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During World War II, the German Kriegsmarine armed a number of merchant vessels with concealed guns and torpedo tubes for surprise attacks against Allied shipping. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, these Hilfskreuzer commerce raiders prowled the sea lanes, luring Allied vessels into range through their innocuous appearance and the flying of false flags, before opening fire with devastating salvoes of gunfire and torpedoes. To counter this deadly threat, the Royal Navy employed cruisers equipped with specially-developed intelligence-gathering apparatus to find and destroy the disguised German vessels, resulting in many dramatic battles between the two types of hunter. With first-hand accounts, technical details, and operational analysis, this Duel title is an in-depth study of this deadly game of cat and mouse, fought across the globe at the height of World War II.
Introduction 4
Chronology 10
Design and Development 12
Technical specifications 24
Strategic Situation 33
Combatants 39
Combat 47
Statistics and Analysis 73
Aftermath 75
Further Reading 78
Index 80
Overview
During World War II, the German Kriegsmarine armed a number of merchant vessels with concealed guns and torpedo tubes for surprise attacks against Allied shipping. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, these Hilfskreuzer commerce raiders prowled the sea lanes, luring Allied vessels into range through their innocuous appearance and the flying of false flags, before opening fire with devastating salvoes of gunfire and torpedoes. To counter this deadly threat, the Royal Navy employed cruisers equipped with ...