On a sweltering day in August 1906 U-1, or Unterseeboot 1, meaning underwater boat, was lifted into Kiel's waters for trials; 100 hundred years later Kiel still witnesses the launching of U-boats, modern submarines with fuel cell propulsion systems, built for navies worldwide. In the years in between Germany fought two world wars, in which the U-boat almost defeated the Allies. --The U-boat was one of the most potent weapons of the 20th century, and here Mallmann Showell, perhaps the world's leading U-boat historian, explains how it was developed and designed and then deployed to wreak havoc in European waters and further afield in the Atlantic and the Far East. This is not a dry technical book but a work that looks behind the scenes at the men who built and fought in them. Weapons systems, operational areas, bases, builders and fleet organisation are covered, and as well as dealing with the world wars, the author brings the story up to date with the third, latest, generation of U-boats. The text is augmented by over 300 images, many never published before. --Publisher description.

The book is a survey of emerging technologies applicable to combat submarines, using worldwide sources.

Part of the Dive into History series, this work traces the development of the U-boat and its role in two world wars. It also features eleven wrecks that are both war losses and war prizes sunk around the coast of the United States during the twentieth century. Each story is a microcosm of the tale of the U-boat as a formidable weapon of war.

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Excerpt from The Pirate's Progress: A Short History of the U-Boat But until the present war broke out it had occurred to no one to imagine that disasters due to the act of God would ever be redupli cated with cold deliberation by the act of man. Who could have conceived, at midsummer, 1914, that more destruction to the world's merchant shipping, and suffering to harmless seamen and passengers, would be caused within the next three years by the calculated policy of a so-called civilised power, than had been attributable in a century to perils naturally incident to the lives of those who go down to the sea in ships? This is the phenomenon with which we are face to face to-day - the callousness of man far out stripping in its ravages the heedless destructive ness of natural forces. It is an appalling pic ture, and one well calculated to give the final touch of bitterness to that loathing of the German idol - War with which Germany has made it her business to inspire all reason able men. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.