The Kriegsmarine: Facts, Figures and Data for the German Navy, 1935–45 (World War II Germany) Hardcover – September 19, 2010

For those interested in a dynamic range of statistics on the German WW2 Kriegsmarine (Navy) this book is probably the best one-stop source of information. In addition to history, the book provides statistics, ship types, combat effectiveness and lists of those who achieved the highest tonnage counts. Remember, the surface Navy was not quite effective as submarines but the U-Boats paid the supreme price for their place in history. Virtually 80% of submariners did not survive the war. Use this book if you are a sailor, historian, teacher, or writer. It will serve you well.

Amazing detailed book on years and mission and ship descriptions.Very well done! LOTS to read and learn of the Kriegsmarine!Informative and interesting.

In “KRIEGSMARINE: The Essential Facts and Figures for the German Navy”, author David Porter takes an interesting approach to providing a history of the Kriegsmarine, Germany’s navy in World War II. Part encyclopedia, part strategic analysis, and part operational overview, Porter provides descriptions and technical data for all of the classes of ships the Germans built (and compares these with their foes), information on how these ships fit into the overall war strategy, and gives overviews of some of the important campaigns they participated in. He also includes charts and graphs that list, compare, and contrast the specifications and other interesting information about the Kriegsmarine’s ships, its command structure, and usage. He also analyses the combat effectiveness for ships and weapons, and touches upon many factors as to why the Germans built (or were limited in what they could build) the ships they did.I only have one small nit about the book. Some of the charts are so simplistic as to be almost useless, while there are good things that could have “chartified”, but weren’t. For example, one chart compares how many men are needed to man different types of ships, and uses dozens (and hundreds) of little stick men under each type of ship, when a graph with simple numbers would suffice (and take up less room). Other charts, while good, could have had more information added to make them even better. For instance, one chart shows the ship tonnage the Allies build and lost, which is good info. Plotting this against number of German submarines built and lost each of those years would have added more to the chart, imho. And a chart showing the allied ship losses by year broken down by what German weapon system sank them (airplane, raider, submarine, mine, etc) would also have been useful. But this is only a small complaint, not anything that detracts from the book.Although unorthodox, this book’s structure works well, and it is one of the best one volume books about the Kriegsmarine I’ve read. At 192 pages, it’s more of a reference book and general overview than an exhaustive treatise on the subject, but if you’re looking for a readable tome that covers the German warships (to include submarines) in World War II, this book is a great buy. Five stars.

Great deal of data is provided along with many photographs. The only fault I have to find with the author is about the fate of the Prinz Eugen. The United States did have possession of this ship after WWII and it was at Bikini Atoll for a nuclear test. However, the ship survived and was being towed from Bikini when it was overtaken by a serious storm and the towline broke. The vessel towing the Prinz Eugen could not re-connect. At a later date, it was discovered that the Prinz Eugen was found to have been cast up on a reef at some distance from Bikini and purportedly still sits there.

Great book!

Very good overview of the Kriegsmarine and its performance during the war. The book covers pretty much all aspects with interesting statistics. One may regret that operation SeeLowe is not covered through. If you have bought Chris McNab book "Order of Battle German Kriegsmarine", this book is slightly more exhaustive but you should not consider buying both as they covers more or less the same materials. My preference is Porter's book.

Ouvrage traitant de tous les aspects de la Kriegsmarine sous un format succinct mais plaisant et malgré tout assez complet. Bon achat pour connaissance de base sérieuse

Alles ist OK

As comments about Hitler's Masterplan in the same series - very good content easy to read , maybe not edited quite as thoroughly as it might be ... but is useful as a general guide to the 'Cinderella' service of Nazi Germany