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Robert Cecil Stern
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Type VII U-Boats Hardcover – January 1, 1991

by Robert. Stern (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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This study of the Type VII as a weapon of war and a carrier of firepower offers a technical history as well as fascinating narrative accounts by the men who operated the boats.
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  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Naval Institute, 1991.
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1991
  5. ISBN-10
    1557508283
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1557508287
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Naval Institute, 1991.; First Edition (January 1, 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1557508283
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1557508287
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Robert Cecil Stern

    Robert Cecil Stern

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  2. Robert C. Stern

    Robert C. Stern

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    Robert C. Stern has been writing naval history for more than thirty-five years, during which time he has published ten major works and numerous magazine articles and pictorial monographs. His major works include The Battleship Holiday: The Naval Treaties and Capital Ship Design, which analyzes the impact of the naval arms limitation treaties of the 1920s and ‘30s on the development of the major warships built by the world’s navies, Fire from the Sky: Surviving the Kamikaze Threat, which is a retelling of the emergence of the kamikaze weapon in the Second World War and the strategies and tactics developed to cope with this potent threat and The US Navy and the War in Europe, which describes the often-overlooked contribution by the US Navy in the European Theater in the Second World War. His most recent work is Scratch One Flattop: The First Carrier Air Campaign and the Battle of the Coral Sea, which is part of the Twentieth-Century Battles series from Indiana University Press, telling the story of the first major carrier air battle in naval history. His other main interest is photography, which can be seen at stern-photography.com. He lives in Cupertino, CA, with his wife Beth and a very uninterested cat.

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mallard
5.0 out of 5 stars Book even better than description!
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2020
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book for a very reasonable price. When it came, I found that it was in perfect condition and , in addition, this book about a certain type of WW2 submarine also had the signatures of 40 WW2 submariners, some of whom served in famous boats during the war, making it a wonderful collector's edition. Seller vastly exceed my expectations.
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Robert C. Horning
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent value for money.
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2019
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Great book! I am building a model of the VIIc class Uboat and am using the book for general reference.
One person found this helpful
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none
5.0 out of 5 stars I think it is the best of all books for information about the boats…
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2014
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This was the only book on U boats that discuss communications equipment. All the other books tell you how the admiral keep
close rains on the boats by radio, but never mention the type of equipment. This book does. I think it is the best of
all books for information about the boats….top shelf….
4 people found this helpful
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PJ
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Book
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2017
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A very informative book with plenty of photos and diagrams. The only drawback is that the book is rather small and some of the diagrams are shrunk down and split between two pages.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016
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Great book fast service
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Electricbill43
5.0 out of 5 stars Type VII U Boat Book
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2014
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Very good reading.
One person found this helpful
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Ned Middleton
5.0 out of 5 stars An accomplished study.
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2010
Having enjoyed other works from this author, I snapped up a copy of this book just as soon as I saw his name attached to such a title. I was given reason to expect great things just as soon as I started reading the information on the inside edge of the book's dust cover and was not disappointed with the content. Ordinarily, this provides the reader with a précis of what is found inside but, on this occasion, I found myself learning some very important details that were hitherto unknown to me - and I have had an interest in the U Boat for over 40 years!

The Type VII U Boat was probably the most successful submarine of all time. It was Gunther Prien in U47 which sank HMS Royal Oak right at the beginning of WW2 and Otto Kretschmer with his U99 who established the record for tonnage sunk during that same war - and the sinking of ships was the primary role of this type of craft). Today, some 65 years after the Type VII fired it's last torpedo in war, there are websites clubs in many different languages dedicated to the finest detail of this specific weapon of war and every aspect of the battles they fought. For all those ardent enthusiasts plus those with a more general interest in WW2, ships or shipwrecks, this is an excellent addition to the bookshelf.

Commencing with the boat's evolution and design (all submarines are `boats' and not ships!), the author then takes the reader through the vital characteristics which made this craft exactly what is was and why. This includes fascinating detail from history and the lessons learned from WW1. Part Two covers; The hull, propulsion, crew, provisions and even sanitation. The third part provides a complete explanation of the various weapons. Commencing with the obvious; Torpedoes, mines, deck and flak guns, we are then treated to an interesting insight into some experimental weapons. Often overlooked, Part Four includes the real cutting-edge technology of the day; Radio, radar, radar detectors, hydrophones and infra-red sensors. The final part of this complete assessment moves from the offensive to the defensive with; Anti-radar coatings, anti-radar decoys, anti-sonar coatings and anti-sonar decoys - something which reveals the exhaustive nature of the research undertaken by this author. The book concludes with equally informative appendices on; General appearance, Admiral Dönitz and a table of Hull numbers which shows when and where each boat was made and includes those projects which were never completed.

The work is well supported throughout with an excellent and plentiful selection of black and white photographs showing all aspects of boats, people, construction, war, weapons, life on board and so forth in addition to an equally outstanding compilation of plans and profiles.

If I may be permitted one very minor criticism; Most readers will know that the German word for submarine is Unterseeboot (undersea boat) or U Boat for short. In the German language, there never was a hyphen between the letter "U" and the word "Boat" and no hyphen appears in any of Germany's official records on the U Boat at any time. The hyphen was added by those who translated various German documents into English. Consequently (e.g.); U Boat and U68 are correct whereas U-Boat and U-68 are incorrect. As I say, a very small point and not one which will mar your enjoyment of a truly accomplished study.

NM
15 people found this helpful
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Bjorn Hansson
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read in order to understand other u-boat litterature
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2008
This book is great. here's why:
1) Great disposition. Eases the reader into the subject. From basic to advanced stuff.
2) Thoroughly researched. Based on original sources.
3) Great pictures and u-boat layouts
4) Contains tons of facts, yet it is still extremely reader-friendly and har to put down.

This book has really helped me a lot when it comes to understanding every aspect of the uboat and the uboat war. A great aid when reading other uboat titles.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book
Reviewed in Spain on March 19, 2024
Verified Purchase
Full of information. Recommended for starting to know about U-boats.
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john s webb
5.0 out of 5 stars book in excellent condition
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2019
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very good condition, really new and unspoiled. delivered promptly.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on December 31, 2016
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Great book.
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hakkikt
4.0 out of 5 stars Concise, accurate, readable
Reviewed in Germany on September 29, 2006
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"Type VII U-boats" by Robert Stern describes the Type VII as a weapon system with all its components in a concise and accurate way. The author somehow manages to present a lot of useful information not only in readable form but on surprisingly little space. The contents is clearly broken down into chapters like "Weapons", "Sensors", or "Crew", with useful appendices on things like the exterior of boats and even a few pages on Dönitz, the mastermind behind German submarine warfare.

I have a lot of books on German submarines, and many in German (my mother language). Much has been written on the subject already, so I tend to leaf through any new book, picking out what I consider new information. This book, however, I read from the first to the last page, and learned a lot in the process. Although the book sets out to give technical information only, readers will learn a lot about how submarine warfare developed in WW2, and I had quite a few "aha!" moments despite my familiarity with the subject.

What makes the book especially agreeable to read is the lack of bias. There are too many books out there telling readers "how we beat the bloody Germans" or "why we should have beat the Brits, and how we suffered trying". Nothing of that in here.

Most of the photographs offered are of good quality, and many I had never seen before. There are, however, a few occurrences of a technical item being located in some corner of a foggy photograph; the thought arises that originality of material sometimes prevailed over clarity of illustration.

Sadly, what this book shares with many English books on the subject is spelling errors in German. Can it really be so difficult to look things up in a dictionary? Or ask a native speaker? It is "Rudeltaktik", not "Rüdeltaktik". The author must be commended, however, for providing the German designations of technical items and tactics in many places, obviously not just to add local colour.

The drawings supplied are clear and informative. The profiles and deck plans of submarines, however, were either from a medium-quality source or printed at the limits of the printing process. Things are not always easy to find there, with lots of very thin lines being broken in places.

Strong points:

+ concise, accurate and readable information

+ bias-free presentation of developments

+ previously unpublished photographs

+ good insight into the details of submarine warfare

Weak points:

- unclear illustration of technical details in some photographs (although most are good!)

- some line drawings at the limits of the printing process

- some spelling errors in German

My verdict? Whenever I want to look up something about Type VII U-boats, this is the book that I take in hand first. And believe me, I have a lot.
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Brynski
5.0 out of 5 stars The Workhorse.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2015
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Excellent and informative book on the workhorse of the U-Boat fleet the Type VII. Robert Stern is in my opinion the best U-Boat historian. 5 STARS.
One person found this helpful
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