Find and Destroy: Antisubmarine Warfare in World War I [Hardcover]

Dwight R. Messimer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

World War I was the crucible of antisubmarine warfare (ASW), and the years of trial and error between 1914 and 1918 gave rise to the weapons and tactics used by today's ASW forces. With this study, military historian Dwight Messimer examines the weapons, tactics, and organization used by all the belligerents during the war and provides some surprising findings. Because he draws heavily from personal accounts as well as from official records, his book will appeal to both serious readers seeking hard facts and to general readers who like stories about war at sea.

Messimer tells the story from both sides. German survivors who escaped from sunken U-boats explain what it was like to face the newly developed ASW weapons beneath the surface, and pilots tell what it was like from above. The author describes the German's well-organized and efficient ASW organization in the Baltic and the Helgoland Bight. He also discusses the weapons developed during the war that proved to be largely ineffective or outright failures. While his evaluations of the contributions made by aircraft and Q-ships put them in the category of only marginally effective, his analysis of the effectiveness of politics deems that ASW "weapon" the most effective of all. Solidly grounded in the best primary sources available in England, the United States, and Germany, this book is the first to address the ASW of all World War I belligerents.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dwight R. Messimer, a lecturer at San Jose State University and resident of Mountain View, California, is the author of six books published by the Naval Institute, including Escape about a World War I Medal of Honor recipient.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557504474
• ISBN-13: 978-1557504470
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,239,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A good, useful study on the subject, May 17, 2006

By 

Tony DiGiulian (SE PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Find and Destroy: Antisubmarine Warfare in World War I (Hardcover)

This is an interesting book, not only for the subject matter, but for the way in which it is written. Instead of exciting action stories of steely men at war that one might expect, the author digs past that superficial level to provide detailed information on both the weapons in use and the methods in which they were used.

Each nation's capabilities at the beginning of the war (brief synopsis: Trivial) is assessed, how that changed as the war went on, and what were the success and failures both as seen by the respective country and by its foes. I especially liked how the author, rather than simply parroting an action report from some British or German destroyer, took the time to search out the records and reports from the target submarine. This is repeatedly done throughout the book to illustrate some tactic or weapon, which means that one can now understand not only what the attacking destroyer thought of the attack, but what were the effects on its intended target.

The ASW weapons are given a good examination and again the effectiveness of each nation's weapons is reviewed not only by the users but also by the defenders. For example, the British thought that their use of anti-submarine nets in the channel thoroughly hindered the movements of the German U-Boats. However, the Germans actually found these to be a minor nuisance for most part, easily defeated or simply avoided. Similar insights are given to as the effectiveness of German ASW weapons and tactics.

In summary, this book should be seen as being a definitive study of the subject at the detailed level. It is not a breezy set of action stories strung together to form a "popular" history. For that reason, I give this work a high rating and look forward to more such works from the author.