The second book in Grant's trilogy covering the war against the U-boats shows how the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty played a key role in the defeat of the U-boats in World War I. With the assistance of the Naval Historical Branch of the Ministry of Defence and the Director of Naval History in Washington, Professor Grant has been able to piece together the crucial role played by naval intelligence in the victory at sea 1914-1918. Intelligence came from many sources including prisoner interrogations, signals interception and the investigation and salvage of wrecks. By analysing this information, naval intelligence was able to thwart attempts to land spies in North Africa, deal the U-boat minelaying campaign in British coastal waters a fatal blow and ensure that the U-boats would not have the opportunity to attack the Grand Fleet in 1918. It contains updated tables of the fate of individual U-boats.

U-boat Intelligence

History

Grant, Robert M.

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Periscope Publishing Ltd

In this oral history of the U-boats of the Great War, Lowell Thomas introduces many of the great pioneering submariners such as Hersing, Steinbrink, Hashagen and the most successful submarine commander of all time, the remarkable von Arnauld. Their stories relate how the U-Boat War was nearly won, then lost in a conning-tower view of the great struggle for supremacy of the shipping lanes.

Raiders of the Deep

Lowell, Thomas

Lost Patrols

Jak Mallmann-Showell

Innes McCartney

My Mystery Ships

Gordon Campbell remains one of the Royal Navy's greatest heroes. His exploits as the most successful Q-ship captain of World War I made him into a household name. His mystery ships, Farnborough, Pargust and Dunraven fought the most gruelling duels with German submarines, sinking three of them. Campbell developed the desperate tactic of deliberately allowing himself to be torpedoed to lure the U-boats to surface, where the Q-ship's hidden guns could then open fire. As the war progressed, the enemy became more difficult to deceive, Dunraven being sunk by a U-boat that escaped destruction. No less than five Victoria Crosses were awarded to him and his men, with Campbell also winning the DSO with two bars. This book tells the tales of the most courageous of naval men, those who served in Campbell's Q-ships.

Gordon Campbell

Dreadnought

Patrick Boniface

Military

In 1915, Harold Auten was one of the first officers selected for Q-Ship service, along with Gordon Campbell. As one of the pioneers, he helped develop the Q-Ship's designs and tactics. His third command, HMS Stock Force was involved in a fierce encounter with a U-boat off Start Point in July 1918. Although the submarine survived, the Q-ship did not, foundering on tow. For this action Auten was awarded the Victoria Cross. "Q-Boat Adventures" was the first book to be published about the Q-Ships and made Auten into a household name. The tales described therein remain as exciting today as in 1919 when the world first read of the brave exploits of the decoy ships.

Q-boat Adventures

Harold Auten

<p>The modern battleship era began with the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. Battleships were the biggest and most complicated things built by human hand and they became symbols of national prestige. Despite their crippling costs, these mighty ships were built by many of the world's navies and many remain household names. The losses of the Hood, Bismarck, Yamato and Arizona still echo through the decades because of their fascinating stories. The era of the dreadnought lasted little more than 40 years. By then, these majestic warriors of the sea were overshadowed by the dominance of air power. A few lingered on, but the golden age of the battleship was over. Naval authors, Richard Hough, has written this history of the dreadnoughts illustrated with photos and drawings which should also be useful as a reference source as well as a history of the "big-gun" era.</p>

Dreadnought : A History of the Modern Battleship

HOUGH,Richard

The author explains how the code breakers at the Admiralty's Room 40 were able to break into the German naval codes during World War I. This was primarily achieved by the collection of cipher information from many differing sources. Crashed Zeppelins provided some insight, but wrecked U-boats could offer much more. Royal Navy divers investigated U-boat wrecks around Britain and Ireland and were able to retrieve some extremely valuable intelligence. Aside from giving Room 40 total insight into the workings of U-boat operations, this new intelligence could offer the chance to hunt down and destroy U-boats at sea. This secret war has never been told, but by digging through the radio interception records, telegrams and the records of the Admiralty Salvage Department, an incredible story emerges. Robert Grant has made a lifelong study of U-boat operations in the Great War. His research began in 1928 and led him to archives worldwide over the following decades, as more documents were uncovered. He still continues to unearth new material on this fascinating subject. He is considered to be one of the world's leading experts on the first U-boat campaign.

The U-boat Hunters

robert-m-grant

This is the story of the Tenth Submarine Flotilla and its part in World War II in the Mediterranean. In the words of its second commander, Captain George Phillips, between 1940 and 1944, the Tenth "fought the most concentrated submarine battle in history, from the beleaguered island of Malta". It is a story of drama and tragedy but it does have its lighter side. Much of the tale of the Tenth is told in the survivors' own words as well as by those British and Maltese civilians who obstinately fought the battle on shore. Importantly, the Flotilla's commanding officers also contributed to this book. The author was one of the survivors. Few could be better placed to write of "the smell of diesel" in the "underwater coffins": the claustrophobia, foul atmosphere; the guts of the British submariner under sub-human conditions; the shattering explosions which plunge the boat into blackness; the makeshift meals - and the comradeship which lasts a lifetime. Above all it was the rock-like tenacity and staunch courage of the Maltese, which assured the tenth Flotilla of a base from which to operate. Without the age-old partnership between Malta's people and the Royal Navy, British and Allied submarines would never have cut Rommel's lifeline.

The Fighting Tenth

John Wingate

Europe

This valuable book fills a welcome gap in the history of the Royal Navy, specifically the role of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors (RCNC) during the last half-century. The author served in the Eastern and Pacific Fleets during World War Two. At the end of the war, he landed in Japan and prepared a report on the atomic bomb damage to Nagasaki and was seconded to the Manhattan Project for the Bikini A-bomb tests, where his inventiveness led to a deeper understanding of the effects of atomic blast. In Peacetime he was actively involved in the design of several classes of aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and submarines, including HMS Dreadnought (seen above) and Resolution Class ballistic missile submarines. As the head of the RCNC he oversaw the introduction of the Invincible Class carrier, the lengthened variants of the Types 42 and 22 and the MCMV's. No great admirer of politicians, these memoirs detail a career within a time when the power of the RCNC declined. The author's observations are both amusing and highly critical of much that took place during these years.

The End of an Era

Engineering & Transportation

R.J. Daniel

Engineering

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