Recently published English language booksThere are all the English language books found in the system that have been published from 2000 to this day. If you think we are missing some please let us know.  | by - Francis M. Carroll
The U-boat Attack That Ignited the Battle of the Atlantic
2012, Naval Institute Press
ISBN 1591141486
Hardcover, 256 pages
Just hours after World War II was declared, Germany struck its first blow, firing without warning on the passenger liner Athenia. The British ship was loaded with Americans, Canadians, and Europeans attempting to cross the Atlantic before the outbreak of war. As the ship sank, 1,306 were rescued but 112 people were lost, including thirty Americans. This account of the disaster, based on new research, tells a dramatic story of tragedy and triumph, as historian Francis Carroll chronicles the survivors' experiences and explains how the incident shaped policy in the U.S., UK, and Canada. For Britain, it was seen as a violation of international law and convoys were sent to protect shipping. In Canada, Athenia's sinking rallied support to go to war. In the United States, it exposed Germany as a serious threat and changed public opinion enough to allow the country to sell munitions and supplies to Britain and France. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Wingfield, Mervyn
Vol. I (The British Navy at War and Peace)
2013, Whittles Publishing
ISBN 1849950644
Hardcover, 176 pages
The previously unpublished memoirs of a wartime submariner whose exploits included the stalking and sinking of a Japanese submarine. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Mark Stille
The Pacific 1943 (Duel)
2012, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1849086230
Paperback, 80 pages
This book will cover the fierce night naval battles fought after Guadalcanal between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during late 1943 as the Allies advanced slowly up the Solomons Islands toward the major Japanese naval base at Rabaul. During this period, several vicious actions were fought around the American beachheads on the islands of New Georgia, Kolombangara and Vella Lavella in the central Solomons. These battles featured the most modern destroyers of both navies. Throughout most of 1942, the Imperial Navy had held a marked edge in night-fighting during the six-month long struggle for Guadalcanal. A key ingredient of these Japanese successes was their destroyer force which combined superior training and tactics with the most capable torpedo in the world, known to the Allies as the "Long Lance". Even into 1943, at the battles of Kula Gulf and Kolombangara, mixed Allied light cruiser/destroyer forces were roughly handled by Japanese destroyers. After these battles, the Americans decided to stop chasing Japanese destroyers with cruisers so the remainder of the battles in 1943 (with one exception) were classic destroyer duels. The Americans still enjoyed the technical edge provided to them by radar, and now added new, more aggressive tactics. After four more destroyer duels during the second half of 1943, the final result was the defeat of the Imperial Navy's finely trained destroyer force and the demonstration that the Japanese were unable to stop the Allies' advance. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Barrett Tillman
America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II
2012, Simon & Schuster
ISBN 1439190879
Hardcover, 320 pages
Pearl Harbor . . . Midway . . . Guadalcanal . . . The Marianas . . . Leyte Gulf . . . Iwo Jima . . . Okinawa. These are just seven of the twenty battles that the USS Enterprise took part in during World War II. No other American ship came close to matching her record. Enterprise is the epic, heroic story of this legendary aircraft carrier nicknamed "the fightingest ship¯ in the U.S. Navy" and of the men who fought and died on her. America's most decorated warship, Enterprise was constantly engaged against the Japanese Empire from December 1941 until May 1945. Her career was eventful, vital, and short. She was commissioned in 1938, and her bombers sank a submarine just three days after the Pearl Harbor attack, claiming the first seagoing Japanese vessel lost in the war. It was the auspicious beginning of an odyssey that Tillman captures brilliantly, from escorting sister carrier Hornet as it launched the Doolittle Raiders against Tokyo in 1942, to playing leading roles in the pivotal battles of Midway and Guadalcanal, to undergoing the shattering nightmare of kamikaze strikes just three months before the end of the war. Barrett Tillman has been called 'the man who owns naval aviation history'.
He's mined official records and oral histories as well as his own interviews with the last surviving veterans who served on Enterprise to give us not only a stunning portrait of the ship's unique contribution to winning the Pacific war, but also unforgettable portraits of the men who flew from her deck and worked behind the scenes to make success possible. Enterprise is credited with sinking or wrecking 71 Japanese ships and destroying 911 enemy aircraft. She sank two of the four Japanese carriers lost at Midway and contributed to sinking the third. Additionally, 41 men who served in Enterprise had ships named after them. As with Whirlwind, Tillman's book on the air war against Japan, Enterprise focuses on the lower ranks the men who did the actual fighting. He puts us in the shoes of the teenage sailors and their captains and executive officers who ran the ship day-to-day. He puts us in the cockpits of dive bombers and other planes as they careen off Enterprise's flight deck to attack enemy ships and defend her against Japanese attackers. We witness their numerous triumphs and many tragedies along the way. However, Tillman does not neglect the top brass'he takes us into the ward rooms and headquarters where larger-than-life flag officers such as Chester Nimitz and William Halsey set the broad strategy for each campaign. But the main character in the book is the ship itself. "The Big E" was at once a warship and a human institution, vitally unique to her time and place. In this last-minute grab at a quickly fading history, Barrett Tillman preserves the Enterprise story even as her fliers and sailors are departing the scene. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Walter R. Borneman
Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King--The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea
2012, Little, Brown and Company
ISBN 0316097845
Hardcover, 576 pages
How history's only five-star admirals triumphed in World War II and made the United States the world's dominant sea power. Only four men in American history have been promoted to the five-star rank of Admiral of the Fleet: William Leahy, Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, and William Halsey. These four men were the best and the brightest the navy produced, and together they led the U.S. navy to victory in World War II, establishing the United States as the world's greatest fleet. In THE ADMIRALS, award-winning historian Walter R. Borneman tells their story in full detail for the first time. Drawing upon journals, ship logs, and other primary sources, he brings an incredible historical moment to life, showing us how the four admirals revolutionized naval warfare forever with submarines and aircraft carriers, and how these men-who were both friends and rivals-worked together to ensure that the Axis fleets lay destroyed on the ocean floor at the end of World War II. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Ian W. Toll
War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
2011, W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 0393068137
Hardcover, 640 pages
The planning, the strategy, the sacrifices and heroicsā€”on both sidesā€”illuminating the greatest naval war in history.On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative. Ian W. Toll's dramatic narrative encompasses both the high command and the "sailor's-eye" view from the lower deck. Relying predominantly on eyewitness accounts and primary sources, Pacific Crucible also spotlights recent scholarship that has revised our understanding of the conflict, including the Japanese decision to provoke a war that few in the country's highest circles thought they could win. The result is a page-turning history that does justice to the breadth and depth of a tremendous subject. 24 pages of black-and-white illustrations and 12 maps Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - R. A. Burt
2012, Naval Institute Press
ISBN 1591140528
Hardcover, 448 pages
BRITISH BATTLESHIPS, 1919-1939 is one of the most sought after naval reference books since its original publication in 1993. A masterpiece of research and illustration, this new edition has been completely redesigned to feature over 70 new photographs, many never before seen in print.Offering an unprecedented range of detail on all of the Royal Navy's battleships and battle cruisers, R.A. Burt describes the evolution of the battleship classes through many modifications and refits. He also details design features, armor, machinery, power plants, and weaponry, while examining and analyzing the performance of the ships in battle.A delight for the historian, enthusiast, and ship modeler, this new volume is regarded as an essential reference work for one of the most significant eras in naval history and ship design. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Siegfried Breyer
2012, Naval Institute Press
ISBN 159114325X
Hardcover, 400 pages
Few warship types have had as much written about them as the Kriegsmarine's capital ships, even though their battleships were so few in number. Recently a growing number of photographs of these ships, many from private albums and some that lay forgotten in obscure archives have been discovered, including many close-ups and onboard shots, of great value to model makers, and rare action photos taken during wartime. Essays on the technical background and design origins detail the full significance of this magnificent collection of photos. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Franz Kurowski
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL U-BOAT OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
2012, Frontline Books
ISBN 1848326068
Hardcover, 208 pages
Following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Germany was not permitted to build or operate submarines. However clandestine training onboard Finnish and Spanish submarines took place and U-boats were still built to German designs in Dutch yards. At the outset of the Second World War, Donitz argued for a 300-strong U-boat fleet, since his force of 57 U-boats 'could only inflict pin-pricks against British seaborne trade'. In August 1939, U-48 left Germany, commanded by 'Vaddi' Schultze, to take up a waiting position around England. It scored its first success on 5 September, when it torpedoed the British freighter Royal Sceptre, then the Winkleigh on 8 September. On both occasions - the first of many - Schultze showed himself to be a notable humanitarian: he addressed signals to Churchill giving positions of the sinkings so that crews could be saved. By 1 August 1941, U-48, the most successful boat of the Second World War, had sunk 56 merchant ships of 322,478 gross tons and one corvette. She was then transferred to the Baltic as a training boat. Schultze became commander of operation 3 U-Flotilla and later was appointed commander, II/Naval College Schleswig. He died in 1987 at the age of 78. U-48 was scuttled on 3 May 1945. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Jak P. Mallman Showell
The Battle of the Atlantic Witnessed by the Wolf Packs
2011, The History Press
ISBN 0752461885
Paperback, 240 pages
Readers can view the Battle of the Atlantic through U-boat periscopes thanks to incredible eyewitness accounts bringing to life the horror of this war below and above sea. Readers will taste the salt, smell the nauseating stench of the U-boats, and hear orders being whispered quietly while diving back in time to the horrendous inhumanity of the Battle of the Atlantic. The longest continuous military campaign of the Second World War, raging from 1939 to 1945, the Battle of the Atlantic saw the might of the Royal Navy pitted against the Kriegsmarine. The Germans' secret weapon was their fleet of U-boats, they had the largest fleet of submarines in the world, enabling them to play cat and mouse with the Allied forces to devastating effect. They would hunt in "wolf-packs" and would prey on merchant shipping and naval vessels. This startling book tells the story of this battle as viewed through the conning towers of these U-boats. It is written as the action unfolded, using surviving logs. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Daniel Morgan and Bruce Taylor
A Complete Record of Warship Sinkings from Original Sources, 1939-1945
2012,
ISBN 184832118X
Hardcover, 480 pages
During WWII over 250 Allied warships from a dozen navies were sunk by German U-boats. This groundbreaking study of 110 vessels provides a detailed analysis of every sinking for which source material survives from both the Allied and German sides. Representing the first large-scale publication of U-boat war diaries in any language, the book offers a wealth of new information, including the circumstances of the sinkings, the technical environment, and the fate of the crews. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Ed Offley
How a Small Band of Allied Sailors Defeated the U-boats and Won the Battle of the Atlantic
2011, Basic Books
ISBN 046501397X
Hardcover, 512 pages
The United States experienced its most harrowing military disaster of World War II not in 1941 at Pearl Harbor but in the period from 1942 to 1943, in Atlantic coastal waters from Newfoundland to the Caribbean. Sinking merchant ships with impunity, German U-boats threatened the lifeline between the United States and Britain, very nearly denying the Allies their springboard onto the European Continent--a loss that would have effectively cost the Allies the war.
In Turning the Tide, author Ed Offley tells the gripping story of how, during a twelve-week period in the spring of 1943, a handful of battle-hardened American, British, and Canadian sailors turned the tide in the Atlantic. Using extensive archival research and interviews with key survivors, Offley places the reader at the heart of the most decisive maritime battle of World War II. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - John Peterson
U-482 and the Sinking of Empire Heritage 1944
2011, The History Press
ISBN 0752458833
Paperback, 192 pages
In the autumn of 1944 the Second World War was coming to an end. In the Atlantic the U-boats had been beaten back through a massive programme of Allied shipbuilding combined with tactical, technological and intelligence improvements. The threat to Allied shipping had diminished. But it had not disappeared, and a lone U-boat on its first active patrol slipped into the North Channel; in just a few days five ships lay broken on the seabed including the Empire Heritage, one of the largest Allied ships lost in the entire war. Also lost was the Jacksonville, an American tanker sailing out of New York. Many of those lost burned to death in the sea. The massive convoy itself, HX-305, of which these vessels formed a part, is fascinating In Darkest Before Dawn John Peterson presents the story for the first time of how U-482 managed to slip undetected into the busy shipping lanes of the North Channel and carry out the last great U-boat patrol of the war. It is the story of the attack, the aftermath and the men involved, including the aristocratic U-boat commander von Matushka, who was present when the Bismarck was sunk earlier in the war - was he driven by revenge to torpedo the Pinto, a rescue ship trying to pick up survivors - an act that some claimed to be a war crime? Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Peter Dornan
The Story of Captain George Hunt and the Ultor
2011, Pen and Sword
ISBN 1848843216
Hardcover, 192 pages
Diving Stations is the inspiring story of Captain George Hunt's career. Born in Uganda and then educated in Glasgow, he was determined to join the Navy and at 13 years old he entered HMS Conway.
His prewar years saw him serving worldwide. In 1939, on the outbreak of war he was already serving in submarines. Over the next six years he was rammed twice, sunk once and had hundred of depth charges dropped around him. He gave more than he got! While in command of the Unity Class Submarine Ultor - mainly in the Mediterranean - he and his crew accounted for an astonishing 20 enemy vessels sunk by torpedo and 8 by gunfire as well as damaging another 4 ships. His fifteenth mission was described by the Admiralty as 'unsurpassed in the Annals of the Mediterranean Submarine Flotilla'.
After the War George continued his distinguished naval career becoming Senior Naval Officer West Indies (SNOWI). He emigrated to Australia where he lives today. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Koerver, Hans Joachim
2010, LIS Reinisch
ISBN 3902433795
786 pages
The book is completely based on British Admiralty WWI sources from the National Archives, Kew, UK: prisoner statements, Intelligence analysis, deciphered W/T, reports of sunken ships.
It offers an incredible amount of detail about German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918: the technical design of the German submarines, their officers and men, their tactics, their cruises, their victims and their opponents.
Everything you need to know about the first submarine war and its theatres of war spreading from the US East Coast to the Mediterranean and from the Arctic to West Africa, about food and life on board, the careers of ordinary sailors, petty officers and officers, about aces like von Arnauld de la Periere with 500.000 BRT of ships sunk, about the German submarine construction program and the training of the crews. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Ron Young and Pamela Armstrong
Submarine Wrecks of the United Kingdom: Volume Two
2009, The History Press
ISBN 0752447890
Paperback, 352 pages
Volume 2 of Ron Young and Pamela Armstrong’s informative trilogy on submarine wrecks of the British Isles focuses on the South Coast, from Beachey Head in Sussex down to the Isles of Scilly. More than 150 British submarine and U-boat wrecks in British coastal waters, specifically those in the English Channel, are described in detail, including information on the vessel’s type and technical specifications, its voyage history, how it was sunk, a list of crew at the time of loss, details of the wreck site, and the current state of the wreck. Huddled with a knot of shivering boatmates, we endure the anguish of young Rudy Wieser as his stricken boat, U 1195, slowly fills with freezing water and chlorine gas, and 19-year-old Franz Neumayr, who survived the sinking of U 1063 with 16 colleagues. Then there is the tragic quintet of British boats lost in these waters. We read of the last patrols of L24, M2, and M1, and, perhaps most poignantly, of HMS Swordfish. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Ron Young and Pamela Armstrong
Submarine Wrecks of the United Kingdom Vol 3: Wales and the West
2011, The History Press
ISBN 0752455427
Paperback, 224 pages
This is the story of the submarines which failed to come home in both war and peace. In both wars submarine warfare transformed the coastline into a pitiless arena where a life or death struggle was played out between U-boats attempting to close the sea-lanes and Allied ships striving to keep them open. Combining years of international archival research and expert analysis, this series describes how these submarine wrecks came to be here. In Volume 3 Ron Young and Pamela Armstrong recount the submarines lost along the North Cornwall coast to the Isle of Man. Authoritative and meticulously sourced, wherever possible accounts are told in the words of those who were present, relating miraculous escapes from stricken submarines, relentless pursuit and merciless attack. Most poignantly of all, the book re-evaluates one of the darkest episodes of British maritime history, the loss of HMS Thetis in Liverpool Bay, June 1939, revealing crucial new information on this disaster. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Histoire & Collections
2009, Histoire & Collections
ISBN 2913903967
Hardcover, 192 pages
On 4th August 1906, U1 was delivered to the Imperial German navy by the Germaniawerft shipyards of Kiel. Eight years later, on the eve of the outbreak of the First World War, 28 U-Boote were ready to take to the sea and launch an offensive against Great Britain and its allies.
This book tells, for the first time, the story of the submarine war led by Germany against the Allies of 1914 - 1918 by describing in detail all of the operations and the different types of submarines in service with the Kaiser s navy.
Profusely illustrated with hundreds of photographs and illustrations. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Anthony P. Tully
Twentieth-Century Battles
2009, Indiana University Press
ISBN 0253352428
Hardcover, 352 pages Purchase information: (info)
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| by - David M. Hird
2010, Whittles Publishing
ISBN 1904445322
Paperback, 160 pages
The surrender of the German U-boat fleet at the end of World War II was perhaps the principal event in the war's endgame which signified to the British people that peace really had arrived. It is little known that the majority of the surrenders of U-boats on active west-European sea patrols in May 1945 were supervised in Loch Eriboll, an isolated sea loch on Scotland's far north-westernmost coast. The U-boats were part of Hitler's plan to starve the British Isles of food, raw materials and equipment vital for the prosecution of the war - a plan that failed. With an estimated 160 U-boats on active patrol at the end of the war, it was imperative that these boats were made aware of the capitulation of German armed forces, that they accepted the surrender arrangements and then proceeded, surfaced, to designated British ports. Loch Eriboll's attraction as the reception port was its isolation and its safe, deep-water anchorage - ideal for the arrival of armed U-boats that might still be intent on one last show of defiance. News of the momentous event was heavily censored - nothing appeared in the local press. Thirty-three U-boats, their officers and men surrendered between 10th and 22nd May 1945. The boats were arrested, boarded and disarmed; in some cases this vital exercise was completed by the simple expedient of lobbing ammunition, explosives and torpedo pistols overboard! Each U-boat has been positively identified and detailed information provided including contemporary photographs, boat or flotilla emblem, together with the coordinates of where each boat was eventually destroyed in the north Atlantic. However, not all were destroyed by the Allies, some were retained by the British, American, Russian or French navies as spoils of war but the vast majority were lost accidentally or scrapped with the passage of time. The Grey Wolves of Eriboll includes a wealth of historical insights including the German Surrender Document; detailed descriptions of the construction, service careers and circumstances of each surrendered U-boat; details of the frigates that supervised the surrenders; Operation Deadlight (a hasty plan to ensure the U-boats could not again be used aggressively) and contemporary newspaper reports. The pivotal role played by Loch Eriboll in ending the U-boat menace is little-known and lesser celebrated - this book rights that wrong. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Lawrence Burr
The Iowa Class (New Vanguard)
2010, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1846035112
Paperback, 48 pages
In 1938, the United States abandoned the constraints imposed by the Washington Treaty and began work on a new class of super-battleships. This book covers the design, construction, and employment of the four Iowa-class battleships, the largest in the American fleet. During World War II, they served as guards for the aircraft carriers and their bombardments provided cover for the numerous landings in the Pacific. At the war's end, the Japanese signed their surrender on the decks of an Iowa-class battleship, the USS Missouri. After World War II, the ships continued to serve, providing support during Korea, Vietnam, and even the first Gulf War. This book tells the full story of the greatest of the American battleships. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Robert Forczyk
2010, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1846039185
Paperback, 80 pages
During World War II, the Kriegsmarine armed a number of merchant vessels with concealed guns and torpedo tubes for surprise attacks against Allied shipping. To counter this deadly threat, the Royal Navy employed cruisers and their intelligence-gathering apparatus to find and destroy the disguised German commerce raiders. This Duel title covers the deadly game of cat and mouse, fought by these surface vessels during World War II. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Dave McComb
Wartime classes (New Vanguard)
2010, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1846034442
Paperback, 48 pages
Few if any 20th century warships were more justly acclaimed than the destroyers of the US Navy's Fletcher class. Admired as they were for their advanced and rakish design, it was their record as workhorses of the Pacific War that placed them among the most battle-tested and successful fighting ships of all time. This title describes the Fletchers and their Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class derivatives, their machinery, armament, and construction, with a listing of all 343 ships by hull number and builder. It features an operational history of the 287 ships commissioned during World War II, which traces the evolution of night surface action tactics in the Solomon Islands and the parallel development of the Combat Information Center; the drive across the Pacific and liberation of the Philippines with tables showing the rapid introduction of new squadrons; and the radar pickets' climactic stand against kamikaze aircraft at Okinawa. With summaries of losses and decorations and specially commissioned artwork, this is a definitive book on the wartime US destroyer classes. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Mark Stille
Guadacanal 1942 (Duel)
2009, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1846034663
Paperback, 80 pages
Although the war in the Pacific is usually considered a carrier war, it was the cruisers that dominated the early fighting. This thrilling duel presents the cruiser clashes during the crucial battles for Guadacanal in 1942, highlighting the Battle of Savo Island on the August 9 and the Battle of Cape Esperance October 11-12th , 1942. The first was an overwhelming Japanese victory that resulted in the loss of four Allied cruisers. However, in the latter, the Americans managed to successfully turn the tables despite the fact that the was fought through the night under dangerous conditions. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Dave McComb
Pre-war classes (New Vanguard)
2010, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1846034434
Paperback, 48 pages
o conform to the 1930 London Naval Treaty, plus the successor 1,570-ton Sims class and the first-commissioned 1,620- and 1,630-tonners of the Benson and Gleaves classes. Collectively, these destroyers carried the Navy through the war’s first year when the outcome was in doubt: while most 1,500-tonners and leaders were assigned to front line duty in the Pacific before being relegated to secondary assignments, the later Bensons and Gleaves became the standard destroyers for Atlantic and Mediterranean operations and remained prominent in the Pacific throughout the war. This volume describes the fascinating design story behind these developmental classes – from the constraints of peacetime treaties to advances in propulsion engineering and wartime modifications. With an operational overview of their service and tables listing all 169 ships by class, builder, and initial squadron, this is a definitive guide to the pre-war US destroyer classes. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Russell Syndnor Crenshaw
2010, Naval Institute Press
ISBN 159114146X
Paperback, 228 pages
The Battle of Tassafaronga, fought November 30, 1942, was the fifth and last major night surface action of the Guadalcanal campaign. In it, a powerful American task force intercepted eight Japanese destroyers on a mission to deliver supplies to troops ashore but, in a stunning reversal, lost three heavy cruisers damaged and one sunk to enemy torpedoes. Lacking the facts needed to understand what had happened, American commanders criticized only their own destroyers before returning their focus to the war ahead. Not until more than half a century later did the author, the destroyer Maury's gunnery officer during the battle, undertake a detailed analysis and critique. This book is his report: a revelation of complex factors that under other circumstances might have led to an even more devastating defeat. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Jonathan Sutherland
Defending England's North Sea Coast in World War II
2010, Pen and Sword
ISBN 1848841531
Hardcover, 208 pages
The Battle of Britain and the Atlantic and the Blitz are invariably the focus of books and perceptions of the air war over and around Britain during the Second World War. Yet, it was Britain's more exposed eastern flank, from the South Foreland in the south to Bridlington in the north that faced nearly six years of unrelenting attacks by the Luftwaffe, the Kriegsmarine and, amazingly, the Corpo Aereo Italiano based in Belgium. The Italians alone launched some 150 raids on England hitting Great Yarmouth, Clacton, Harwich, Deal, Ramsgate and a host of other targets.
This book chronicles the air war around the east coast as its principle focus but also incorporate the joint operations mounted by both the Allies and the Axis forces. It looks at the preparations for invasion, the defense of vital convoys, the air defenses, the coastal blitz, ship and crew rescue and crucial docks and shipyards. With so much attention paid to the south coast, the air war over the east coast was often fought on a shoestring although it was the coast that lay closest to Germany. It was not a war of vast fleets of warships and submarines, it was conflict staged by aircraft and smaller raiding craft. It also saw the biggest mine-laying campaign in history and the largest battle fought between Axis E Boats and Allied Motor Torpedo Boats. As the tide turned in Britain's favor, the east coast became the staging post of the great bomber offensives against enemy occupied Europe and Germany itself. Yet the raiding and attacks on the east coast continued culminating in air-launched V1 attacks and finally V2 strikes. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Vincent O'Hara
The Seven Great Navies of the Second World War
2010, Naval Institute Press
ISBN 1591146461
Hardcover, 336 pages
An international team of naval historians and scholars, including John Jordan (France), Peter Schenk with Karsten Klein, Dr. Axel Niestle, Dieter Thomaier and Berndt R. Wenzel (Germany), David Wragg (Great Britain), Enrico Cernuschi and Vincent O'Hara (Italy) Mark Peattie (Japan), Trent Hone (United States) and Stephen McLaughliln (USSR) has pooled their expertise for this definitive reference on how the great navies of World War II were organized and how they trained, operated, and fought. They provide a point-by-point evaluation on the inner workings of the navies of the United States, the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, and the Soviet Union. Each navy has its own chapter, which covers such key features as weaponry, training, logistics, and doctrine. In bringing together data buried in specialized works in various languages, the authors deliver a fresh, multinational view of the naval war. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Peter Sasgen
The Epic Story of World War II's Most Daring Submarine Raid
2010, NAL Hardcover
ISBN 0451231368
Hardcover, 336 pages
In 1945-with no knowledge of the development of the atomic bomb- American submarine commanders, desperate to avoid an invasion of the home islands, believed that if the Japanese merchant fleet was sunk, the enemy would be forced to surrender. The problem: the ships were protected in the Sea of Japan from American submarines by a seemingly impenetrable barrier of deadly minefields.
For the first time, Peter Sasgen tells the gripping story of Operation Barney, a suicide mission in which nine submarines, nicknamed Hellcats, were tasked with the impossible-get through the underwater mines and decimate the enemy fleet. Success would hinge on a new experimental sonar system that would-with luck-guide American submarines safely past the mines.
Drawing on original documents and the poignant personal letters of one doomed Hellcat commander, Sasgen crafts a classic naval tale of the heroic submariners and one of World War II's most ambitious and dangerous missions. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Van Treuren, Richard G.
2009, Atlantis Productions
ISBN 978098209972
Soft cover, 434 pages, photos
comprehensive investigation in airship operations against U-boats, but has extensive coverage of WWI as well. Highly detailes analysis of known airship vs. U-boat encounters, many never before acknowledged. |
 | by - Dillon, Peter
A Story of the Western Seaboard
2009, Kenilworth & Collins
ISBN 0956118909
Paperback. 432 pages. Long section of Type XXI U-boat
Novel
When Jack Duggan descends to the ocean floor to enter the World War II U-boat he has discovered off the west coast of Ireland, he thinks his only problem will be decompression sickness.
He is wrong.
Jack is unaware that his every move is being monitored by MI5; that the U-boat is at the very centre of a high-risk undercover operation.
And that his past is about to catch up with him in the form of an IRA hardliner with nothing but vengeance in mind.
Jack’s in more than deep water.
He’s in deep trouble… Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Moore, Robert J. and Rodgaard, John A.
The story of HMS Venomous
2010, Holywell House Publishing
ISBN 978-0-9559382-0-7
234x156 mm with 320 pp, 170 photographs and 12 maps and plans.
HMS Venomous was a destroyer of the V & W Class, the most advanced in the world when built and arguably the most successful ever. Sixty-six were built at the end of the Great War. By the end of World War II they had all been sunk or scrapped but during those thirty years thousands of men served on them.
This is possibly the most detailed study yet of the contribution made by a typical “old warrior” of this class to winning the war with end notes and citations plus a list of all its officers from 1919-46 and a list of known ratings. It begins with a comparative survey of the world’s destroyers in 1919 and ends with a list of all the V & Ws giving date of construction and ultimate fate.
However, this story is about her officers and crew as told by them. It is illustrated with 170 of their unique photographs taken in the heat of the action plus paintings, drawings and maps.
The authors
Their accounts are linked together and set in context by Robert J Moore, the former CO of TS Venomous, and Capt. John Rodgaard USN (Naval History “author of the year”, 2000). |
 | by - Wayne Scarpaci
An Illustrated Technical Reference
2009, CreateSpace
ISBN 1448626072
Paperback, 100 pages
This volume is a complete, technical reference which covers all French Battleship types, of the Prewar, World War II, and Early Cold War eras of 1933-1970. The book is illustrated 32 full color original paintings, 58 new line drawings, and 237 photographs. Featured are a Chronology of WWII, illustrated sections on Radar and Fire Control, Aviation, and Camouflage. This book includes sections on Courbet through Richelieu class ships. It has fully illustrated sections on the Normandie and Lyon class ships of 1914 ( Including the aircraft carrier conversion Bearn). As well as the Gascogne and Alsace class ships of 1940. The information contained within this volume has hereto, only been available across a wide spectrum of reference sources. It is now available for the first time, under one set of book covers. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Wayne Scarpaci
An Illustrated Technical Reference
2009, Art by Wayne
ISBN 1442121092
Paperback, 78 pages
This volume is a complete, technical reference which covers all Italian Battleship types, of the Prewar, World War II, and Early Cold War eras of 1928-1957. The book is illustrated with 19 full color original paintings, 38 new line drawings, and 137 photographs.
Featured are a Chronology of WWII, illustrated sections on Radar and Fire Control, Aviation, and Camouflage. This book includes sections on Alighieri through Littorio class ships. It has fully illustrated sections on the Caracciolo class ships of 1914 (including the proposed aircraft carrier conversion), and the Livorno class battlecruisers of 1928. class. The information contained within this volume has hereto, only been available across a wide spectrum of reference sources. It is now available for the first time, under one set of book covers. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Wayne Scarpaci
An Illustrated Technical Reference
2009, Art by wayne
ISBN 1438257449
Paperback, 140 pages
This volume is a complete, technical reference which covers all USN Battleship types, of the World War II and Early Cold War eras of 1941-1963. The book is illustrated with 52 full color original paintings, 86 new line drawings, and 350 photographs,. Featured are a Chronology of WWII, illustrated sections on Radar and Fire Control, Aviation, and Camouflage. This book includes sections on Arkansas BB33 thru Louisiana BB71. It has fully illustrated sections on Gunnery Ships, Utah AG16, Wyoming AG17, and Mississippi AG128. A section on the 'as designed and ordered' 14" armed North Carolina class. Sections on the cancelled South Dakota BB49 and Lexington CC1 class ships. Coverage extends to the Battlecruisers of the Alaska CB1 class. The information contained within this volume has hereto, only been available across a wide spectrum of reference sources. It is now available for the first time, under one set of book covers. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - David Huffman
A Novel in History
2009, CreateSpace
ISBN 1449909078
Paperback, 266 pages
Novel
World War Two is about to begin and a German Naval Officer is going to war. Again. Oskar Keppler, a U-boat veteran of the Great War, takes command of the Type VII submarine U-115. Based on the actual War Diary of a German U-boat at the outset of World War II, this novel presents the U-boat experience from the perspective of those who lived it. Vivid descriptions of life in a diesel-electric powered submarine: day after day of mundane drilling, horrendous smells and ever deteriorating food are punctuated by moments of action, elation, terror and dread. In perhaps the most important single patrol of the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic, a handful of men will change the balance of power, and strategic capabilities of their adversary, for years to come. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Duffy, James P.
Disaster in the Mid-Atlantic
2009, Praeger
ISBN 0275993647
Hardcover, 129 pages
Duffy discusses in rich detail the dire and dramatic true story of the sinking of the British Liner Laconia by the dreaded U-Boat 156, a vessel crowded with 1800 Italian POWs, 103 Polish soldiers, and 463 officers and crew. As Laconia went down, U-156 surfaced and sent a signal that brought two other U-boats, an Italian submarine, and three Vichy French warships to assist with rescue operations. But on the morning of September 16, a U.S. bomber flew over U-156, now packed with several hundred Laconia survivors. The crew unfurled a large Red Cross flag. Nevertheless, the submarine was attacked. The Laconia survivors were ordered over the side into lifeboats. Damaged, U-156 left the area as other U-boats commenced rescue operations.
In the wake of the incident, German Admiral Karl Donitz issued the Laconia Order demanding that all attempts to rescue Allied survivors of merchant ships be ended. The order provoked an international outcry against inhumane treatment of survivors stranded at sea. In the aftermath of the war, Donitz was charged and acquitted of war crimes in connection with this order. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Paterson, Lawrence
The Surrender of Germany's U-Boat Forces
2009, Zenith Press
ISBN 0760337543
Hardcover, 192 pages
On the eve of Germany's surrender in May 1945, Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz commanded thousands of loyal and active men of the U-boat service. Still fully armed and unbroken in morale, enclaves of these men occupied bases stretching from Norway to France, where cadres of U-boat men fought on in ports that defied besieging Allied troops to the last. At sea U-boats still operated on a war footing around Britain, the coasts of the United States and as far as Malaya.
Following the agreement to surrender, these large formations needed to be disarmed – often by markedly inferior forces – and the boats at sea located and escorted into the harbours of their erstwhile enemies. Neither side knew entirely what to expect, and many of the encounters were tense; in some cases there were unsavoury incidents, and stories of worse. For many Allied personnel it was their first glimpse of the dreaded U-boat menace and both sides were forced to exercise considerable restraint to avoid compromising the terms of Germany's surrender.
One of the last but most dramatic acts of the naval war, the story of how the surrender was handled has never been treated at length before. This book uncovers much new material about the process itself and the ruthless aftermath for both the crews and their boats. Purchase information: (info)
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| by - Pawle, Gerald
The Inside Story of Clandestine Weapon Development in World War II
2009, Seaforth Publishing
ISBN 1848320264
Paperback, 304 pages
This is the fascinating story of the Admiralty's Department of Miscellaneous Weapon Development, the so-called 'Wheezers and Dodgers', and the many ingenious weapons and devices it invented, improved or perfected.
The author was one of a group of officers with engineering or scientific backgrounds who were charged with the task of winning the struggle for scientific mastery between the Allies and the Germans in what Churchill enthusiastically called 'the wizard war'. Their work ranged from early stop-gap weapons like the steam-powered Holman projector, via great success stories like the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, to futuristic experiments with rockets, a minefield that could be sown in the sky, and the spectacularly dangerous Great Panjandrum, a giant explosive Catherine-wheel intended to storm enemy beaches.
The development of these and many other extraordinary inventions, their triumphs and disasters, is told with panache and humour, and a diverse group of highly imaginative and eccentric figures emerge from the pages. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Innes McCartney
2006, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1846030072
Paperback, 48 pages
The submarine was as formidable a weapon for the Royal Navy in World War II as for the other main combatant nations. The first half of this book explores the conception, design, development and subsequent evolution of the three major classes: the "S", "T", and "U".
The "S" Class submarine was originally conceived in the 1920s, specifically for deployment in narrow seas. As the war progressed the submarine was modified to increase its diving capability and fuel-carrying capacity, and radar and many other features were added. The "S" Class served in all theaters from the North Atlantic to the Pacific with notable success, in many cases surviving very severe damage.
The "T" Class submarine was originally conceived for operations in the Far East, thus was one of the largest types to be built and serve in World War II. The development of the "T" Class during the war was sometimes at the expense of its underwater stability and in the Mediterranean theater half of the submarines that were deployed sunk.
The "U" Class include Upholder, the most successful British submarine of World War II.
The second half of the book surveys the major submarine actions of the war, including the Norwegian Campaign, operations to save Malta and many other engagements in all theaters involving British submarines, German U-Boats and the Japanese. The author has accessed many previously unpublished sources and draws on his own extensive underwater research to give a highly detailed and informed account of the British submarine. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Jim Christley
2006, Osprey Publishing
ISBN 1841768596
Paperback, 48 pages
Naval warfare in the Pacific changed completely with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The strategic emphasis shifted from battleships to much more lethal, far-ranging weapons systems; one of these was the submarine. This book details the design and development, classes, weapons and equipment, tactics and operational history of the US submarine in World War II. Detailed tables, photographs, and superb color plates depict the force that had an effect far beyond its size - the submarine accounted for 55% of all Japanese shipping losses, despite suffering the highest percentage loss of any unit of the United State Armed Forces in World War II. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Norman Friedman
The Second World War and After
2006, Greenhill Books
ISBN 1861761376
Hardcover, 288 pages Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Michael Sturma
Death and Survival on a World War II Submarine
2008, The University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 0813124816
Hardcover, 232 pages
The fate of the USS Flier is one of the most astonishing stories of the Second World War. On August 13, 1944, the submarine struck a mine and sank to the bottom of the Sulu Sea in less than one minute, leaving only fourteen of its crew of eighty-six hands alive. After enduring eighteen hours in the water, eight remaining survivors swam to a remote island controlled by the Japanese. Deep behind enemy lines and without food or drinking water, the crewmen realized that their struggle for survival had just begun.
On its first war patrol, the unlucky Flier made it from Pearl Harbor to Midway where it ran aground on a reef. After extensive repairs and a formal military inquiry, the Flier set out once again, this time completing a distinguished patrol from Pearl Harbor to Fremantle, Western Australia. Though the Flier's next mission would be its final one, that mission is important for several reasons: the story of the Flier's sinking illuminates the nature of World War II underwater warfare and naval protocol and demonstrates the high degree of cooperation that existed among submariners, coast watchers, and guerrillas in the Philippines.
The eight sailors who survived the disaster became the first Americans of the Pacific war to escape from a sunken submarine and return safely to the United States. Their story of persistence and survival has all the elements of a classic World War II tale: sudden disaster, physical deprivation, a ruthless enemy, and a dramatic escape from behind enemy lines.
In The USS Flier: Death and Survival on a World War II Submarine, noted historian Michael Sturma vividly recounts a harrowing story of brave men who lived to return to the service of their country. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Jonathan J. McCullough
An Untold Story of World War II, Two Sister Ships, and Extraordinary Heroism
2009, Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 0446178403
Paperback, 304 pages
On November 19, 1943, the submarine USS Sculpin, under attack by the Japanese, slid below the waves for the last time in what would become one of the most remarkable stories in U.S. Naval history. Not only did several crewmembers survive the sinking - an extremely rare event in World War II submarine warfare - but several were aboard a Japanese aircraft carrier enroute to a POW camp when it was in turn torpedoed and sunk by the Sculpin's sister ship, the USS Sailfish.
At the end of World War II, several unlikely survivors would tell a tale of endurance against these amazing reversals of fortune. For one officer in particular, who knew that being captured could have meant losing the war for the allies, his struggle was not in surviving, but in sealing his own fate in a heartbreaking act of heroism which culminated in the nation's highest tribute, the Medal of Honor.
Sculpin Lt. Commander John Phillip Cromwell was one of the few who knew that American Naval Intelligence had succeeded in cracking Japan's top-secret codes. Cromwell also knew that if the Japanese confirmed this by torturing him, it would force Naval Intelligence to change their encryption, which would potentially change the course of the war. This is Cromwell's story as well.
The incredible interconnection of the Sculpin and the Sailfish has been thoroughly researched by Jonathan McCullough. Through access to the few living survivors, scores of oral histories, never-before translated Japanese war documents, and interviews with Navy veterans, McCullough delivers a gripping and, intimate account for the reader. Purchase information: (info)
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| by - Charles McCain
2009, Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 0446538981
Hardcover, 384 pages
Novel
When World War II begins, Max Brekendorf, a proud young German naval officer, fights for his country with honor and courage. With the unstoppable German war machine overrunning Europe, Max looks ahead to a bright future with his fiancée, Mareth.
But as the war progresses, their future together becomes less and less certain. German victories begin to fade. In the North Atlantic, Max must face the increasing strength of the Allies on ever more harrowing missions. Berlin itself is savaged by bombing, making life for Mareth increasingly dangerous and desperate. And as the Third Reich steadily crumbles, Nazi loyalists begin to infiltrate Max's crew and turn their terror on Germany's own armed forces.
Recognizing what his nation has become, Max is forced to make a choice between his own sense of morality, and his duty to the Reich. With its stirring, rarely seen glimpse of the German home front during WWII, vivid characters, and evocation of the drama and terror of war at sea, An Honorable German is a suspense-filled story of adventure, of love and loss, and of honor and redemption. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Pete Nelson
A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis
2003, Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN 0385730918
Paperback, 201 pages
Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank in 14 minutes. More than 1,000 men were thrown into shark-infested waters. Those who survived the fiery sinking—some injured, many without life jackets—struggled to stay afloat in shark-infested waters as they waited for rescue. But the United States Navy did not even know they were missing. The Navy needed a scapegoat for this disaster. So it court-martialed the captain for “hazarding” his ship. The survivors of the Indianapolis knew that their captain was not to blame. For 50 years they worked to clear his name, even after his untimely death. But the navy would not budge—until an 11-year-old boy named Hunter Scott entered the picture. His history fair project on the Indianapolis soon became a crusade to restore the captain’s good name and the honor of the men who served under him. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Barrett Tillman
The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II
2006, NAL Trade
ISBN 0451219562
Paperback, 368 pages
The true story of one of the greatest and most decisive conflicts in the history of naval warfare-from an award-winning author.
In June, 1944, American and Japanese carrier fleets made their way through the Philippine Sea, both hoping to take control of the vital Marianas Islands. When they met, they embarked upon a naval engagement that escalated into the most spectacular aircraft carrier battle in history. Here is the true account of the battle, told from both sides-by those who were there. Drawing upon numerous interviews as well as official sources, Clash of the Carriers is an unforgettable testimonial to the bravery of those who fought and those who died in a battle that will never be forgotten. Purchase information: (info)
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 | by - Russell Sydnor Crenshaw Jr.
The Battle for the Solomons from Savo Island to Vella Gulf
2009, Naval Institute Press
ISBN 1591141435
Paperback, 304 pages
Russell Crenshaw's riveting account of the savage night battle for the Solomon Islands in early 1943 offers readers a unique insider's perspective from the decks of one of the destroyers that bore the brunt of the struggle. Drawing on his experience as a gunnery officer in the USS Maury, his vivid, balanced, and detailed narrative includes the Battle of Tassafaronga in November 1942 and Vella Gulf in August 1943, actions that earned his warship a Presidential Unit Citation and sixteen battle stars. Crenshaw also discusses the impact of radar and voice radio, the shortcomings of U.S. torpedoes and gunfire, and the devastating effectiveness of Japan's super torpedo. Purchase information: (info)
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