Business in Great Waters: The U-Boat Wars, 1916-1945

by John Terraine

Overview

Twice within 25 years Britain was threatened with starvation by the menace of the U-Boat. In this study of submarine warfare, the author explains why Winston Churchill wrote "the only thing that ever frightened me during the war was the U-Boat peril". Until it had been overcome, the Anglo-American entry into Europe in 1944 would have been impossible. John Terraine concentrates on the combatants themselves, both German and Allied, but does not overlook the three main factors in the equation - the political, the military and the technological, as well as the intelligence, the weapons and the devices both sides employed in order to outwit each other. He also focuses on the fighting men on either side, seeing the action from "where it was at".

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473812925
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/24/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	864
Sales rank:	395,503
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John Terraine is an author and historian.

Table of Contents

Introduction xiii

Abbreviations xix

Part I The First Round

1 Free From All Scruples 3

2 The Most Formidable Thing 17

3 Engage The Enemy More Closely 40

4 Convoy Acted Like A Spell 57

5 Slack Water 85

6 Foiled Rather Than Defeated 105

7 Small Advantages 130

8 The Battle Done 141

Part II Interval

The Insidious Submarine 153

Part III The Second Round

1 Dearth Of U-boats 213

2 Nothing Of Major Importance 242

3/i The Steep Atlantick 255

3/ii The Very Nadir Of British Fortunes 275

3/iii As Though The Defence Had Won 311

4 By The Narrowest Of Margins 353

5 A Roll Of Drums 403

6 The Heartbeat Of The War 444

7 We Had Lost The Battle 513

8 Unconditional Surrender 614

Notes 674

Appendices

A British, American and German Naval Ranks 761

B The German U-boats of World War I 762

C Gross Tonnage of Merchant Shipping Lost Through Enemy Action, to II November, 1918 766

D Shipping and U-boat Losses 1939-45, yearly and monthly 767

E U-boat Deployment in the Biscay Bases (July, 1943) 770

F Shipping Losses in British Home Waters, 1939-45 771

G Analysis of U-boat Losses 1914-45 772

Select Bibliography 774

General Index 783

Index of Aircraft 826

Index of Convoys 829

Index of Merchant Vessels 831

Index of U-boats 833

Index of Warships 837