The invention of the torpedo in the late 19th Century revolutionized naval warfare, providing smaller warships with the firepower to successfully attack and sink larger vessels. In the early 1920s, the German Navy – rebuilding itself after its defeat in WW1 – began sponsoring development of the Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB) suitable for the North Sea. German industrial efforts produced the Schnellboot (Fast Boat) – abbreviated S-boot by the Germans. Its armed with two torpedo tubes.

The first S-boot was commissioned in 1930 and the type was continuously developed throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. The German Navy extensively used Schnellboot in all coastal theaters throughout World War Two. They were successful in attacking Allied shipping in the North Sea, English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Baltic Sea.

The Allies – who called these craft E-Boats (Enemy Boats) – had a healthy respect for these German vessels, which were considered the finest MTBs of the war. Small naval craft experts T. Garth Connelly and David Krakow trace the development and operational history of the Schnellboot in this new book.

Format: Softbound
Pages: 58
Length: 11w x 8.25h
ISBN-13: 9780897474573
ISBN: 0897474570
Catalog ID: 136814A

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