Business in Great Waters

The U-Boat Wars 1916-1945

Reviewed by Rocco Conticchio

Business in Great Waters is an account of the economic impact of the U-Boat wars of both World War I and World War II. In WWI, the underlining strategy of the U-Boat War was not to achieve victory, but rather to bring the Allies to the bargaining table to negotiate a peace with more favorable terms to the German government. The U-Boat was originally conceived as a weapon to counter the dominance of the seas by the warships of the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy became preoccupied with the U-Boat threat to its capital ships, because it was believed that this would be the instrument that the German High Seas Fleet would use to neutralize the advantage at sea that England had enjoyed since the Nelson victory at Trafalgar. It was until relatively late that both sides realized that the U-Boat threat was to merchant shipping. Because Germany was trying to prevent the America from entering the war, it wasn't until still later that the U-Boats were allowed to practice "unrestricted warfare", i.e. the practice of sinking merchant and passenger shipping without warning.

The convoy system was implemented toward the end of the war, with the Germans developing the idea of multiple U-Boats operating together in what came to be known as a "wolf" pack. At this time, with wireless being in its infancy, control of the pack was a problem. When Germany surrendered, the captains of the U-Boats believed that they had not been defeated, merely betrayed by their government.

The second World War seemed to pick up where the first left off. The only major difference seemed to be that England forgot all the lessons learned from the WWI in countering the U-Boat threat. In the early part of the war, ships crossed the Atlantic individually, rather than in convoy. This marked the first "happy time" for the U-Boat commanders. England eventually instituted the convoy system that had worked so well in the previous war. The convoy system coupled with the advent of the use of intelligence data, air cover and technological advances in detection equipment eventually countered the U-Boat threat. With the entry of the United States into the war, the U-Boats enjoyed a second "happy time" as the US Navy ignored all the hard lessons learned by the Royal Navy. Ships sailing individually from the US became easy targets. It was only by the joint effort of the US and Royal Navy that a system of escorting ships in convoy across the Atlantic was implemented.

This book is not so much a chronicle of the U-Boat Wars, but a treatise on the effects of the war on Britain's wartime economy. It literally became a question of whether shipping could be destroyed faster than it could be replaced, and a question of building enough U-Boats to accomplish the task In other words, supply and demand. So effective was the U-Boat campaign in WWII, that Operation Overlord was delayed by at least a year until the Allies could insure control of the seas to maintain the supply line. Available for $12.95, Business in Great Waters is another in the great series of Classic Reprints by Combined Publishing, PO Box 307, Conshocken, PA 19428. Write for theit extensive color illustrated catalog.

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