U-Boat Commander: A Periscope View of the Battle of the Atlantic [Hardcover]

Peter Cremer (Author), Fritz Brustat-Naval (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (August 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870219693
• ISBN-13: 978-0870219696
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #605,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent biography of a successful U-boat Commander., December 23, 1998

By 

Dave Rowden - See all my reviews

This review is from: U-Boat Commander: A Periscope View of the Battle of the Atlantic (Hardcover)

This book about the experiences of Peter Cremer and his Unterseeboot (U-boat) U-333, also known as the "Three Little Fishes" because of his conning tower crest of three little fish, reads fairly easily, and will impress the submarine and naval history reader as well as anyone seeking interesting reading of any kind with U-333's amazing exploits. It is testimony to the daring and courage of the U-boats commanders and crews who attempted to make a difference just as our own American sub commanders and crews did in the Pacific against the Japanese Merchant Marine. Definitely worth reading. Some amazing original wartime photographs of U-333's survival of a ramming by an American tanker off Florida as well.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cremer, better than an Insurance Policy., October 31, 2000

By 

LeRoy Brady (Cupertino, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: U-Boat Commander: A Periscope View of the Battle of the Atlantic (Hardcover)

This is the way his crew referred to Peter Cremer, and for good reason. When all his contemporary U-boat commander's were going missing in the Atlantic, Cremer kept bringing his boat and his men home. This was no easy feat as the reader will clearly see upon reading this excellent and informative book. In fact many times his U-boat, its crew and himself included often bore the severe scars gained while pulling life out of the seemingly unavoidable clutch that death had on them.

Of 40,000 men serving in the U-boat Arm from 1939-45 30,000 were lost at sea. Higher then any other arm of any participating nation. Yet there morale and conviction never failed. This book gives you a glimpse of the courage it took for those men to go out time and again, after injury, suffering and the eventual realization that despite their efforts and sacrafices they could not prevail. They could merely buy time that in the end ran out like the luck of so many of there comrades.

This is not just a history of the Man and Boat but also reviews the events from both sides to illuminate how the initiative changed and why. You will leave with a better understanding of the Battle of the Atlantic and a respect for a worthy adversary.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary tale, January 10, 2010

By 

ct reader "logos.hfd" (ct) - See all my reviews

This review is from: U-boat Commander (Paperback)

This is a first hand personal history of a famous WW2 U-Boat commander, the only one to survive service from the early war years. Cremer provides a candid, readable record of his service, from his time as an officer on destroyers in Norway, his transfer to U-Boats summer 1940, and successful cruises followed progressively more fruitless campaigns. It concludes with a brief command of a new revolutionary XXI boat, it's loss, and his command of Großadmiral Dönitz's personal guard in May 1945.

The author provides a valuable account of increasing technological inequities encountered through the years (increased certainty of detection and destruction), and later cruises without kills but replete only in narrow escapes.

The edition I read (Naval Institute Press, Cloth Bound, 1985) includes a an appendix ("German U-Boat Casualties in WW2") that lists the fate of each U-Boat in service: it's a staggering tabulation of `heroism' and/or suicidal persuasion.

Highly recommended.