Der Seekrieg

This volume comprehensively reviews the conduct of the German sea war, from key political decisions down to significant individual ship actions. From the opening shots of the war, to the invasion of Norway and Battle of the North Atlantic, to the final, disastrous attempts to evacuate troops and civilians from Baltic enclaves, this book provides a consistent mix of fact and astute commentary. It addresses less decisive but no less significant topics, cataloging for instance, all German surface raider operations, U-boat journeys from Europe to the Far East, and esoterica such as secret German weather station detachment deployments to North America. Also of interest is the German reaction to the epic naval campaigns of the Pacific--keenly watched by the professionals of the Kriegsmarine staff. There is throughout the book a subtext of frustration--the frustration of the prophet who is without honor in his own land. Ruge and his fellow naval officers, who had been fed Mahan and Nelson with their professional mother's milk, were surrounded by Army peers and political masters who saw seas (when they saw them at all) as obstacles and defenses, instead of as highways and invasion routes. Therefore, in his first chapter, Ruge is careful to frame his argument with a short but clear discussion of maritime warfare principles, which dealing as it does with principles, is not dated though it was written a half-century ago.