Waller, Derek The Surrender of the U-Boat Fleet 1945

In the weeks following the end of the war in May 1945, 156 German submarines surrendered to the Allies. Some of them surrendered at sea or directly in various ports, while most were captured in German bases in Norway, Denmark and France. Nine surrendered in the United States, Canada and Argentina. This book provides comprehensive documentation of the surrender of all these ships and also includes the history of the approximately 200 submarines that were sunk in the final days of the war rather than surrendering. It also contains details of other submarines that have since been salvaged and either reused or scrapped. The author begins by describing the development of Allied policy in 1943, 1944 and early 1945 regarding the surrender and disposal of the German Navy and its surviving submarines. He then explains the surrender agreements and the discussions about the submarines at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 and by the Tripartite Naval Commission (TNC) in Berlin between August and December 1945. The report then describes the use and fate of all the surrendered submarines, in particular those officially assigned to the United Kingdom, the United States and the USSR. The report also includes the story of the capture of U-505 and concludes with an overview of the final disposal of each of the surrendered submarines. The level of detail and extensive research that has gone into this work make it both an important new reference work and a fascinating analysis of one of the most significant events of the end of the war. It also introduces the reader to the world of post-war submarine development and the competition between the US and Soviet navies to make the best use of the technical advances that began with the submarines of the war.