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A Fleet in Being

Rudyard Kipling

Book Overview: 

Kipling became involved in the debate over the British response to the rise in German naval power known as the Tirpitz Plan to build a fleet to challenge the Royal Navy, publishing a series of articles in 1898 which were collected as A Fleet in Being. And as always with Kipling there is that wonderful sardonic humor and attention to the lower orders of being. - Summary by Wikipedia

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .He came dripping into the ward-room—bloodless, with livid lips, for he had been invalided from the Mediterranean full of Malta fever.

‘And what are you in?’ said our Captain, who chanced to pass by.

‘The Victorious, sir, and a smart ship!’ He drank his little glass of Marsala, swirled his dank boat-cloak about him, and went out serenely to take his boat home through the dark and the dismal welter.

Now the Victorious, she is some fourteen thousand nine hundred tons, and he who gave her her certificate was maybe ten stone two—with a touch of Malta fever on him!

THE WARD-ROOM DISPORTED ITSELF

We cleaned up at last; the First Lieutenant’s face relaxed a little, and some one called for the instruments of music. Out came two violins, a mandoline, and bagpipes, and the ward-room disported itself among tunes of three Nations till War should be declared. In the middle of a scientific experiment as to how the sh. . . Read More

Community Reviews

A bit hard to read sometimes because of how old it is, and it's not a novel, so it's jumpy. Short, though, so I managed to get through it.

A very interesting first hand account of sailing with the British Fleet prior to WWI. Kipling has immense respect for the Royal Navy and it is clear in his words. For someone who reads only about big sweeping naval movements and their context within land campaigns, this short provided some of the pr

This book will appeal to those interested in naval warfare in general and in particular the development of the British fleet at the turn of the 20th Century.
Essentially presented in note form, A Fleet in Being is not an easy read and the language used will be quite unfamiliar to many readers, both