Written by M. J. Whitley Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD 21402 Hardcover, 310 pp., 42 black and white photos, 15 line drawings, 14 geographical and tactical maps Appendices, bibliography, index Price: $18.95 ISBN 0-87021-14-9 Audiences: historians of naval warfare and the German Navy, modelers, wargamers By their relatively small size and expendable nature, destroyers have been the workhorses of most modern navies. The demands were especially burdensome on the destroyers of the German Navy in the Second World War. The restrictions of the Versailles Treaty, the economic necessity to rebuild Germany, and limited strategic opportunities made destroyers a logical and cheap war vessel for the Weimar and Nazi governments. Despite limited ship-building facilities and technical problems, notably in the steam systems, the new German Navy was able to field over twenty destroyers, plus a number of torpedo boats, when the Third Reich went to war in September 1939. The subsequent battle actions of the German destroyer force are chronicled and evaluated by Mr. Whitley on an almost day- by-day basis. Heavy fighting in the fjords of Norway, the English Channel, and the Bay of Biscay gained the most attention for the Nazi "tin cans," but they also performed escort duty for the capital ships, laid mines, transported troops, and intercepted Allied convoys. Indeed, the fast, heavily armed destroyers were the most ubiquitous of German warships during the war. The history of each German destroyer and torpedo boat is summarized in the appendices, and many of the vessels are illustrated by contemporary photographs. A technical description of the construction, armament, and special equipment of the destroyers and torpedo boats helps supplement the wartime feats of these valiant ships and their crews. More Book Reviews Rebels Resurgent: Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville (ACW) Order of Battle: U.S. Army, World War II Destroyer! German Destroyers in World War II Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #10 To Game News List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com