In Fiction
The alternate history short story "Tradition", written by Elizabeth Moon, imagines Admiral Christopher Cradock in place of Admiral Troubridge as commander of the cruiser and destroyer force to the east of the Straits of Messina; in the story, Cradock ignores Admiral Milne′s instructions to guard the Adriatic Sea and instead intercepts the Goeben and Breslau north of Crete. In the ensuing battle, his fleet loses two of the four armoured cruisers and six of his eight destroyers, but manages to destroy both German ships before they reach their goal of Istanbul. In reality, Cradock was not present in the Mediterranean, but died a few weeks later at the Battle of Coronel after challenging a larger German force, a decision made in part because he wanted to avoid Troubridge's ignominy in allowing Goeben and Breslau to escape.
Read more about this topic: Pursuit Of Goeben And Breslau
Famous quotes containing the word fiction:
“If one doubts whether Grecian valor and patriotism are not a fiction of the poets, he may go to Athens and see still upon the walls of the temple of Minerva the circular marks made by the shields taken from the enemy in the Persian war, which were suspended there. We have not far to seek for living and unquestionable evidence. The very dust takes shape and confirms some story which we had read.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Given that external reality is a fiction, the writer’s role is almost superfluous. He does not need to invent the fiction because it is already there.”
—J.G. (James Graham)