Seven years before the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial German Navy rebranded its Home Fleet as the Hochseeflotte, or High Seas Fleet. It was a force designed to take on the Royal Navy, then the world’s most powerful, and for the next four years the North Sea would be their battleground.

Drawing on extensive research, Angus Konstam offers the reader a concise, fully illustrated account of how the entire High Seas Fleet was designed and built, how it operated, and how it fought. The fleet was a modern, balanced force of dreadnought battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers and torpedo boats, using Zeppelins and U-boats for reconnaissance. The ultimate test between them came in May 1916, when they clashed at Jutland.

Packed with spectacular original artwork, maps, 3D diagrams and archive photos, it explains how and why the fleet was built, its role, and how and why it fought as it did. From fighting doctrine and crew training to intelligence, logistics, and gunnery, this book is an essential guide to the Kaiser’s audacious bid for naval glory.