The Sea Wolves

by Wolfgang Frank

Ballantine Bks 6th printing April 1981 softcover/pb 224pp.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II

223 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published March 12, 1981

Reviews

[Lionel Scott-Harston]

A fascinating story about the German U-boat campaign in the second world war. The end of the book focuses on Donitz and his actions during the final months of the war and the Nurember trial that followed. At the end of the book, there is a table describing the different U-boats that were used during the war. The type XXI is impressive: it could travel twice as fast as the common type VII when submerged. It never had to surface thanks to its snort. It could recharge its batteries while being almost entirely below the surface.

I recommend picking up this book if you are interested in submarines!

[Otis Campbell]

Since Wolfgang was right there in the thick of it, he paints a picture of what life was like for those German crews—and boy, it wasn't no luxury cruise. He describes the stink of diesel oil, sweat, and rotting cabbage, living in a cramped steel tube for weeks on end without seeing the sun. He tells the tales of Germany's top submarine aces, like Günther Prien, who snuck right into a British naval base and sank a giant battleship. But as the war drags on, the book turns into a real grim tune. The Allies got smarter, invented radar, and started hunting the hunters. By the end of the yarn, three out of every four German U-boat sailors went down to Davy Jones' locker. It is a fascinating, chilling look at history from the enemy's perspective. It reads like a real-life suspense thriller, especially when the subs are sitting dead silent on the ocean floor while American and British destroyers are dropping depth charges that rattle the bolts right out of the hull. Wolfgang was Dönitz's PR man, so he writes this book with a mighty shiny brush. He spends a whole lot of time defending unrestricted submarine warfare and making his old boss look like a saintly military genius, skipping right past some of the darker realities of the Nazi regime. You gotta take his excuses with a giant bucket of salt.

[Chris]

The U-boat war in the Atlantic (and almost in other oceans) proved to be devastating to the convoy interest of ships supplying Great Britain with essential resources to fight off The Axis powers......up until April 1943!...read the book and find out why.....and find out what the U-boats had for secret weapons and devices to further chances of survival in the closing years of WWII......chock-full of anecdotes and interesting tidbits rather than a plain rave about the gallant men that served the German Unterseeboot Marine until they were found easily and descimated.

[Andres Sequeira]

Written close to the date of the events, kept me wondering how the book flows it as if the author was there seeing what was said and done.

Learned a lot about the cruel battle of the Atlantic and the fates of all those sailors that disappeared forever at sea never to return and still unfound.

Paints Dönitz as a capable chivalrous Naval Admiral, devoted to his country and craft.

[James]

A solid history of the submarine versus convoy war in the Atlantic in World War II, showing the big picture and also the human experience on both sides. A book that fleshes out the basic historical record considerably.

[Craig]

Not only an insight into the German side of the Battle of the Atlantic but to the operations room of Donitz as well as he fights the political battle with other figures to wage the war he comes to the conclusion of needing to fight.