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U-boat

From Reichswehr to Wehrmacht

on Mon, 10/09/2017 - 20:59

Though it is popular to think of the 1939-1941 "Blitzkrieg" era Wehrmacht as a near unstoppable war machine, reality is far different. Material shortages similar to those afflicting the German army in the years 1944-1945 were all too apparent during the Third Reich's early war march across Europe and the Mediterranean littoral. Ironically, however these shortages had far more to do with German decision making than the commonly held view that Germany didn't have enough economic resources capable of being converted into military strength.

New Book Review Published

on Thu, 06/29/2017 - 14:37

The Michigan War Studies Review (MiWSR) has just published my latest book review. It is of Lawrence Paterson's Steel and Ice: The U-Boat Battle in the Arctic and Black Sea, 1941-1945. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you have any interest in undersea warfare or the war fought between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union then you will like it as well.

HMCS Sackville: Canada's Sole Surviving WWII Corvette

on Sun, 02/16/2014 - 18:17

In Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia Canada sits one of the more unique Second World War era museum ships: the HMCS Sackville. The Sackville was one of 123 Flower Class Corvettes to serve with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. As of this writing it is the last of its kind.

Corvettes are small multi-role ships that for centuries have served as a key component of the world's naval powers. Dating back to the Age of Sail, corvettes have traditionally been smaller than frigates; but larger than offshore or coastal patrol craft.

Sunk U-Boat Found off Cape Cod

on Mon, 07/30/2012 - 00:06

World War II era German submarine U-550, a Type IX C-40 U-boat, was found this past week roughly 70 miles off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.  On April 16, 1944 U-550 discovered Allied convoy CU-2, which had departed from New York for the United Kingdom.

Straggling behind the convoy was the massive tanker SS Pan Pennsylvania, which U-550 promptly discovered and torpedoed; causing the tanker to begin to sink. The convoy's escorts, The US Navy's USS Gandy and Coast Guard's USS Joyce and Peterson, immediately pounced and sank the German U-boat after a brief engagement (the sinking U-boat

A Note on One of the Second World War's Great Mysteries

on Mon, 12/12/2011 - 01:51

Precisely seventy years ago, on December 11, 1941, Adolf Hitler declared war upon the United States. Today, this declaration of war is remembered as one of history’s great strategic blunders, and rightly so, nonetheless the reasons underpinning this remembrance have little to do with how and why war against the United States led to the Third Reich’s defeat. Conventional wisdom today explains German defeat during World War II as almost inevitable following Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union, and its subsequent declaration of war upon the United States.

Oil Spill Concerns Increase Regarding Countless WWII Shipwrecks

on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 19:53

Well over 6,000 ships sunk during the Second World War sit on the bottom of oceans and seas worldwide. After roughly 70 years of exposure to the elements many are raising concerns that these distingrating wrecks could release the oil mostly still contained in their hulls. Though few of these ships contain anywhere near the oil released by the oil tanker seen sinking in this picture following a U-boat attack, when the oil from these thousands of ships is aggregated together it is estimated by some to total well in excess of the oil released by 2010's Deepwater Horizon spill.

Operation Paukenschlag

on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 00:18

Following Hitler's December 1941 declaration of war upon the United States German Admiral Karl Doenitz sought to take advantage of the weakly guarded sea-lanes near the American coast and pick off the highly vulnerable, solitary, merchant ships plying these waters. Hitler approved Doenitz's plan, code named Operation Paukenschlag, or drumbeat/roll the drums. Doenitz' U-boats would carry Hitler's war to America and if successful deliver the first blows designed to cripple American shipping and industry.