Hitler's 'Wonder' U-Boats

Launched during the last days of the Third Reich in an attempt to restart the Battle of the Atlantic, the majority of these revolutionary Electro-U-boats never saw action. Instead they became the forebears of the Cold War’s much dreaded hunter killer submarines. The massive Type XXI was planned to replace the conventional ‘Atlantic’ U-boat that had seen service so far in the war. The Type XXIII was a smaller coastal version. The new Electo-U-boats were the first submarines to operate primarily submerged, as opposed to spending large periods of time on the surface. Hitler’s new designs utilized huge number of batteries to improve the time they could spend underwater, as much as several days, and only needed to surface to periscope depth for recharging via a schnorkel. The idea for this book came about when the author was asked to sort through files in the German U-boat Museum. Slotted in among the highly technical information were some fascinating