Good day, dear readers! Get ready for a great WWII read with Phantom Fleet by Alexander Rose. During the war, there were many facets that could have turned the war, and submarine warfare was one. This was such an exciting read, and I cannot rave about this enough!
Rating: 4/5 stars
Availability: Available now on Audible, Kindle, Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company
Phantom Fleet Book Blurb:
Shortly before noon on June 4, 1944, the sonar operator on a destroyer prowling off the coast of West Africa heard a sharp, metallic ping. The sound could mean only one thing: The German submarine that their hunter-killer group had been tracking, U-505, was lurking somewhere below. The ensuing struggle between exhausted hunter and venomous prey would make history when American sailors boarded an enemy warship at sea for the first time since the War of 1812.
That day’s victory was the culmination of an unrelenting campaign against the Nazi submarine threat by the U.S. Navy’s “Tenth Fleet”—a mysterious unit that could predict the locations and movement of Hitler’s U-boats. Run by Commander Kenneth Knowles, Tenth Fleet had guided Captain Dan Gallery to U-505; to repay the favor, Gallery was going to steal an Enigma machine for him.
Now all they had to do was to make an entire U-boat, its crew, and its secrets vanish into thin air . . .
In this swashbuckling adventure story, bestselling historian Alexander Rose draws on long-classified encrypted documents and intercepted German transmissions to reveal in full, for the first time, how an owlish egghead and a glory-seeking buccaneer teamed up to score the richest prize on the high seas.
My Review:
During the war years, the German wolf packs were raising havoc with the upper East Coast on the United States. They then brought that war to the Atlantic, and the United States navy at large.
U-Boat 505 was a game changer for the second Great War. With the Germans pressing their advantage of naval superiority, and having a code that was near impossible to break, the Allies were grasping at straws. They needed to break the stranglehold that the U-boats held on the oceans. As small bits of information became available, and cracking the Enigma code, the Allies and United States started to get a better picture of the German plans and how they were operating.
As the war continues, the United States start to see some small cracks, and begin to exploit the information they have, much to the chagrin of Bletchley Park in England. As the war continues, it did become apparent that the United States was slowly passing England in military superiority.
With information that was coming in, the United States that they knew they had to break the back of the U-boats, and gain the information that they hold on board. So began the mission to capture a U-boat, intact, to change the fortunes of war.
This book was so fantastic. I really enjoyed reading through it, Submarine warfare has been one of my favorite topics for decades. Alexander Rose did a great job in bringing this chapter of military history to life. For those that really love military history, this book is going to be a top read for you this year.
This is a highly recommended read!
