Racing To War: The Royal Navy And 1914

Racing to War: The Royal Navy and 1914 will be the first temporary exhibition for the NMRN. It will tell the Royal Navy’s story during the last years of peace and the opening months of the First World War.

The collection reveals little known stories leading up to the outbreak, with unique objects and art curated specifically for this new exhibition. Hanging together for the first time, highlights include a rare collection of nineteenth and twentieth century paintings, many borrowed from private collections, depicting scenes of the Royal Navy in battle and the aftermath of fierce fighting at sea. The Racing to War exhibition tells the story of the service on which Britain pinned its hopes for survival and for victory. It will take the visitor through the story of how the Navy were instrumental in the century’s early years, into the naval arms race with Germany and the building of the Grand Fleet.

It will examine the dramatic opening of the Navy’s war – seeing how far the assumptions about the Navy’s role and its strength matched the reality. It looks at the big personalities, like Winston Churchill and Sir John Fisher, who argued fiercely with Lord Charles Beresford over naval strategy and new technologies. The first 6 months of war, the loss of ships and men in the early battle defeats and the months spent fighting across the globe, a long way from home and the familiar shores of the North Sea.

Racing to War is the first of a series of special exhibitions between 2014 and 2019 that will tell the story of the Navy’s vital part in the War.