For four years the German U-boats of U-Flottille
Flandern would become a serious threat to the
omnipotence of the Royal Navy and its fleet. By the
end of the war they had managed to sink a total
of 2,554 Allied ships, totaling 2.5 million tons of
shipping. The Royal Navy put everything it had at its
disposal to defeat the U-boats. Mines, steel nets, patrol
craft, Q-ships, aircraft, airships, convoys, espionage
and specially equipped salvage units had to eliminate
the activities of the U-boat. As a consequence, these
countermeasures caused the loss of 80% of the U-boats
which were stationed in the Flemish ports.
Underwater archaeologist and naval historian
Tomas Termote visited the wrecks of many U-boats
and has unraveled many of their secrets. He also writes
about life on board the U-boats, their importance
in the war and the heavy losses on both sides. For
the first time a detailed insight in this unique part of
history is given with an account of the fate of every
U-boat of the fleet. Illustrated with underwater colour
photographs of the wrecks, drawings of the sites and
artefacts which helped identify unidentified sites,
including that of UB-88, which ended up after the war
in US waters where she was paraded in every big port
on the US East coast, and sailed right up north along
the West coast where it ended its life after being sunk
off San Diego.