Jane John Frederick Thomas

Born in Richmond (County Surrey ) in a vicar family. A graduate of the famous Exeter School in England. He was not a brilliant student, and later called himself a “terrible dumbass” ^[3] , but he showed himself well in student sports. From a youth, he showed abilities for drawing, was fond of technical illustrations, for example, to the scientific fan fiction of Griffith and other authors. Unable to enter the fleet for health reasons, he studied journalism in London , was an illustrator and wrote several books. He was an ardent fan of turn-based board games on land and naval topics, developed his own additions to one of them.

In 1898 ^[4] , at the age of 33, he realized his idea of ​​publishing a manual on warships, using a general approach developed by him to evaluate their fighting qualities. The main data for the assessment, he took the caliber of guns, protection and speed. According to the ships, the method allowed them to predict their combat effectiveness, separately and as part of a squadron. In addition to a unified approach to data, the directory was distinguished by a well-thought-out arrangement of text and illustrations, and the presence of not only photographs (usually taken at the port), but also location patterns, and - importantly - drawings of ships on the move at sea, which greatly helped identification.

In conditions when equipment developed rapidly, and new projects were laid every year, armament options and even new ship concepts arose, the guide was indispensable. Gradually they began to understand this. The Naval Warrant Officer's Journal , the mouthpiece of the professional sailors who made up the backbone of the fleet, wrote that the directory “... should be in every navigational cabin, at hand both with the signalman and the officer in charge” ^[3] . It became the authors' handbook on naval topics, and then a tool by which the requirements for future ships were often checked.

Another innovation of the directory was its accessibility and openness. The marine elite sought to envelop their business with a cloud of secrecy and singularity, which influenced Parliament a lot and contributed to new expenses during periods of “sea panics” ( eng. Naval scares ). He offered a simple, easily understandable and attractive for the general public (literacy penetrated into all layers) look at all the problems of the fleet - from the strategy and directions of construction to the tactics of individual ships. It is clear that this did not add to his popularity in high offices.

In addition, he published some works on fleet tactics, problems of construction and the impact of technology on hostilities ^[5] . His conclusions often diverged from the generally accepted ones, and recognition came to him slowly. The title of one of his books is indicative: “Heresy of seapower ” ( English Heresies ), 1906 - a direct challenge to the works of Mahan .

He infuriated the Navy, saying that if they really want to contribute to the modernization of the fleet, the first thing they should "throw Nelson overboard." When the Fighting Ships published an article in 1903 about a revolutionary type of ship armed exclusively with 12-inch guns, it was watered with contempt as worthy of Wells's fantasy rather than a serious scientific publication. Meanwhile, the Admiralty was secretly considering the construction of the Dreadnought . As one of his editors later wrote, Jane’s never played its full role - to be a mirror of naval progress.

In 1909, Jane released All the World's Aircraft . He later founded a publishing house that grew up in the Jane's Information Group ^[6] . Fred Jane worked in Portsmouth for most of his adult life.

Fred Jane participated in political life. In 1906, he ran for general election as an independent candidate from Portsmouth. In his opinion, he was a sharp opponent of the Liberal Party , and as a political activist he participated in several episodes, including antics against Churchill and Hemmerde.

The most complete rejection of his military and government leadership was manifested in the inability to use his talents during the First World War .

According to one of Jane’s contemporary authors:

Unlike current experts, he did not seize the opportunity to play along with the authorities. Apparently, his views were not to the liking of the jingoist audience, who regarded the war as a football match, where the score is not scored, but in sunken ships ^[3] .

Original text

Unlike modern defense experts, he profited little from the opportunity to play pundit. Perharps his views were not to the taste of jingoistic public, who considered the war as footbol match, with ships sunk instead of goals scored.

With the outbreak of war, he actively participated in public lectures on military topics, driving around the country in his own sports car. His prediction came true that the German fleet would not be defeated in one general battle in the manner of Trafalgar - the battle of Jutland ended indecisively. But Jane did not live to see and comment on this. In October 1915 , having been exposed to freezing rain on a trip, he fell ill with a severe flu attack and died on March 8, 1916 in Southsea , Portsmouth. Fortunately for readers, he had already organized the publication so that it continued to be published throughout the war ^[3] .

The Jane's Information Group publishes a whole family of reference books and periodicals on almost all branches of military and related knowledge, provides consulting services in the field of analytics and intelligence, etc. As a result, the name Jane’s has become a household name for an authoritative source on military issues.