Freivogel, Zvonimir Schnellboote. German Fast Attack Craft 1916-2016

The German fast attack craft (Schnellboote, better known during the World War Two under the British designation E-boats) served as a warship category for almost hundred years in five German navies, from the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine), over the Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine, to the Federal German Navy (Bundesmarine) in the western and the People´s Navy (Volksmarine) in the eastern Germany, both established after 1945. The last units of this type were stricken in 2016, to be replaced by corvettes that are to fulfill similar duties in the narrow seas and coastal waters.
The Schnellboote were not often described in detail by the Anglo-American naval authors, and even the origin of the designation E-boats is not completely clear. It is believed that the meaning was Enemy Boats, but there were other German vessels belonging to the boat category (like the motor minesweepers, called R-Boote by the Germans and R-boats by the Allies, or minesweepers aka MBoote/M-boats). Thus it is possible that the initial meaning was simply Express Boats, similar to Express Trains (Schnellzüge in German), and later the origin of the name was forgotten.
The book "Schnellboote", written by the already well-known naval author Zvonimir Freivogel, is divided into four parts; the first is about the genesis and the development of this warship category in Germany, the second an overview of all S-boat operations on the European war theaters between 1939 and 1945, the third is describing these vessels in the Bundesmarine, and the fourth is a short history of S-boats in the Volksmarine. The book is richly illustrated with over 200 photographs, drawings, and charts, and there are numerous tables with technical and building data, together with fates of all German wartime or post-war fast attack craft.

Many very good and detailed books have already been written about the Schnellboote, but the author attempts to summarise their technology and history from the beginning to the end in a single work, as a kind of encyclopaedia. The book comprises four parts, starting with the origin and development of this ship category, through a detailed overview of all German S-boat operations in all European theatres of war from 1939 to 1945, to post-war developments in the German Navy and the Volksmarine. The work is richly illustrated with over 200 photos, drawings and maps; the technical data as well as the construction dates and fates of all German S-boats from the war and post-war period are clearly listed in numerous tables.