Stick With It!

I'm glad I did. I stopped listening a few different times, went on to other newer books, but always returned once complete. I flew through the second half of this book....once Massie gets the main characters introduced it really picks up. I am a history enthusiast, but admittedly knew next to nothing about WWI naval engagements aside from the famous sinking of Louisitania and perhaps one other. This book is the "soup to nuts" overview of WWI naval power, ship types, war strategies, key players and specific battles. I have read one other Massie book (Peter the Great), though I had not read Dreadnought prior to this (I’m not sure if that would have made the experience better or worse, but I have heard excellent reviews of that book as well). Like with Peter the Great, Massie finds a way to take what would normally be dry textbook type material and bring it to life so it reads like an extremely well written piece of fiction. The narration for Castles of Steel was some of the best I have heard; I am well over 50 audiobooks and this was near the top. He does a masterful job with all three main accents- British, German and American. If you find this subject matter even remotely interesting, give it a try-- you won't be disappointed!

24 people found this helpful

A Riveting Account!

Robert Massie served a tour of duty onboard a US aircraft carrier. That may account in part for his remarkable ability to describe in vivid and insightful detail the weather conditions, shipboard activity, and battle capabilities of the naval vessels that took part in World War I. His eye for insightful detail extends to his descriptions of the high level strategic debates that took place in the British and German war cabinets and admirals’ councils that made the crucial decisions which in the end determined the outcome of the war. In particular, the German decision finally endorsed by the Kaiser in 1917 to authorize unrestricted submarine warfare against all neutral merchant shipping in an effort to bring Britain to its knees through lack of supplies and foodstuffs instead led to the decisive entry of the US into the war that year.

Most interesting throughout the book are the decisive roles played by minor incidents of incompetence, hesitation, miscommunication, or misjudgment based on human foibles or the confusion and fog of war. These include Admiral Milne’s failure to block the battle cruiser Goebben from escaping to the Dardanelles; Captain Thompson’s careless handling of critical intelligence that could have turned the tide in the Battle of Jutland; the failure of Admiral Beatty’s flag officer to assure clear and proper signaling of the Admiral’s orders; the British Admiralty’s failure to immediately pass on critical intelligence during the Battle of Jutland to Jellicoe because the communication room was left in the hands of a clueless low level officer.

All in all, a very interesting account that will provide a rich source of lessons on the critical decisions made by the naval leaders in World War I.

7 people found this helpful

A bit of overload

What did you love best about Castles of Steel?

Battleships in their golden age, titans of the sea going head to head. What's not to like?

Any additional comments?

Take note: this book is well worth the listen. It's long. It's technical in many places and it's slow developing. It's like a grand chess match. This book takes patience. It's worth it.

4 people found this helpful

Very good book, but has production issues.

This is a very good book, with lots of details on the operations of the British and German navies. It tends to focus a lot on the politics and personalities of each. The narrator is superb, and is able to use distinct voices when quoting different people. My one major issue is that this book has some serious production issues. In a lot of places, the audio repeats the same sentence twice. At one spot, the audio skipped, although it did not greatly impact the narrative.

3 people found this helpful

Long but interesting

The narrator is great. Although listed as Richard Matthews, I recognize the inimitable Simon Vance, one of my favorites. Lots of detail about naval tactics and personalities, especially British.

2 people found this helpful

Great History on the British and German Navies

Where does Castles of Steel rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the Best

What was one of the most memorable moments of Castles of Steel?

The narrator does a wonderful job with bringing Winston Churchill to life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book keep me interested in the events discribed

Any additional comments?

This is one of the best books you'll find on the subject

2 people found this helpful

Audible should remaster but story worth a listen

1. Production--Not only are there various spots where sentence is annoyingly repeated, but in Chapter 21, during a naval battle scene, it skips frustratingly past a key scene. Audible needs to re-master the book to fix this.
2. Narrator---Richard Matthews does a good job narrating and keeps story flowing despite the headaches described above and even the dry parts. Tis only reason I give performance 4 stars
3. Massie and his story:
A. My knowledge of this area was very little--knew a little about Goeben from Guns of August but he goes into more detail, especially with regards to the subsequent courtmartial...loved Milne's quote! Rest I knew of WWI focused more on diplomacy, air battles, tanks, and the trench warfare. Knew very little of WWI naval history -subs and Jutland. This is why I picked this up.
B. Massie starts off in great detail on the personalities...I have a feeling I missed out on more of the leadup and creation of the fleets as I didn't read Dreadnought(would be great if Audible adds it). He puts in quite a bit of extraneous material and I can see why someone said he needed an editor--trying too hard to be Tuchman. However...that said, later chapters go into his personal views/biases of these men so the early character backgrounds lend some support to his views. For example, describing Beatty as a browbeaten cuckold whose Lady MacBeth wife pushes his career comes across harsh until you get to chapter 34 and he lays out even harsher criticism making it clear his distaste for the Admiral.
C. His battle scenes are a bit drawn out, nowhere near as exciting as Neptune's Inferno(if you haven't listened, pick it up!) but he goes into great detail of the decision making.
D. If you are interested in leadership, like I am, this is why he is worth a listen. The actions themselves are overall very unimportant in history of WWI, but he explains each choice the commanders on both sides faced, all their options based on what they knew.
His analysis is spot on, if a little biased.
E, For one thing while he could have done some cutting, glad he included Churchill's complete response to one of Fisher's threats to resign. Beautiful prose that could be included in any business writing course!

4 people found this helpful

Highly repetitive

The narrator is great the story strong and highly interesting. The issue is the edit. The book is over 40 hours long so obviously the narrator took breaks. The editor didn’t provide a smooth transition where literal paragraphs were repeated. Not the narrators fault, not the writer’s fault, not histories fault. Its recorded books and Audibles fault. This is a history which should be remembered and a poor copy of the history is an embarrassment. Totally great book disappointing sound edit

1 person found this helpful

Don't let the editing dissuade you

This is a fantastic book about an incredibly complex time written by someone who clearly knows the subject, read with enthusiasm by a quality narrator. The single biggest downfall of this title is whatever happened on the editing floor post production. More times than I could count lines would be read, paused, then read again. I understand that in recording booths this is common practice but generally when that happens, one of the two takes is cut, which seems to be the step left out by the behind the scenes crew. Again, as the title says, please don't let this detail keep you from this book. If its a subject that you're truly interested in, it can easilly be overlooked.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent Story, Production Needs Work

The story of the British and German navies in WWI is fascinating, and Simon Vance [as Richard Mathews] does his usual excellent performance, but the editing is not good -- sentences which obviously end/begin recording sessions are simply repeated. But otherwise, thoroughly enjoyable.

1 person found this helpful