U-Boote - The German Submarine War

Until the First World War, submarines had played only a very limited role. Poorly armed, slow to dive and to advance, they posed no threat to warships or merchant vessels.

But between 1914 and 1918, Germany staked everything on them to bring down Great Britain — whose very existence was threatened. Nazi Germany once again gambled its future on the U-Boote, between 1939 and 1945, to no avail, despite resounding successes. Paradoxically, it was Great Britain and the United States that made the best use of their submarines during the conflict.

Today, nuclear-powered submarines — far more capable — have become a major strategic weapon.

Bernard CROCHET is a historian. He has published around sixty works, some in collaboration with one or more authors, and over a thousand articles for the press and publishing industry. He has covered a wide range of subjects, notably the First and Second World Wars. He has also contributed to cultural engineering projects for the Mémorial de Caen, the Centre culturel maritime de Cherbourg, and the Musée d'Histoire du Radar de Douvres-la-Délivrande.

Gérard PIOUFFRE was a historian and lecturer, specialising in naval history. He published more than thirty books on the subject, several of them devoted to the Titanic. He was also a specialist in the maritime conflicts of the two World Wars.