Battle of the Atlantic (1)

The first in a series of illustrated books exploring the longest and best-known naval campaign of World War II, focusing on the struggle between Allied naval and air forces and Hitler's U-boats. When fighting broke out in September 1939, neither the British Royal Navy nor the German Kriegsmarine were prepared for another war in the North Atlantic. Having defeated the U-boats in World War I, the Royal Navy was confident it would succeed again.

This was quickly shown to be a delusion, as neither the scale of forces available nor their tactics were sufficient. The Germans were even less prepared, having only a small number of U-boats and fewer still that were large enough for operations in the Atlantic. The Germans attempted to win a tonnage war against Allied shipping, with well-trained and bold U-boat commanders enjoying some brilliant successes.

However, torpedo problems and the shortage of U-boats prevented the Germans from inflicting crippling losses, even though the British found it impossible to protect all shipping, primarily because of a lack of convoy escorts and inadequate air cover. Respected naval historian Mark Stille examines the struggle between Allied naval and air forces and German U-boats in the first 15 months of World War II.