Kriegsmarine Coastal Forces

Although often overlooked in favour of the U-boats or battleships, the vast majority of the Kriegsmarine was formed of the smaller vessels of the coastal forces. These ships and boats, which included minesweepers, torpedo boats, patrol boats, and blockade breakers, gave crucial service to Germany during the war, and many continued serving for decades after the surrender in such tasks as clearing minefields. Also included in these forces was Hitler's yacht, the Ostwind. This book reveals the history of the vessels that formed the backbone of the Kriegsmarine, and combines fascinating anecdotes, detailed technical information, and full-colour artwork.

Although often overlooked in favour of the U-boats or battleships, the vast majority of the Kriegsmarine was formed of the smaller vessels of the coastal forces. These ships and boats, which included minesweepers, torpedo boats, patrol boats, and blockade breakers, gave crucial service to Germany during the war, and many continued serving for decades after the surrender in such tasks as clearing minefields. Also included in these forces was Hitler's yacht, the Ostwind. This book reveals the history of the vessels that formed the backbone of the Kriegsmarine, and combines fascinating anecdotes, detailed technical information, and full-colour artwork.

Despite the popularity of the U-boats and larger surface vessels like the Bismarck and the Graf Spree, the vast majority of vessels within the Kriegsmarine served in the coastal forces. Though the public may generally have forgotten these smaller ships, many gave crucial service during the war and continued to serve decades after VE day, either in the German Navy or in the navies of the victorious Allies. Indeed, Kriegsmarine minesweepers and their German crews, still in their old uniforms with the swastikas simply removed, continued to serve after 1945 under the control of the Royal Navy, engaged in the dangerous but necessary task of clearing old wartime minefields. The ships and boats included in the coastal forces ranged from such minesweepers to torpedo boats, patrol boats and blockade breakers. These latter were merchant vessels, whose daunting task was to evade the Allied warships to bring essential supplies into Germany. Also included in the coastal forces was Hitler's personal yacht, the Ostwind. This book tells the often-forgotten story of the vessels that formed the backbone of the Kriegsmarine, and combines fascinating anecdotes, detailed technical information, and full-color artwork.

After Italy's surrender to the Allies in September 1943, German naval forces took control of the entire Aegean, and the resulting guerrilla war in the narrow seas and littoral waters would continue to rage until the general peace. Naval warfare in the narrow seas is different from naval actions on the high seas, requiring different types of ships and craft and different mindsets. In the cramped and narrow inshore waters, which can easily be dominated from the shore, sea mines, shore-based air support, and small submarines play a major role. An analysis of the battle for the Aegean provides a good example of the types of fighting the U.S. Navy might face in a future conflict, now that grande guerre on the high seas has become more and more unlikely. In attempt to assist an embattled Greece, the British Mediterranean Fleet fought the Italians and the Germans in a valiant effort to hold the Aegean. By the time Italy left the war in 1943, the Allies' big battalions and mighty fleets were being transferred to other more pressing campaigns, leaving behind the remaining small craft to take up the fight. Adopting a policy of pinning down those Germans garrisoning the Aegean, the British resorted to the use of raiding and coastal forces, a tactic which would eventually force the Germans from all but their most key positions.

“A detailed account of the fast patrol boats built and used by the Kriegsmarine during WWII . . . a book for every naval history enthusiast.”—Firetrench The Kriegsmarine’s Schnellboote—fast attack boats or S-boats to the Allies—were the primary German naval attack units in coastal waters throughout the Second World War. Operating close to their various bases they became a devastatingly effective weapon in nearly all the Kriegsmarine’s theatres of war, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It was in the English Channel, however, that they scored their most notable successes, destroying some forty warships and more than one hundred merchant ships. In addition to interception and attack, they were also used for minelaying, landing sabotage troops and general escort duties. There has been, to date, no comprehensive operational history of the S-boat in all the theatres in which it saw service, but due to the relatively small number of units it is possible to recount the duties and fates of each individual craft, and in this new book the author examines the career of each in detail. In addition, operations alongside the commando units of the Kleinkampfverbande are covered, and the smaller S-boats, designed primarily for their use, are described. As the War progressed, S-boats suffered from the increased Allied mastery of the seas and skies but they were a formidable foe right to the end; this new book is the first to do full justice to their record of success. “An important addition to the body of coastal forces literature, and should be essential reading for anyone interested in the wars of the ‘Narrow Seas.’”—Battlefleet

The Royal Navy invented the fast motor torpedo boat during the First World War, and used it and other small coastal craft to great effect during the Second. This book tells the dramatic story of British coastal forces, both offensive and defensive, in both World Wars and beyond. In the Second World War, British coastal forces fought a desperate battle to control the narrow seas, particularly the Channel and the North Sea, and took the war to the coasts of German-occupied Europe, fighting where larger warships could not be risked. They also made a significant contribution to victory in the Mediterranean, but it was primarily warfare in home waters that shaped wartime British Coastal Forces and left lessons for postwar development. In this book, Norman Friedman uniquely connects the technical story of the coastal craft and their weapons and other innovations with the way they fought. In both world wars much of the technology was at the edge of what was feasible at the time. Boats incorporated considerable British innovation and also benefited from important US contributions, particularly in supplying high-powered engines during World War II. In contrast with larger warships, British coastal forces craft were essentially shaped by a few builders, and their part in the story is given full credit. They also built a large number of broadly similar craft for air-sea rescue, and for completeness these are described in an appendix. This fascinating, dramatic story is also relevant to modern naval thinkers concerned with gaining or denying access to hostile shores. The technology has changed but the underlying realities have not. This book includes an extensive account of how coastal forces supported the biggest European example of seizing a defended shore, the Normandy invasion. That was by far the largest single British coastal forces operation, demanding a wide range of innovations to make it possible. Like other books in this series, this one is based very heavily on contemporary official material, much of which has not been used previously – like the extensive reports of US naval observers, who were allowed wide access to the Royal Navy as early as 1940. Combined with published memoirs, these sources offer a much more complete picture than has previously appeared of how Coastal Forces fought and of the way in which various pressures, both operational and industrial, shaped them.

The War for England's Shores examines the Kriegsmarine’s S-Boat offensive along the English Channel and the North Sea from 1940 to 1945, together with British (later Allied) responses to nullify that threat. The campaign against the convoys running along the coast of Britain has been overlooked by historians. Swift and armed with torpedoes and mines, the S-Boat posed a serious threat to the convoys forced to run along the British coast as often as six days out of every seven. Using an array of archival materials from Britain, Germany, and the United States, The War for England’s Shores examines why the Germans failed to make the most of this opportunity to disrupt the British war economy. G. H. Bennett analyzes how the British slowly nullified the threat by embracing new technologies and developing a system of sea control to gradually force the German S-Boat arm to transition from offensive action against Britain's coastal convoys to the defensive posture of waiting for an invasion of France. Considering the war along Britain's coastal convoy routes in the context of twenty-first-century interest in littoral warfare, this work has vital, current appeal using the German S-Boat campaign of 1940 to 1945 to offer significant and surprising new insights.