The Royal Navy on the Danube

"Little has been written in English on the First World War as it affected Serbia, the small Balkan kingdom on whose borders that war began, and almost nothing about the part which the Naval forces of the Entente Powers had in helping her to oppose the Central Powers before her armies were finally defeated by those powers at the end of 1915. The part was small but more significant that the numbers of men and amount of material of war sent out might suggest. Had not the three naval missions between them managed for over six months to prevent the enemy from sending munitions of war to Turkey by way the Danube, the Dardanelles venture might have ended far more tragically than in a bloodless evacuation. Especially to be regretted is the fact that the work of the British admiral who organised and co-ordinated the Allied efforts on the Danube has been allowed to pass into oblivion. Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge is generally remembered only for his controversial decision not to seek to engage a German battle-cruiser in the Mediterranean early in August 1914 -- an unfought battle which has been fought over and over again in print, with Troubridge being allotted much of the blame for the Goeben's escape to Constantinople. Among other things, this study aims to restore his credit and reputation by narrating his positive achievements in the Balkans, where he helped to rehabilitate in the eyes of his host-country Britain's badly damaged image, and on a critical occasion saved, by good though unwelcome advice, the shattered Serbian Army from extinction"--Page v.