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I stumbled on this book while looking for something to read while on vacation. Basically it reads like an AAR for Rule the Waves 3, minus the battles.

As the title implies, the book focuses on naval strategy in the Mediterranean during the 1904-14 decade. The years are important: the Dreadnought was still being built. The Italo-Turkish War of 1912 (my grandfather fought in it, BTW) had destabilized the region. And Italy was allied with the Central Powers while wondering what they were really doing.

Furthermore, the book stops at the start of WWI. When that happened, each nation had to fight with what they had - and good luck to them.

The book has everything you find in RTW3, to the point that I wonder if the developer read it (it was published in 2014). It details how Italy became THE naval power in the Med, partly for survival and partly out of sheer luck and a complex geopolitical situation. Naval spending. Comparisons between the naval spending of Italy, A-H, and France during the decade. Politicians who meddled with naval spending. "Social Programs" that meddled with naval spending. Building ships only to discover years later that they were either obsolete or for the wrong war (the main role of Italian and Austro-Hungarian BBs during WWI was to blow up in port...) and needing different ships but not having the money. Naval espionage. "The new Prime Minister wants...! "You know the drill.

The main quality of the book is the focus. It is not a long book (I read almost half of it on the train to Paris), and in the intro the author actually suggests several other books for those who want to go more in-depth in various areas. However, it shows how the nervous breakdown-inducing drama of having to run a naval strategy in a world where a battleship needs four years but reality changes in one is fully represented by RTW 3. A small gem and totally suggested.

Probably not that much.

It grew out of Steam and Iron and a desire for a campaign mode AFAIK.

WLRoo wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2026 4:34 pm Probably not that much.

It grew out of Steam and Iron and a desire for a campaign mode AFAIK.

Steam and Iron already had campaign mode(s). What hit me, in this book, is how it nails down the role of being a naval planner but not really the head honcho. For example, in RTW3 (and 1 & 2 too), a long period of peace could lead to budget cuts by the government - so much for "finally the time and money to build the right BC!" Launching a ship while technology improved, so to have your enemy renewing his fleet just two years later and thus having better ships was a major headache (this happened to the Italian Army in the 1930s, BTW: in 1930 it was modern, by 1939 it was obsolete).

Italy ate its hat after siding against A-H. All that steel would have done wonders if used for light forces in the Adriatic - instead of planning for a war against France and Britain.

Anyway, the historical reality of naval races in the 1890-1930 period (let's not forget South America) was one of "prestige chase" and "naval equality" married with uncertainty and, sometimes, sheer luck. This is the first book I ever read that delves into the crazy world of naval planning in the era, and I can only say that it makes you understand why some parts of RTW3 work the way they do.