Description

This is a lavishly illustrated German roll-and-move game from early in WWI that, possibly for the first time ever, showed the emerging role of aviation in naval warfare.

The overall narrative of the 90 space inward spiral track is of navies grappling to find one another, with ships firing and sinking, distressed sailors being rescued, and even a school of fish watching a U-boat launching its "fish" underwater, all culminating in a furious central battle scene.

However, there are six panels showing aircraft in a reconnaissance role. Two of these are Zeppelin-style rigid airships, one is a somewhat Bleriot-like two-seat monoplane, and the remaining three are early seaplanes with floats.

The game board has no indication of the game's actual title, publisher or date. However, the seaplane pictures include one that appears to be a Friedrichshafen FF33, which had a unique tail shaped like a fletched arrow, and which first flew in 1914. Since this looks like the most modern aircraft shown, the game was probably published in 1915.