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Baltic Assignment
by Wilson, MichaelBritish Submariners in Russia: 1914-1919
1985, Leo Cooper, London
ISBN 0436578018
Hardcover, 244 pages, 23 photos, 5 maps
This is the story of Max Horton, Noel Laurence and Francis Cromie, together with their gallant crews and those other submariners who fought for their country, and for Russia, in the Baltic during the period from 1914 to 1918, and then on into 1919.
Before Jutland
by James GoldrickThe Naval War in Northern European Waters, August 1914-February 1915
2015, Naval Institure Press
ISBN 9781591143499
Paperback, 382 pages, 11 maps
A balanced account of naval operations in the North Sea and the Baltic during the opening months of WWI
British Merchant Ships Sunk by U-boats in the 1914-1918 War
by Tennent, A. J.1990, Starling Press, Rogerstone; Newport; Gwent
ISBN 0951631403
Paperback, 258 pages
Lists sinkings chronologically, and alphabetically by shipping line or company, 3 to 4 lines per vessel giving details of when and where sunk and by which U-boat, plus Index of Ships' Names and Index of Places.
British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-18 and 1939-45
by N/A1988, Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough
ISBN 1852601345
304 pages
This is a straight reprint of the original 1918 and 1945 summaries of British vessels lost. Lots of data on lost ships.
By Guess and By God
by Carr, William GuyThe Story of the British Submarines in the War
1930, Hutchinson & Co., London
Hardcover, 288 pages, 9 photos
A real bestseller from this period of time which covers almost the complete submarine war from the British side in World War I. It reads like a novel but is not always completely accurate. Preface written by Admiral S.S. Hall who commanded the British Submarine Service for the greater part of the war.
Commerce War, The
by Taylor, Carl T.Unarmed Merchant Ships against German Submarines in World War I
1999, Mountain Empire Publications, Clifton Forge, VA, USA
ISBN 0966470915
Paperback, 104 pages
Thie book is fiction, but many incidents are basically true. It should be accurate historically.
Damned Un-English Weapon, A
by Gray, EdwynThe Story of British Submarine Warfare, 1914-1918
1973, New English Library
ISBN 0854220070
Paperback, 191 pages, 5 tables
The story of British submarines in World War I. First published 1971.
Dead Wake
by Erik LarsonThe Last Crossing of the Lusitania
2015, Crown Publishers
ISBN 0307408868
Hardcover, 430 pages
#1 New York Times BestsellerFrom the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the LusitaniaOn May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.
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by Stokes, RoyThe Sinking of the RMS Leinster
1998, Collins Press, Cork
ISBN 1898256527
153 pages
From the Publisher: Just one month before the end of the First World War, the mail boat RMS Leinster was sunk by three torpedoes fired by the German submarine UB-123 on 10 October 1918. Death in the Irish Sea reveals for the first time the full circumstances of Ireland's greatest maritime disaster. The sinking occurred in sight of Dublin and claimed the lives of 500 of the 771 occupants. The issues of Home Rule and Conscription were extremely sensitive and demands for a public enquiry into the sinking of the RMS Leinster were refused. Very limited investigation followed and the findings were censored.
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by Hall, Stephen King1920, Hutchinson & Co., London
288 pages, 18 illustrations
Download a public-domain, illustrated HTML version of this book at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext05/8dubc10h.zip
Dover Patrol 1914-18, The
by Humphreys, Roy1998, Sutton Publishing
ISBN 0750919671
Hardcover - 222 pages
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by Chatterton, E. Keble1942, Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., London
216 pages, 13 maps, 7 photos
Concerning the anti U-boat war by the British during World War I in the period 1914-1916, and using British and German sources, which is rather amazing as it was published during the Second World War. Gives quite a good idea about the first three years of the war at sea but of course also includes some very patriotic language, due to the period in which it was published.
Find and Destroy
by Messimer, DwightAntisubmarine Warfare in World War I
2001, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 1557504474
Hardcover, 312 pages, 25 photos, 6 drawings, 10 maps
From the publisher: "World War I was the crucible of antisubmarine warfare (ASW), and the years of trial and error between 1914 and 1918 gave rise to the weapons and tactics used by today’s ASW forces. With this study, military historian Dwight Messimer examines the weapons, tactics, and organization used by all the belligerents during the war and provides some surprising findings. Because he draws heavily from personal accounts as well as from official records, his book will appeal to both serious readers seeking hard facts and to general readers who like stories about war at sea."
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Fips - Legendary U-boat Commander
by Brooks, Geoffrey2000, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 1557502862
Hardcover, 224 pages, illustrations
From the publisher: "Werner Fürbringer (Fips) became one of the most successful U-Boat commanders in WW1 through a blend of skill, daring and, by his own typically modest admission, sheer luck. This vivid memoir, never before published in English, makes compelling reading. This is an inspiring and chivalrous story; it is ironic then that, when finally sunk by the Royal Navy off the East Coast of England, Fips was machine-gunned in the water, contrary to repeated Government denials of such behaviour."
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Get Fips - Legendary U-boat Commander now at amazon.com ($ 19.99)From U-boat to Pulpit
by Niemoller, Martin1936, W. Hodge, London
217 pages
The commander of UC-67 describes his wartime and postwar career.
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German Submarine Activities on the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Canada
by United States Office of Naval Records and Library1920, GPO, Washington
163 pages
German Submarine War 1914-1918, The
by Gibson, Richard Henry1931, R.R. Smith, New York
438 pages, 15 b&w photos, 7 maps
Analysis of the submarine war from the British point of view, detailing all the German submarines, fates, commanders, sinking locations, postwar fates, etc.
- This book has been translated into other languages
German Submarine Warfare 1914-1918 in the Eyes of British Intelligence
by Koerver, Hans Joachim2010, 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.
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German U-Boat Crews 1914-45
by Williamson, GordonOsprey Military Elite Series, No. 60
1996, Reed International Books Ltd.
ISBN 1855325454
64 pages, color photos
Topics include organization and command structure, uniforms, weapons, badges and insignia.
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German Warships of World War I
by Friedman, Norman and Gardiner, RobertThe Royal Navy's Official Guide to the Capital Ships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines and Small Craft, 1914-1918
1992, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 1557503036
Hardcover, 416 pages
Reprint of the official British (and by extension, American) publications describing German ships during World War I. The section on submarines extends over 120 pages.
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by Keble, Howard1918, Chatto and Windus - London
64 pages, 16 photos, 1 map
The official narratives on the Zeebrugge and Oostende raids by the British on St. George's Day, 1918 in an attempt to block both these German-occupied harbours. The book was pure propaganda and is even still today on a secret list of propaganda books at the Imperial War Museum in London.
Graf Spee's Raiders
by Yates, KeithChallenge to the Royal Navy 1914-1915
Leo Cooper/ Pen and Sword Books
ISBN 0850524512
Hardcover, 338 pages
Early in World War One Spee and his gallant men gave the Imperial German Navy the confidence to challenge the Royal Navy’s long-held supremacy at sea.
Hostile Sea
by Corkill, AndrianThe U-boat Offensive around the Isle of Man during World War One
2013, Adrian Korkill
ISBN 9780954011529
Glossy paperback, 178 pages
From the publisher: This is the story of the events in the seas around the Isle of Man during World War One. In early 1915 Germany declared an unrestricted U-Boat campaign on Allied shipping forcing the British government to censor the British press with regard to all attacks on shipping, a move designed to prevent Germany learning of the true effectiveness of their campaign. As a result of this censorship, which also extended to the newspapers in the Isle of Man, few people today are aware to the extent of the German maritime offensive and the events that unfolded around the Isle of Man in the years between 1915 and 1918. Thirty vessels were sunk and many others narrowly escaped a similar fate after being attacked by U-Boats. Truly shocking was the terrible loss of life with over 400 souls perishing. The events that unfolded around the Isle of Man were a small, but significant part of the overall offensive, which came so very close to starving Britain into submission and winning the war for Germany.
This book will prove invaluable to those interested in local and maritime history, World War One or those investigating a family ancestor involved in the action. The information on wreck sites and how to locate them on the seabed with reliable GPS coordinates also provides the sports diver and boat angler with the premier guide on World War One shipwrecks around the Isle of Man.
You can order it through http://www.hostilesea.com.
Hunters of the U-boat
by Margerison, John S.1918, C.A. Pearson, London
108 pages
Journal of Submarine Commander von Forstner, The
by Von Forstner, George Gunther1917, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York
135 pages
- This book has been translated from another language
Jutland 1916
by London, CharlesClash of the dreadnoughts
2000, Osprey Pub Co
ISBN 1855329921
Paperback, 96 pages, illustrations
The only major fleet engagement of World War I (1914-1918), the Battle of Jutland (1916) has been surrounded by controversy ever since. The British public felt Admiral Jellicoe had failed – a reaction rooted in a hundred years of the 'Nelson cult', a conviction that anything short of a Trafalgar-style annihilation was letting the side down. True, the German Fleet had sunk more ships and suffered fewer casualties, but the British had forced them to disengage and run for port and were still cruising off Denmark spoiling for a fight. This title recounts in detail how on an early summer's evening in 1916, the two fleets clashed head to head: the events that followed would spark a polemic that still rages today.
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K Boat Catastrophe
by N.S. NashEIGHT SHIPS AND FIVE COLLISIONS: The full story of the 'Battle' of the Isle of May
2009, Pen and Sword
ISBN 1844159841
Hardcover, 224 pages
The "Battle of the Isle of May" was one of the strangest episodes during WWI and was suppressed for decades after the war. During the night of 31 Jan 1918 8 ships were involved in 5 collisions that resulted in 2 submarines being lost with 104 officers and men.
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K Boats, The
by Everitt, Don1999, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 1557504679
Paperback, 144 pages, 24 plates, 8 drawings
From the publisher: "Only today's atomic submarines have outstripped the fabulous twin-funneled K boats--the biggest, fastest submarines of World War I. But no other class of warship suffered so much calamity and controversy. Authorized by Churchill, these steam-powered submarines became the best-concealed debacle in British naval history. This book provides some answers to what went wrong during the series of dreadful mishaps." First published 1963.
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Kaiser's Pirates, The
by Walter, JohnGerman Surface Raiders in World War One
1994, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 1557504563
Hardcover, 192 pages, numerous b&w photos and maps
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Land That Time Forgot, The
by Burroughs, Edgar Rice1999, Bison Books
ISBN 0803261543
Hardcover, commemorative edition, 448 pages
An American off to World War I, who in civilian life was a builder of submarines, has two ships sunk from under him by U-33, a U-boat he himself had built. The crew of the second ship sunk manage to capture the U-boat, including its captain. Unable to get to a friendly port because they are repeatedly shelled on sight, then steered on a false course by a traitor among the merchant crew, the U-boat ends up in the South Pacific. Needing water and fuel, they make landfall on an island which they soon discover is inhabited by prehistoric monsters and ape-men. A movie was later based on this novel. Originally published 1918.
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by Freiwald, Ludwig1932, Constable, London
318 pages, 2 maps
Includes the German mutiny in Kiel and gives some information on the part played by the U-boat men in helping to quell it.
- This book has been translated from another language
Log of a U-boat Commander, The
by Hashagen, Ernst1931, Putnam
277 pages, 16 pages of photos
American title: U-boats Westward!
- This book has been translated from another language
Lusitania, The
by Butler, Daniel AllenThe Life, Loss, and Legacy of an Ocean Legend
2000, Stackpole Books
ISBN 0811709892
Hardcover, 384 pages
Impressive and well-researched book on the loss of this mighty ship and how it affected the war.
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Merchant U-boat, The
by Messimer, Dwight R.Adventures of the Deutschland, 1916-1918
1988, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 0870217712
234 pages
My Mystery Ships
by Campbell, Gordon1936, Hodder & Stoughton, London
300 pages
The author served in mystery ships from October, 1915, to August, 1917.
Mystery of the Last Olympian
by Richie KohlerTitanic's Tragic Sister Britannic
2016, Best Publishing Company
ISBN 1930536860
Paperback, 228 pages
The book gives you a firsthand account as Richie Kohler (of Shadow Divers and Deep Sea Detectives) takes readers on the intriguing journey from the rise of the magnificent Olympians to the fateful day in 1916. He then moves forward in time through multiple expeditions beginning with the great Jacques Cousteau who located the ocean liner in 1975. Each successive team that risked their lives uncovered new clues, but it was not until 2009 when Richie and his dive partner definitively pinpointed the secret that had eluded them. Finally, in July 2015, Richie and a small team attained the goal of documenting their findings that answered the century-old question as to why all the engineering solutions built into the mighty Britannic could not save her from sharing the same fate as Titanic. Experience the expedition as Richie and his team unravel the mystery of the HMHS Britannic: With damage to only one compartment, the ship should have been able to stay afloat, and yet she sank twice as quickly as did Titanic. How was that possible? Was the hospital ship criminally torpedoed as the British press claimed, or did she ineptly blunder into a minefield, as the Bismarck Government countered? Violet Jessop survived the sinking of Britannic and Titanic. Experience her intriguing story.
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Get Mystery of the Last Olympian now at amazon.co.uk (£ 19.99)Mystery Ships
by Noyes, AlfredTrapping the U-boat
1916, Hodder & Stoughton, London
181 pages
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
Naval Memoirs 1916-1918
by Keyes, Sir RogerScapa Flow to the Dover Straits
1935, Thornton Butterworth, London
Hardcover, 416 pages, 16 maps and drawings, 13 photos
This is a portion of the naval memoirs of this admiral, almost a song of praise for himself. However it also gives a very good overview of the anti-submarine activities in the Channel for which he was responsible as he held command of the Dover Patrol. Of course the Zeebrugge and Oostende raids by his men in 1918 on St.-George's Day were enormous successes and both harbours were completely blocked if you want to believe the man. The reality was somewhat different.
Q-Ships
by Ritchie, Carson1985, Terence Dalton Ltd.
ISBN 0861380118
Hardcover, 216 pages
Very good book on the Q-ships of 1914-1918 and their activities, plus a 30-page Appendix of Q-ships giving alternate identities, details of the individual vessels and their service.
Raiders of the Deep
by Thomas, Lowell1995, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 1557507228
363 pages, 51 b&w photos
Mr. Thomas wrote this book in the early 1920s, traveling to Germany to interview many of the U-boat skippers and crews from the Kaiser's U-boat fleet. It's written in a "Boys Own" style and conveys a real sense of excitement and adventure with every page. There are stories of surface gun battles with Q ships, the campaigns against the U.S. east coast in 1918, the sinking of several British battleships off Gallipoli, the hair-raising exploits of the Flanders Flotilla, and many more stories of torpedo malfunctions and unbelievably lucky escapes, e.g., "the torpedo that jumped over a boat." First published 1928.
- This book has been translated into other languages
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Royal Naval Air Service 1912-1918
by King, Bradley1997, Hikoki Publications, Aldershot
ISBN 0951989952
Hardcover, 160 pages, photos
The story of the Royal Naval Air Service previous to World War I and during the war, from Oostende to the Dardanelles, Africa, the Mediterranean, to Gallipoli, Romania and Russia. Also covers the war versus Zeppelins and the war versus German ships and U-boats. Almost a pictorial as there are an enormous amount of never-before-published photos in it.
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by Kennedy, William P.1992, St. Martin's Press, New York
ISBN 031206182X
Hardcover
Novel, exposing a conspiracy theory behind the sinking of Lusitania, with Winston Churchill casted as a chief blackhat, conspiring to single out the Irish Fenians, drag US into the war, and defamate the Hun with one throw of a stone - he orders high explosives being loaded aboard the Lusitania, makes the Cunard New York representative lower the ticket prices, so that more Americans would board her, then leaks that info to the Fenians, and through them - to Germany and U-20.
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Sailor of Austria, A
by Biggins, John1994, St. Martin's Press, New York
ISBN 0312105347
369 pages
This book is a very good read. A lot of detail is given, so one can get the feel for life in the service of the Hapsburg submarine corps of the First World War. The novel is told from the point of view of a surviving U-boat commander, who is Czech, and is reminiscing about his career in the Adriatic from an old folks' home. The novel gives one a good feeling for life aboard WWI U-boats, starting with adventures aboard a Holland-class boat, and then moving on to U-boats that Austria-Hungary had purchased from Germany.
Sea Killers in Disguise
by Bridgland, TonyQ Ships & Decoy Raiders of WWI
1999, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 155750895X
Hardcover, 224 pages
This is the remarkable story of what were known by the British as 'Q' Ships and by the Germans as 'Decoy Raiders'. Disguised as harmless merchant ships, they could be transformed in moments into powerful killers and were used by both sides in WW1. The book describes the extraordinary lengths taken to ensure secrecy and deception. Owing to the nature of the game, evidence regarding their work is hard to come by but Tony Bridgland has produced a fascinating piece of detective history.
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by Coles, AlanThe Truth Behind a Naval War Crime
1986, Robert Hale
ISBN 0709025971
220 pages, photos
About the 1915 Baralong incident, in which the commander of this British Q-ship ordered the execution of all survivors of SMU-27 (Wegener).
Smoke and Mirrors
by Deborah LakeQ-Ships against the U-Boats in the First World War
2009, The History Press
ISBN 0752450557
Paperback, 256 pages
The Q-ship, an ordinary merchant vessel with concealed guns, came into its own during World War I, when used by the Royal Navy to trap and destroy German U-boats. The Q-ship operations are covered here in detail, by following the careers of the eight men who won the Victoria Cross on Special Service Operations; and by accounts of German U-boat crews being on the receiving end. No book on Q-ships can avoid the Baralong incident in which a Q-ship's crew allegedly executed the survivors of the German submarine U-27, on August 19, 1915. In a subsequent encounter with U-41, more British atrocities were alleged by the only two German survivors. Revealing extracts from the diary of a Royal Marine who served on board the Baralong are reproduced here, together with other first-hand accounts. With charge and counter-charge, this incident provides a fascinating story.
Splinter Fleet of the Otranto Barrage, The
by Millholland, Ray1936, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis
Hardcover, 307 pages, 18 photos, 3 maps, 1 diagram
The Splinter Fleet was a small group of United States submarine chasers, so-named because the 110-foot vessels were constructed from wood and did not stand up well to collision. In this book, the Chief Engineer of one of these boats relates his adventures in 1918 in defending the Otranto Barrage (a line of ships meant to bottle up the enemy naval forces in the Adriatic); battling German and Austrian submarines (of which his boat was officially credited for sinking 13); undertaking a special mission to transport the Serbian crown jewels from Corfu to a safer location; and participating in what was to be a suicide mission against the Austrian forces as Durazzo, but from which all 11 splinter boats involved returned intact. This, the only general naval engagement in which the U.S. Navy participated in the course of World War I, was later the basis for a movie. The author's interviews with a number of German and Austrian submarine officers after the war additionally give the reader a glimpse of the proceedings from another point of view. A relatively objective, informative and entertaining book.
Stoker's Submarine
by Brenchley, Fred and Brenchley, Elizabeth2001, Harpercollins
ISBN 073226703X
Paperback, 264 pages, 22 pages of photos, 2 maps
On 25 April, 1915, Lieutenant Commander Dacre Stoker and the Australian submarine AE2 penetrated the Dardanelles Strait to 'run amuck' in the Marmara Sea. This book concentrates on Stoker throughout his early career with the Royal Navy, the penetration of the Dardanelles, capture and life as a POW in Turkey and life after the war. Topics also covered include the early evolution of submarines, the search for AE2's wreck and its subsequent discovery. An appendix gives a profile of each crewmember of the AE2 - an interesting insight into the men that crewed early submarines.
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Submarines and the War at Sea 1914-1918
by Compton-Hall, Richard2000, Macmillan
ISBN 0333443454
Hardcover, 345 pages
First published 1991.
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The Baltimore Sabotage Cell
by Dwight R. MessimerGerman Agents, American Traitors, and the U-boat Deutschland During World War I
2015, Naval Institute Press
ISBN 1591141842
Hardcover, 280 pages
By the summer of 1915 Germany was faced with two major problems in fighting World War I: how to break the British blockade and how to stop or seriously disrupt the British supply line across the Atlantic. Th e solution to the former was to find a way over, through, or under it. Aircraft in those days were too primitive, too short range, and too underpowered to accomplish this, and Germany lacked the naval strength to force a passage through the blockade. But if Germany could build a fleet of cargo U-boats that were large enough to carry meaningful loads and had the range to make a round trip between Germany and the United States without refueling, the blockade might be successfully broken.Since the German navy could not cut Britain’s supply line to America, another answer lay in sabotaging munitions factories, depots, and ships, as well as infecting horses and mules at the western end of the supply line. German agents, with American sympathizers, successfully carried out more than fifty attacks involving fires and explosions and spread anthrax and glanders on the East Coast before America’s entry into the war on 6 April 1917.Breaking the blockade with a fleet of cargo U-boats provided the lowest risk of drawing America into the war; at the same time, sabotage was incompatible with Germany’s diplomatic goal of keeping the United States out of the war. The two solutions were very different, but the fact that both campaigns were run by intelligence agencies?the Etappendienst (navy) and the Geheimdienst (army), through the agency of one man, Paul Hilken, in one American city, Baltimore, make them inseparable. Those solutions created the dichotomy that produced the U-boat Deutschland and the Baltimore Sabotage Cell. Here, Messimer provides the first study of the degree to which U.S. citizens were enlisted in Germany’s sabotage operations and debunks many myths that surround the Deutschland.
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The Battles of Coronel and the Falklands, 1914
by Geoffrey Bennett2014, Pen and Sword
ISBN 1783462795
Paperback, 192 pages
The defeat that Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock suffered at Coronel in 1914 at the hands of Maximilian Graf von Spee, one of Germany’s most brilliant naval commanders, was the most humiliating blow to British naval prestige since the eighteenth century and a defeat that had to be avenged immediately. On 8 December 1914, the German squadron steamed towards Port Stanley, unaware that in the harbor lay two great British battle-cruisers, the ‘Invincible’ and ‘Inflexible’. Realizing this, Spee had no option but to turn and flee. Hour by hour during that long day, the British ships closed in until, eventually, Spee was forced to confront the enemy. With extraordinary courage, and against hopeless odds, the German cruisers fought to the bitter end. At five-thirty that afternoon, the last ship slowly turned and rolled to the bottom. Cradock and Britain had been avenged.
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The Starvation Blockades
by Hawkins, NigelNaval Blockades of WW1
2002, Leo Cooper
ISBN 0850529085
Hardcover, 262 p., 23 illustr., in-text maps
Fairly balanced account of the British naval blockade of Germany 1914-18 and the German counter-blockade, which culminated in the unrestricted U-boat campaign in 1917. Explores political, strategic, economic, legal and military aspects. Illustrates the fateful spiral of reprisals and counter-reprisals and the effects on neutrals, especially the US.
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The Victory at Sea
by W. S. Simsthe Allied Campaign Against U-Boats During the First World War 1917-18
2012, LEONAUR
ISBN 1782820426
Hardcover, 340 pages
Victory snatched from imminent defeat This book by the American, Admiral Sims will be a revelation to many. The British public had no idea that by the time America entered the First World War on 6th April, 1917 the Allied cause was on the brink of falling to the might of Imperial Germany. No plan had been conceived to ensure that vital materials would reach Britain by sea without them falling prey to the omnipresent U-Boat menace. Thousands of tons of essential war supplies were going to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean each week and serious Allied analysts believed that Britain would last less than four months before surrender was inevitable. Given what we now know of the great German land offensives of the final phase of the war, the consequences for the Allies, without a solution to the issue of maritime supply, could have been catastrophic. The solution came in the form of the creation of the convoy system and its effectiveness was due in no small part to the addition of the U. S. N. destroyer fleet to support the activities of the Royal Navy. This book describes how the German U-Boat threat was finally overcome and how this impacted on the Allied victory. Sims also gives much operational detail including the activities of the deadly decoy's, the 'Q' ships, and the operations of the 'King Cobras' of the undersea war-the anti-submarine submarines.' This is the view and account of a senior officer in a position to experience and describe for posterity the strategic and tactical issues of the anti U-Boat campaign and it describes in detail the many methods and types of craft employed together with anecdotes, reports and eyewitness accounts of the action on and under the waves. Recommended. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.
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Get The Victory at Sea now at amazon.co.uk (£ 21.00)Three before Breakfast
by Coles, AlanA True and Dramatic Account of how a German U-boat Sank three British Cruisers in One Desperate Hour
1979, K. Mason, Havant; Sheridan House, White Plains
ISBN 0859371689
192 pages, 4 pages of photos
About the sinking of the Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue.
Titanic and Other Ships
by Lightoller, Charles Herbert1935, Ivor Nicholson & Watson
Hardcover, 344 pages
This book details the wildly adventurous career of Titanic officer Charles Herbert Lightoller. After surviving the Titanic disaster, Lightoller went on to command a torpedo boat in the Nore Defence Flotilla, and two destroyers of the Dover Patrol. A first-hand account, giving a vivid picture of how the "gentlemen of the other firm" felt towards the U-boats. Lightoller sank Werner Fürbringer's UB-110, and it is interesting to compare his account of their encounter with the one in Fips. The hardcover edition is a rarity, there is also a paperback edition, published by Bay Tree Press, which is more readily obtained. There is a hypertext at http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301011h.html
Trap the U-Boats!
by Alfred F. B. CarpenterThe Zeebrugge Raid April 23rd 1918 by Alfred F. B. Carpenter & The Zeebrugge Raid a Short Account by Arthur H. Pollen
2015, LEONAUR
ISBN 1782824677
Hardcover, 244 pages
A desperate raid to save the merchant ships that supplied the Allied cause From the first months of 1915, when the Great War on the Western Front ground to a stalemate of fixed lines of trenches, the protagonists were committed to a conflict of attrition. Neither side could affect a military breakthrough, but the Allies had the distinct advantages of both unrestricted access to the worlds seaways and the a steady stream of materiel which crossed the Atlantic from the United States of America. To disrupt this essential war traffic Germany fine tuned submarine warfare in the form of the U-Boat. This countermeasure proved so effective that the huge number of merchant vessels sunk by German submarines meant that by 1917 there was a realistic potential that the Allies might lose the war having been denied sufficient resources to continue to fight. To hinder the effectiveness of the U-Boat 'wolf-packs,' a daring raid was devised to blockade the principal submarine base at the port Zeebrugge in Belgium by sinking a vessel in the approaches to its harbour. This audacious action, carried out by the Royal Navy, became one of the most remarkable feats of naval warfare of the First World War. This Leonaur book contains two accounts of the Zeebrugge Raid and is recommended. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.
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U-Boat 202
by Spiegel von und zu Peckelsheim, EdgarThe War Diary of a German Submarine
1975, Mews Books, London
ISBN 0452000327
Paperback, 109 pages
- This book has been translated from another language
U-Boat Devilry
by Bateman, Charles T.Illustrating the Heroism and Endurance of Merchant Seamen
1918, Hodder & Stoughton, London
175 pages
U-boat Hunters
by London, PeterCornwall's Air War, 1916-1919
1999, Dyllansow Truran
ISBN 1850221359
Paperback, 93 pages
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by Connolly, James B.1918, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York
Hardcover, 263 pages, 4 illustrations
The author was a U.S. journalist who traveled on a troopship and destroyers just after that nation entered World War I. Written in a lighthearted, anecdotal style, the book is generally free of propaganda and describes several encounters with U-boats.
U-boat Intelligence, 1914-1918
by Grant, Robert McQueen1969, Archon Books, Hamden CT
ISBN 0208008985
Hardcover, 192 pages, 12 photos, 1 sketch, 1 facsimile, 9 charts
An overview and analysis of intelligence regarding U-boat operations gained from intercepted transmissions, prisoners, and wrecks by Germany's World War I opponents.
U-Boat Offensive 1914-1945, The
by Tarrant, V.E.2000, Cassell Academic
ISBN 185409520X
Hardcover, 192 pages, 114 pictures, 16 maps, 8 graphs
A good general account of U-boats in both wars, contains good analysis and details of losses and flotillas. First published 1989.
- This book has been translated into other languages
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by Neureuther, KarlNarratives of German U-boat Sailors
1931, R. Long & R. R. Smith, New York
207 pages, photos
- This book has been translated from another language
U-Boat War, 1914-1918, The
by Gray, Edwyn A.1994, Leo Cooper/ Pen and Sword Books
ISBN 0850524059
Hardcover, 280pp.
This is a very fine book covering the World War I U-boats and many of the amazing feats they achieved. The book takes a neutral approach by including information from both sides to broaden the perspective.
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U-Boats Destroyed
by Grant, Robert M.The Effect of Anti-Submarine Warfare, 1914-1918
2002, Periscope Publishing
ISBN 1904381006
172 pages, maps
From the publisher: This book, the first of R. M. Grant's great trilogy, covering every aspect of the struggle against the U-boats, looks at the visible effects of the allied anti-submarine campaign throughout World War One - destroyed U-boats. It is the most complete history written on this subject and remains a major reference source for historians and naval enthusiasts.
First published in 1964, this book has been reissued by Periscope Publishing.
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U-Boats of the Kaiser's Navy
by Williamson, Gordon2002,
ISBN 1841763624
Paperback, 48 pages
From the publisher: "As was the case in World War II, one of the greatest threats to Britain during World War I was the German U-Boat menace. Gordon Williamson traces the development of the U-Boat from the Brandtaucher, designed by Wilhelm Bauer, the father of the German submarine arm, in 1850, through to the commissioning of Germany's first U-Boat to go into service, the U-1, in 1906. All of the main types of World War I U-Boat are then covered. The operational history of the U-Boat service is also covered in some depth. Included are details of the campaigns in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, along with the slow build-up of anti-submarine measures by the allies."
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U-Boats Of World War I
by Lydon, Kelly K.1998, New England Seafarer Books
ISBN 0966309103
Paperback, 124 pages, 88 rare photos
A fine book with seminal research; excellent photo documentation, e.g. engine room periscope photos.
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Verschollen
by Messimer, Dwight R.World War I U-Boat Losses
2002, United States Naval Inst.
ISBN 155750475X
Hardcover, 341 pages, numerous b&w photos and maps
Until now, finding reliable information on U-boats lost during World War I required fluency in German and a great deal of time. Not only was little information available in English but also German sources were difficult to track down and provided the barest of facts. Long in the making, this new reference fills the needs both of researchers looking for details of lost submarines and readers who enjoy action and adventure. It provides a comprehensive examination of each of the 203 U-boats that the Germans lost in the war. Fluent in German and at home in war archives, Dwight Messimer offers for the first time individual narratives of the men who survived their boat's sinking. Several made difficult escapes from sunken wrecks, and one man bailed out just as his submarine plunged past the 100-foot mark. Others were on deck or atop the coning tower when their boat went under. In the case of boats listed as verschollen, or lost without a trace, the author includes explanations given for what might have happened or in the case of conflicting evidence, analyzes the explanations for accuracy. Each boat entry is a narrative that stands alone allowing readers to easily focus on a particular submarine. Researchers will appreciate the convenience of the book's format and the all-inclusive nature of the information listed. Because Messimer provides the approximate locations of many of the wrecks, amateur and professional salvage divers wanting to visit wreckage sights also will find the book useful.
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Voyage of the Deutschland
by König, PaulThe First Merchant Submarine
2000,
ISBN 0898751578
Paperback, 264 pages
The skipper of the merchant U-boat Deutschland describes his first journey to Baltimore in 1916. This new edition, the first since the original publication in English in 1916, includes an introduction by Dwight R. Messimer, author of The Merchant U-Boat.
- This book has been translated from another language
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War Beneath the Waves
by Tomas TermoteU-Boat Flotilla Flandern
2017, Uniform Press
ISBN 191050064X
Hardcover, 352 pages
Amid the stalemate of World War I, one area in which the German military could claim almost complete supremacy was beneath the ocean. In the four years of the war, the U-boats of U-Flottille Flanders alone would sink more than 2,500 Allied ships, sending more than 2.5 million tons of shipping to the bottom. But their victories came at a high cost: as the Royal Navy made taking out U-boats a priority, using mines, nets, aircraft, espionage, and more, and by the end of the war they had sunk eighty percent of the U-boats that operated out of Flemish ports. ?This book brings the secret of those sunken subs back to the surface. Underwater archaeologist and naval historian Tomas Termote draws on his countless visits to the wrecks of U-boats to explore topics ranging from their role in the war to the everyday lives of the men on board. Termote illustrates his account with copious underwater photography of the wrecks, and he uses that and new identifications to present the first ever complete account of the fate of every U-boat in the fleet, including boats sunk off the coasts of Great Britain, Belgium, Holland, France, Ireland, Spain, and the United States. The result is a book sure to grip any WWI buff, helping us understand with new clarity one of the crucial theaters of the war.
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Get War Beneath the Waves now at amazon.com ($ 35.40) Get War Beneath the Waves now at amazon.co.uk (£ 30.00)Warships & Sea Battles of World War I
by Fitzsimons, Bernard (editor)1973, Phoebus, London
ISBN 0702600040
Hardcover, 160 pages, numerous photos, maps and drawings
This book presents a comprehensive account of the First World War at sea, and of the ships that fought that war.
When the U-boats Came to America
by Clark, William Bell1929, Little, Brown and Company, Boston
359 pages, photos
Wire-Roping the German Submarine
by N/AThe Barrage that Stopped the U-boat
1920, John A. Roebling's Sons Co., Trenton
37 pages, map
Extracts from an article by Captain Reginald R. Belknap first published in the Scientific American, March 15-22, 1919. Published by the company which manufactured the wire rope.
World War One - Marinekorps Flandern
by Ryheul, JohanU-Flottille Flandern I and II
2002, Regulus One Publishing
ISBN 90807452111
Photobook, stapled, 80 pages, 149 photos
7 pages of history on the U-Flottille Flandern I and II and the harbours of Brugge, Zeebrugge and Oostende. Photos of these harbours, the submarines that operated from these harbours, the British raid on St. George's Day 1918 and action photos at sea such as ships being hit by a torpedo, sinking, crews asking for help,...
WW I - Marinekorps Flandern
by Ryheul, JohanGerman Naval Air Service at the Western Front 1914-1918
2002, Regulus One Publishing
ISBN 9080745219
Stapled, 60 pages, 115 photos
7 pages of history of all 24 units and exclusive photos such as of the attack of seaplanes on the British C25 submarine.
Zeebrugge and Ostend Raids 1918, The
by Lake, Deborah2002, Leo Cooper/ Pen and Sword Books
ISBN 0850528704
Hardcover, 208 pages, 2 maps, 33 photos
This book covers the naval war between the units of the German Marinekorps Flandern and the British Navy in 1917-1918 in the North Sea and Channel, and especially the danger of the German U-boats operating from the Belgian ports. It looks at the story from both sides, which makes it rather unique; shows the importance of politics in the British Navy (especially to get the Dover command); and most of all shows that the raids on St. George's Day 1918, made in an attempt to block the harbours of Zeebrugge and Oostende, were not the success they are always made out to be in British history books. Coverage is very complete. The part providing the German point of view was reviewed in its entirety by Johan Ryheul, author of Marinekorps Flandern.
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