Warships at a Glance : 1914: a Naval Cadet Goes to War

This special edition of 'Warships At A Glance' has been reproduced to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. Originally issued to cadets in 1914 and reissued to cadets at Britannia Royal Naval College in 2014. It is a tribute to the cadets and midshipmen of the Royal Navy, some of them very young, who fought and died for their country in that conflict. In the archive at Britannia one copy bears the name A L Tidd, written in the immature hand of a 14 year-old. Alec Lister Tidd was born on 12th April 1900 in Guildford, Surrey, and joined Osborne in Drake Term, in January 1914, leaving in April 1915 to join St Vincent Term of Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. While at the two Colleges, he fenced, swam for his Term, played soccer, played rugby in the scrum and was a notable bowler on the cricket field. At Christmas 1916, he passed out from Dartmouth and was commissioned as a Midshipman with a seniority of 1st January 1917, joining the battleship HMS Neptune in the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, where he served until after the end of the First World War, being given the acting rank of Sub Lieutenant on 15th November 1918 and witnessing the surrender of Germany s High Seas Fleet seven days later. HMS Neptune was the only ship of her class and her silhouette is prominent in Warships At A Glance, among the newer battleships of the Royal Navy. The timely reproduction of this 1914 edition of Warships At A Glance provides a historical snapshot of the state of the World s navies at the peak of an era of unrivalled expansion and competition. In contrast to the military and political games being played out by the great powers of Europe the personal annotations on this edition, penned by Cadet Alec Tidd, highlight the reality that all wars are the stories of individuals as well as nations