Quote:
Originally Posted by banryu79
Hey Sailor Steve, have you finished reading the book? How it is? I'm very intrested in reading some stuff about German submarines and their operations in the Great War... but I do not want to pick up bad quality stuff.
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Yep. Finished it and now I'm using it as a reference. The bad news is that it isn't a compendium and doesn't include details or even listings of every u-boat operation. The good news is that it reads like a good novel and gives details of some great stories.
One of the things I learned was that the fabled story of Lothar von Arnauld de la Periere only expending four torpedoes in his entire career is a myth. Von Arnauld fired many torpedoes during his career. What he did do, and this is almost as remarkable, was to fire only four torpedoes during his most effective patrol, from July 26 to August 20, 1916, during which he sank 54 Allied ships for 91,150 tons. On the other hand he fired more than 900 shells from his 10cm deck gun, which means he must have been picking up new shells from somewhere. It also tells the story of von Arnauld's boat being trapped under a sinking merchant and barely surviving.
Overall it is a fascinating book, and I recommend it highly.
