From at least as early as the eighteenth century it became a tradition that, following operations involving the Royal Navy, the commanding admiral would report to the Admiralty in the form of an official despatch. The despatches reproduced here, introduced and annotated by Professor Bennett, cover events with a huge bearing on the outcome of the war, such as the convoys in the Mediterranean and to Russia, major amphibious operations and raids such as Dieppe, alongside some of the minor operations involving the Royal Navy and, of course, D-Day.
These important documents are published here in an accessible form, written in a way designed to be understood by the public at the time. What they reveal, not only about naval operations but about their authors, is fascinating.
