Rating: 
Summary: A Towering Work
Review: "Hitler's U-Boat War" (this review actually refers to both volumes of the trade paper edition) stands as an impressive achievement of a naval historian who pored over mountains of Kriegsmarine records and Allied intelligence reports and distilled them into 1600 pages of the most comprehensive treatment of the U-Boat war ever offered. Every tour and patrol of the main line U-Boats (Types VII, IX and XIV, and variants) is listed in the appendices. The boat logs offer a staggering amount of detail and, in Blair's hands, paint a vivid picture of life inside an "iron coffin."The reader is provided with meticulous treatments of the torpedo design defects, the ineffective Naxos radar detector, Huff Duff, and, of course, the constant struggle to keep up with naval Enigma, all of which underline the distinct technological advantage the Allies possessed. Yet, due to America's delayed entry into the war, mistrust among the Allied intelligence agencies, and the difficulties with instituting an effective transatlantic convoy system, it was not until late 1942 that the tide began to turn against the Kriegsmarine. However, argues Blair, the U-Boats were never in any danger of winning the Atlantic war. Instead, their chief benefit to Germany was psychological. Since "death from below" could strike without warning, the Allies tied up vast amounts of materiel and manpower in convoying and anti-submarine warfare, reducing the efficiency of the transatlantic lifeline sustaining Britain. The eventual outcome, though, was never truly in doubt. The Kriegsmarine suffered from a lack of inter-service coordination, was low on experienced commanders, and, of course, was saddled with a hideously-high casualty rate. By mid-1944, the Allies had tracked down and sunk every dedicated U-Tanker in the German arsenal thanks to the Kriegsmarine's own decoded position reports, thereby crippling the strategic value of the remaining U-Boats. By the time the Germans got around to production of the electro-boats, the war was virtually over. I can vouch for the fact that you will not agree with all of Blair's positions, and the one on whether Doenitz was a war criminal is possibly the most contentious in the book. But it will make you think, and that's the mark of a good historical text. I make one caveat. My five-star rating is for the serious naval history buff only. This is a very technical book, and the style becomes quite repetitive after a while. It is valuable for what it does--a comprehensive, meticulous survey of the U-Boat war. What it does, it does well. It is not a casual read, though. For the general reader, I'd drop this down to three stars, primarily because of the style. If you're really fascinated by this branch of military history, though (like I am), you will take a lot away with you when you finish.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive History of the U-Boat War
Review: A detailed history of the U-boat war in the Atlantic from 1939-1942. Virtually every U-boat patrol in that period is covered. Blair's theory is unique: that the U-boats were much less effective than conventional wisdom portrays and that the Germans never came close to cutting the Allied sea lines of communications. In Blair's in-depth assessment, even the vaunted U-boats and their commanders seem weaker, more vulnerable. The book does get a bit slow toward the end, perhaps a bit buried in detail. Blair does a superb job integrating the role of intelligence into this story. He has a wealth of new details about ENIGMA and other intelligence operations. This is the definitive history of this campaign.
Rating:
Summary: unbiased and great detail
Review: another reviewer called this book biased. The first thought
I had of this book was UNbiased fair and thorough.
as a US world war 2 submariner clay blair dug deep and gave
us a wonderful book on the german uboats from their origins
to late 1942. (2nd volume continues) For those buying sight
unseen like me it is 700 pages plus detailed appendixes.
there are few pictures (1% of pages)
I purchase it after reading silent victory by blair.
I hope you can get a copy. BIASED ????
I have read dozens of ww2 books and this one is 1st rate
Rating: 
Summary: Well worth the effort to read
Review: Blair's first volume in this work is truly an exhaustive study. It's similar to Dumas Malone's "Jefferson & his times" in that it takes serious concentration to read. It's worth the effort, very much recommended, and I look forward to reading the second volume.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely Definitive
Review: Blair's two works on the Battle of the Atlantic rightly deserve to be considered the definitive work on this topic, and have sparked a long-overdue re-evaluation of the Battle, where fact is fast replacing views which arose out of the terror and propaganda of the time. As an example of this influence, the chapter on the Battle of the Atlantic in John Keegan's book 'Intelligence in War' draws very heavily on Blair.
Ignore the folks who claim that Blair's theisis is 'controversial' - Blair backs it with cold hard statistics, and is by no means the first author to do so - for instance, the British offical history 'Defeat of the Enemy Attack on Shipping' made pretty much the same points Blair makes. Indeed, the reason Blair only gets 4 stars is that he over-sells his views by over-stressing their 'newness'.
As a caveat, it is important to note that these books are not easy reads, or are even remotely suitable for the casual reader. However, for the dedicated reader with an interest in this topic they are a very rewarding and informative read.
Rating:
Summary: HITLER'S U-BOAT WAR deserves two periscopes up!
Review: Clay Blair has presented a thorough, well- documented account of the Undersea Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1942) which both a history novice and a military expert can enjoy. His own analysis of the events during this campaign, as well as his analysis of other authors' efforts on this subject, are interesting, insightful and colorful enough to keep a naval historian's attention and fluid enough to entice a newcomer to learn more about the subject. Even though Mr. Blair's account is so detailed and elaborate, it tends to read more like a novel rather than a long-haired, monotone regurgitation of the facts. The size of the book appears daunting, and in all honesty, his attempt to be thorough and precise makes some sections of the book a little more tedious to read, but those areas are not frequent and do not last long.HITLER'S U-BOAT WAR aims to correct or dispell some of the myths surrounding the submarine warfare in the Atlantic and the book's flavor and thought-provoking style is most appreciated. I look forward to the second volume of this work. Please award the ritterkreuz to Mr. Blair for his contribution to this subject. Matthew WestSanford, Florida.Age 3
Rating:
Summary: A superb job
Review: Clay Blair's two volume Hitler's U-Boat War is a remarkable achievement. It offers an entirely new and completely convincing perspective on the U-boat menace. While it may be too detailed for some readers-as it covers virtually every U-boat patrol and convoy encounter--this is balanced by the fascinating interpretive context of the story. Blair has mastered the strategic context of the U-Boat war from the English, American, and German perspectives. Moreover he shows how technological innovations-such as radar, code breaking apparatus, radio direction finding-were used by the allies to overwhelm the U-Boat service very early in the war. The Germans could not keep pace with the weapons deployed against them and were tactically and strategically outthought. Blair dismisses some common perspective on the U-Boat war. One is German and tends to portray the U-Boats and their commanders romantically as valiant professionals betrayed by Hitler's interfering mismanagement of their service. Blair counters that the commander of the U-boat service, Donitz, badly over-estimated the potential of the service, failed to develop new tactics, and finally was reduced to sending his boats out on virtual suicide missions. Even veteran and much decorated U-Boat commanders began to balk. The Germans often had bad torpedoes and poor radio communications. They never developed radar or radar detection devices and failed to coordinate the service with the German air force. German U-Boat commanders submitted exaggerated accounts of the amounts and tonnage of the ships they sunk (partly because they were chasing medals and personal glory), thus misleading themselves and their superiors. Another is English and often is followed by most historians. It claims that the U-Boats came very close to strangling the Allied war effort through its decimation of Allied convoys. Blair shows that the U-Boats never came close to inflicting anything near that much damage to the Allied war effort. The vast majority of convoys went through unscathed. The scale of American shipbuilding completely outstripped the rate of loses. The expansion of the Allied air services sounded the death knell of the U-Boat as they were reduced to fighting it out on the surface with fast well-armed fighters and bombers. In sum, Hitler's U-Boat war was not the story of a valiant core of talented professionals, betrayed by their political leadership. It verged on military incompetence.
Rating:
Summary: This will be the definitive history of U-Boat War.
Review: For readers of Das Boot and viewers of 1940's submarine movies, this is probably not the book for you. For those who want the "real story," however, this work provides the definitive history of the terrible period in history where men went down to the sea in little boats and fought to the death. This book starts with a general summary of the beginnings of submarine warfare. It traces the earliest submarine experiments up to the start of World War II. The central core of the book, however, is a detailed, well researched history of the German U-Boat fleet during World War II. The author has read and reviewed the extenstive files and records of U-Boat activity. The story then describes the missons of the U-Boats for each month between 1939 and 1942. A second volume is promised that will cover from 1942 until the end of the war. The work is sufficiently detailed to allow the reader to trace the history of individual U-Boats and their captains from the first sailings until they are "lost with all crew."The quality of the book is found in the way it is written. There is little emotion revealed in the passages, but there is honest reporting of the events that occurred. Such a clear writing style speaks better of the horror that must have been a part of the life of those in the U-Boats and the crews of the ships that they hunted. A second feature of value of the work is that it offers something of a fresh view of the events of the Battle of the Atlantic. Many of the histories of that period have been written by Europeans. Their view of that scene and the American role in it is somewhat tempered by their own backgrounds. A good representative sample of such a writing can be found in "The Price of Admiralty" by John Keegan. His chapter on the Battle of the Atlantic reports the war from the view of one of England's foremost military historians. Mr. Blair is an American who served in the U.S. submarine service during World War II and his views have a decidedly "American" flavor. He presents the American effort during the Battle of the Atlantic with some concern over the U.S. broader involvement world wide.In short, the first volume of this extensive work is a wonderful history. The second volume is anxiously awaited.
Rating: 
Summary: Heavily Biased
Review: I foiund the book full of interesting facts and statistics, however, the lack of description of how U-boats operated left me quit surprised. I was also intriqued at mr. Blair's blatant hypocracy when talking about previous German works as being heavily biased. Mr. Blair's work is in it's own, extremelly biased. The U-boat war did come close to sucess, and no, the U-boats greatest suferings were not from their own incompetence. Some of the statements in this book make me seriously question his proffesional abilities in dealing fairly with all sides of a conflict. Although, I suppose that his days as a U.S.N. submariner probaly contribute to his outrageous biases opinions. Please levae them out of historical works.
Sincerely,
David Long
Belmont, NCI
Rating:
Summary: Good researches, biased narrative
Review: If we are to believe Blair, an ex USN submariner, that the KM was not what it was said to be, that it never came close to strangling trans Atlantic trade, that its sinklings were vastly inflated, that the U boats made hardly an impact in the waters off America and the Carribean, that its officers and sailors were mostly cowardly incompetents,then the question must be asked, why were so much resources put into defeating them? And why was he writing 2 massive books on them? Could he be jealous of the fact that the public is fascinated and mesmerized by the U boats, while the USN submarine service has been accorded much less attention, not to mention adulation, despite its proven successes against Jap shipping?
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