Publisher’s Description
‘For four years the German U-boats of U-Flottilla 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, totalling 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 per cent 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.’
Centenary News verdict
‘Tomas Termote has amassed a wealth of information, personal stories, and rare photos for this history of Germany’s U-boat crews on the Flemish coast. The Belgian author’s newly-published English edition provides a welcome insight into the German side of the story for an Anglophone readership. Often portrayed at best as latter-day buccaneers, and pirates at worst, the U-boat crewmen emerge with a more human face from the encyclopaedic pages of ‘War Beneath the Waves’.
Centenary News reported from Tomas Termote’s lecture launching ‘War Beneath the Waves’ at Flanders House in London in January 2017.
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