U-booty - Kaiserliche Marine (1906-1918): książki

U-boats of the Kaiser's Navy (Osprey)

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 threat 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. It then covers the main types of World War I U-boat, detailing the operational history of the U-boat service in depth, with a particular focus on the campaigns in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, as well as the slow build up of anti-submarine measures by the allies.

Contents: The Kaiser's U-boats - The early developmental years - The larger U-boats - The U-Cruisers - Powerplants - Steering - Weapons - Optics and other equipment - Operational history - 1914 - 1915 - 1916 - 1917 - 1918 - Bibliography - Colour plate commentary - Index.

The German Submarine War 1914-1918

German submarine operations in the First World War had an inauspicious start, with the U-boats having apparently no role to play in the war at sea. However by February 1915 their task was clear: a blockade of the United Kingdom.
This important book contains a complete history of the German Uboat campaign throughout the First World War and shows in great detail how great the threat to the Atlantic logistics and, later, personnel traffic was.

The British Admiralty failed to appreciate this threat, and the Germans took full advantage of this, until the convoy system was finally applied in 1917, on the insistence of British Prime Minister Lloyd George.
Importantly the book gives details of both overall strategy and individual boat tactics, and is one of the few such books generally available.
In addition appendices look at the success of the convoy system and give a history of German submarine design 1904-1914. There are also details of German submarine construction and losses, German 'Aces' and merchant ship sinkings, together with details of Austro-Hungarian and Turkish submarines.
This is an essential book for naval historians, and is well illustrated with naval charts and photographs.

Reprint of the 1931 Original Edition.

War Beneath the Waves : U-Boat Flotilla in Flanders 1915-1918

For four years the German U-boats of U-Flottille Flandern would become a serious threat to the omnipotence of the Royal Navy and its fleet. By the end of the war they had managed to sink a total of 2,554 Allied ships, totaling 2.5 million tons of shipping.

The Royal Navy put everything it had at its disposal to defeat the U-boats. Mines, steel nets, patrol craft, Q-ships, aircraft, airships, convoys, espionage and specially equipped salvage units had to eliminate the activities of the U-boat.
As a consequence, these countermeasures caused the loss of 80% of the U-boats which were stationed in the Flemish ports.

Underwater archaeologist and naval historian Tomas Termote visited the wrecks of many U-boats and has unraveled many of their secrets. He also writes about life on board the U-boats, their importance in the war and the heavy losses on both sides.
For the first time a detailed insight in this unique part of history is given with an account of the fate of every U-boat of the fleet.

Illustrated with underwater colour photographs of the wrecks, drawings of the sites and artefacts which helped identify unidentified sites, including that of UB-88, which ended up after the war in US waters where she was paraded in every big port on the US East coast, and sailed right up north along the West coast where it ended its life after being sunk off San Diego.