Formidable is the third in a trilogy of naval history books by Steve Dunn in which he unpicks the far-reaching effects of the social and political climate under which the First World War began a period that he calls 'Vicwardian' . The stifling atmosphere of rigid social hierarchy, pointless deference, and refusal to update rules of engagement that were largely unchanged since Nelson led, Dunn argues, to defective decision making and, ultimately, disaster.
Formidable sailed to her doom under a vice admiral who did not accept the threat posed by new technology submarines, the U-boats. The accepted rules of war were such that to ambush a battleship unseen, from below the surface, would be ungentlemanly and therefore unthinkable. To seek shelter in bad weather, whatever the threat from U-boats, would be unmanly. The vice admiral kept his ships at sea. As a result, a major ship of the British navy s battle fleet was lost and 583 men and boys met their deaths. Dunn tells some of their individual stories in heartbreaking detail, including the futile courage of the ship s captain, Noel Loxley, who stayed on board with his terrier Bruce and was lost with so many of his men.