Decoding History: The Battle of the Atlantic and Ultra [Hardcover]

W. J. R. Gardner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

During the Second World War a major part of the strategy of the Grand Alliance was shipping. The Germans fully appreciated the vulnerability of this and their attack on it, largely by means of submarines, became known as the Battle of the Atlantic. The attack was overcome, with some difficulty, by a number of means. One, which remained generally unknown until the 1970s, was the decryption of German coded signals, now usually called Ultra. Subsequent histories often tended to attribute the outcome of the Battle largely to the operation of this factor almost by itself, sometimes because of a lack of rigorous analysis and also because of a failure to set this important subject into the full and complex contexts in which it operated. This study rectifies this deficiency, setting out the full story of the series of campaigns and carefully assessing the complicated pattern of factors, thus allowing a much more balanced understanding of code-breaking.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a most useful 'handbook' of the Battle of the Atlantic." -- Almanac of Seapower, 2001

About the Author

W.J.R. GARDNER is now a civil servant having previously served in the Royal Navy for nearly 30 years, where he was a specialist in anti-submarine warfare. In the last decade he has made contributions to many historical conferences on 20th century naval historical topics internationally. He has also contributed to several books and has had many articles published. His previous works include Antisubmarine Warfare and he is now working on a biography of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 263 pages
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557501580
• ISBN-13: 978-1557501585
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,464,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thorough integration of critical events, October 5, 2000

By 

Harvey M. Solomon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Decoding History: The Battle of the Atlantic and Ultra (Hardcover)

This small book is well written and provides an excellent synopsis of the many dynamic processes which must be understood as they relate to the victory of the Allies in the battle of the Atlantic. The outcomes at Stalingrad and in the North Atlantic clearly established that the Axis powers in Europe would ultimately be defeated. The value of this book is that it penetrates beneath the sound and smoke of battle to explore some of the interactions at scientific, technical and strategic levels which contributed to victory. In doing so it provides the reader with an excellent summary of events and how critical their linkage was to the ultimate outcome.

For readers unfamiliar with the technology of midcentury direction finding to locate the source of radio emissions, the chapter on technology is quite good and is totally devoid of mathematics. It thus allows the reader to fully appreciate the process without experiencing the pain of the theory.

I found myself referring frequently to my old copy of The Pulse of Radar by Sir Robert Watson-Watt on many occasions as I read this book and the two volumes complement each other nicely. Watson-Watt is a far more entertaining writer but that does not detract from the value of this book in any way. It is another excellent publication from the Naval Institute Press.