'An 'Intermediate Blockade'? British North Sea Strategy, 1912-1914'

Historians have argued that, between 1912 and 1914, Britain’s naval leadership projected a so- called ‘intermediate blockade’, a line of vessels strung across the mid-North Sea. This strategy has been widely criticized as impractical and unrealistic. However, this article demonstrates that the Admiralty never projected such an approach. Rather, the naval leadership intended to adopt a system of mid-North Sea patrols during this period. By misunderstanding Admiralty policy before 1914, historians have been unable to ascertain that these patrols were resurrected in late 1914 and played an important part in the Royal Navy’s wartime strategy.