THE MOST FORMIDABLE THING- The Story of the Submarine from its earliest Days until the End of World War I by Jameson, William

London 1965, Hart-Davis, first UK edition, hard bound in dust jacket, VG/VBG- ( ligh dj edge wear ), 6x9, illus, maps, notes, bibliog, index. The submarine was first used on a large scale in the1914-18 war. Its development, since it had become a practical proposition at the turn of the century, had been carried out against the contemptuous opposition of conventional naval opinion. Then, quite unexpectedly, it proved to be "the most formidable thing", a weapon, like the atom bomb, of potentially decisive power.Admiral Jameson here traces the development of this sinister weapon, from the first solution of the problem of underwater navigation to its emergence as the means by which a weaker naval power almost succeeded in denying its stronger enemy's command of the sea.He also deals with the severe divisions of opinion within the German command as to whether submarines should be used against merchant shipping-the resolution of which altered the course of history-and with the British reaction to this question.