The Naval War Game

Abstracted from the introduction: In 1898 Fred Jane published 'Rules for the Jane naval war game - a Sea Kriegspiel'. This was also the year when the first of the 'Jane's Fighting Ships' appeared. There seems to have been a 1906 version of the game, but his last work on the subject was the 1912 version, here reprinted in 1990. Fred Jane's version of the 'Seekriegspiel' was regarded as sufficently accurate imitation of reality to be used by most modern navies for tactical training. The notes and reports on actual games which have been played, which appear at the end of the reprint, give a good idea of possibilities for large scale games, including 'press reports' and other 'goings on' which are possible where there are enough players and umpires and plenty of time.