Germany possessed the two greatest navies the world had ever seen: two fleets of dreadnoughts – gigantic ''castles of steel'' able to hurl massive shells at an enemy miles away – were ready to test their terrible power against each other.

They skirmished across the globe before Germany, suffocated by an implacable naval blockade, decided to de...