Reginald Bacon's history of the Dover Patrol

Bacon's history combines a former patrol commander's perspective with operational detail and contemporary illustrations. The Dover Patrol protected troop movements, munitions, food traffic, and the Allied army's coastal flank. Roughly one hundred merchant ships a day carried food through the Dover approaches toward the Thames and east-coast ports; diverting them to western ports would have overloaded the railways. German bases on the Belgian coast lay within about two hours' steaming for destroyers, while the British had to spread their limited destroyer strength across several duties. A planned 1917 landing of 14,000 troops with tanks and artillery depended on the army's advance and suitable weather, showing how closely operations at sea depended on the campaign ashore.