Customer Reviews

Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet: The Deadliest Ships of World War II

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Even well-informed students of the Second World War are largely unfamiliar with one of its most dramatic and deadly phenomeon, the Kriegesmarine's auxiliary cruisers disguised as Allied or neural merchantmen. James P. Duffy's account of these rogue
vessels is a comprehensive, yet thoroughly narrated history of the "Q-Boats", as they were known to British Intelligence. The most successful raider of its kind was the "Pinguin". In less than a year at sea, she sank 16 enemy freighters, capturing another 16. The "Thor" sent 18 ships to the bottom, making another four captive. But the Germans could also fight it out with capital ships if occasion demanded. In November, 1941, the
Kormoran fought a duel to the death with the Australian light cruiser Sydney, which went down with no survivors. Nine German raiders roamed the oceans of the world, and before all but two of them were eventually lost in action, they destroyed more than a million tons of Allied shipping. Duffy's detailed research brings all these remarkable ships, their dauntless crews, and perilous engagements back to life, thereby making an important contribution to better understanding of the war at sea. His work is unquestionably one of the best books about World War Two in recent years.

They were nine ordinary freighters armed with torpedo tubes, 5.9in guns and anti-aircraft guns - all of which were concealed from view. With the ability to change their own ship's profile and, therefore, their own apparent identity, these nine were Germany's secret commerce raiders of the high seas during WW2. They were pirates in the true and historic sense of the word and were even more successful than Germany's best U-Boats. Imagine a disguised freighter with guns hidden behind false panels able to sink an Australian Cruiser with far greater fire power - using nothing more than sheer guile, surprise, and expert gunnery. To this day, the remains of HMAS Sydney has not been found.

"Hitler's Secret Pirate Fleet" is a hard back book measuring 9½" x 6¼" containing 200 pages of fascinating information about those nine ships - all of which have a compelling story to tell. Commencing with the "Atlantis" - the secret name given to the Goldenfels upon her conversion for such war duties, the author commences the story of this ship at the end - with an exciting and very readable account of her loss at the hands of HMS Devonshire. In so doing he has skilfully hooked the reader into wanting to know more and, just as soon as the Atlantis disappears beneath the waves, we are treated to her story - right from her launch. It really is fascinating stuff.

Covering the; Atlantis, Orion, Widder, Thor, Pinguin, Komet, Kormoran, Michel and Stier - in that order, the author reveals the war time exploits of these vessels in great detail and retains his readable style of writing throughout. A few map outlines dotted throughout the book help to convey a feeling of where the relevant actions took place. There is a small selection of photographs in the middle of the book and whilst I would have liked to see more, I do appreciate that 7 of the vessels in question were eventually sunk in action and that, coupled with the very nature of their business, meant that few photographs were ever likely to be available in any event.

Altogether, a most competent piece of work and an excellent book for any long journey.

NM

Until picking up this rather sensationally titled book, I'd never heard of the German naval scheme during WWII to arm some old freighters and turn them into camouflaged"commerce raiders." preying on unsuspecting Allied and neutral cargo ships. It's a fairly interesting story in Duffy's hands-at least for a while. Ship by ship, he takes the reader through the operational history of each of Germany's nine raiders, apparently relying on three earlier histories of the German raiders and a slew of first hand accounts by those who served on them. It's one of the book's weaknesses that Duffy eschews footnotes in favor of a general bibliographical essay at the end, leaving readers to wade through the primary material themselves if so inclined. While there are some fascinating stories to be told (the sinking of the Australian light cruiser Sydney, the capture of prime Allied intelligence on the Pacific, two name two examples), the chapters tend to run together in their blow-by-blow detailing of each ship captured or sunk, it's cargo, tonnage, number of survivors, etc. Still, it's worth dipping into by anyone interested in the history of WWII, or naval history in general.

With only one exception, the captains of the Kreigsmarine's Commerce Raiders were fine men. They did their job as they were sworn to do, despite having to serve under the Swastika flag.
This book shows (in excellent detail) the cruises of these Commerce Raiders and makes interesting reading to aspiring scholars of maritime military history.

...you don't already know about the exploits and adventures of the disguised German surface raiders of World War II. These nine armed merchant ships roamed all the oceans of the world, stayed at sea for incredibly long periods without even seeing land, and caused lots of troubles for the Allies. In fact, each of these unorthodox pseudo-warships deserve their own books to tell their stories, but author Duffy does a fine job in accounting their histories as he highlights the important events in thir cruises. My few complaints for the book are: It could use few more pictures and diagrams, such as the profile of each raider. Also a few of the dates given were slightly wrong, such as the dramatic encounter between the Stier and the Stephen Hopkins. It didn't occur on September 24, but on September 27.

Overall, a good book telling a little known aspect of the greatest war that raged on this planet.

This is a review of the paperback edition of this book.

I should have bought Muggenthaler's older, but much more comprehensive and better written, book on the same topic - German commerce raiders of World War II. Duffy, the author, indicates that he relied as much on that book for his 'sources' as he did on anything else. Indeed, disturbingly, he cites only a few sources in his 'bibliographic essay'. Instead of citing to published works, as a reputable author would, he instead refers the reader to several different-and, in my mind, suspect-websites. The few photos he provides are mostly taken from one ship's cruise (there were 9 raiders in all). The index is adequate but the maps can best be described as 'second string'. Duffy's text is not much better than what might find in the first draft prepared by a high-school - overuse of the passive voice, an irritating habit of employing (often irrelevant) sidebars, and shocking historical inaccuracies. He refers to Operation Weserubung, the German operational name for the invasion of Norway and Denmark as 'Operation Norway', and, incredibly, describes the FRENCH battleship 'Richelieu' as a German warship! Such slapdash scholarship is unworthy of even novice students of military history. All in all, a disappointment.

Author Duffy relates the only treatise I have found about Hitler's
"Q-ships". These cruiser-armed vessels, disguised as harmless
merchant steamers, sank many thousands of tons of shipping
during their brief reign. I had no idea such extensive operations
were conducted in the South Atlantic and Indian oceans, and
around Antarctica. One raider even slugged it out toe-to-toe
with an Australian navy cruiser--resulting in the sinking of
both ships;a source of chagrin in Australia to this day. A
somewhat pedantic writing style is my only criticism of this
book. The information presented is truly unique and worthwhile.

This was an interesting addition to my naval history collection. It filled in a lot of information on this subject. The book arrived in excellent condition and on time. Thanks for the wonderful service.

This is a very good book about a little known part of World War two. It explores the difference between wearing an enemy uniform ( which the Germans were shot for during the Battle of the Bulge ) and a legitimate ruse de guerre to fool your enemy.It also shows the brotherhood of sailors regardless of nationality. The lack of brutality and attempts to limit the loss of life that was absent in other parts of this conflict. A very good book for any one interested in naval history.

Fortunately the book doesn't live up to the sensationalist, and inaccurate, title. No pirates on these ships. Period.

I found this to be an amazing read. Not too much technical detail, but a series of good stories all the more amazing in that this is not fiction. Easily read in an evening, but I recommend spreading it out to more fully digest the stories. Then, if still interested in the topic, I recommend reading the new book about SMS WOLF. "Pirate Fleet" glosses over several warships' cruises; "WOLF" is more in-depth from the perspective of crew and victims.