A highly illustrated account of the naval battles of Coronel and the Falklands in 1914, which saw the destruction of both British and German squadrons. Upon the outbreak of war, the British Royal Navy was deployed globally, whilst the Imperial German Navy was concentrated in two areas – Home Waters and Tsingtao, the home port of the crack East Asia Cruiser Squadron which, under the command of Admiral von Spee contained some of Germany's most modern cruisers. As Spee made his way to the Chilean port of Valparaiso, he met the British 4th Cruiser Squadron which had been ordered to engage and defeat the German force. This resulted in the battle of Coronel where the antiquated British warships proved no match for Spee's modern cruisers. It was the first naval defeat suffered by the Royal Navy in over 100 years. When news reached London, panic reigned and two ships HMS Inflexible and Invincible were sent to lead the force against Spee. When bad weather delayed the German arrival, Spee knew that he had to stand and fight, unaware that amongst the ships opposing him were two modern battlecruisers which outclassed any of his own squadron's ships. Given the presence of Inflexible and Invincible, the result of the battle had an inevitable outcome and after several hours hard combat, Spee's ships were defeated.

On 1 November 1914, off the coast of Chile near Coronel, ships of the German and British navies exchanged fire, resulting in the sinking of two British ships HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope with the loss of nearly 1,600 sailors. To counter the German squadron, the Royal Navy sent two battle-cruisers—Inflexible and Invincible—to the South Atlantic. In December 1914, the British battle-cruisers, accompanied by smaller ships, engaged the German squadron during the Battle of the Falkland Islands and sank the German armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau near the Falkland Islands. First published in 1962, this is a gripping account of the World War I British-German naval battles off the coast of South America, and an examination of the issue of Britain’s preparation for naval warfare in 1914.

The defeat that Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock suffered at Coronel in 1914 at the hands of Maximilian Graf von Spee, one of Germany's most brilliant naval commanders, was the most humiliating blow to British naval prestige since the eighteenth century and a defeat that had to be avenged immediately. On 8 December 1914, the German squadron steamed towards Port Stanley, unaware that in the harbour lay two great British battle-cruisers, the 'Invincible' and 'Inflexible'. Realizing this, Spee had no option but to turn and flee. Hour by hour during that long day, the British ships closed in until, eventually, Spee was forced to confront the enemy. With extraordinary courage, and against hopeless odds, the German cruisers fought to the bitter end. At five-thirty that afternoon, the last ship slowly turned and rolled to the bottom. Cradock and Britain had been avenged.

The outbreak of World War I saw some deadly battles on the high seas in isolated areas. Germany's China Squadron, including the Scharnhorst and Gneisnau, made an epic voyage across the Pacific to attack British forces in South America. Admiral Craddock found himself outgunned by the Germans at Coronel and went down with most of his ships and crews. The Germans then advanced on the British communications and refueling station in the Falkland Islands but were sunk by a new British fleet; only a few German sailors were rescued. This tense tale also examines the issue of Britain's preparedness for naval warfare in 1914.

An experimental history examining the World War I naval battles of Coronel and the Falklands using naval wargames.