The Capture of U-505

The US Navy's controversial Enigma raid, Atlantic Ocean 1944

The Capture of U-505 cover

Description

U-505 was the first enemy warship the US Navy captured at sea since 1812. This is a new account of how Captain Gallery planned and executed the raid on his own initiative, and how his success almost endangered the war against the U-boats.

On June 4, 1944 a US Navy antisubmarine task group in the Atlantic captured an enemy U-boat on the high seas. It was not the first time the Allies had taken a German U-boat as a prize, but the capture of U-505 was different. Captain Gallery and his Task Group 22.3 devised a risky plan to capture scuttled U-boats.

This book analyses in detail Gallery's dangerous strategy, using contemporary sources to explore why he thought the reward was worth the risk: instead of attempting to sink the next U-boat that surfaced among them, a destroyer escort would send off its whaleboat. Everyone else was to smother the U-boat with light gunfire to encourage its crew to abandon quickly. Unaware that the Allies had already cracked the German's codes and the capture of a U-boat could endanger that secret, Gallery hoped to capture the vessel's codes and coding equipment to read U-boat message traffic. The plan culminated in the capture of U-505 in early June, which nearly caused the exposure of the Bletchley Park codebreaking secret.

Featuring contemporary photographs, specially commissioned artwork and 3D maps, this book is a fascinating exploration of one of the most controversial and dangerous raids, which could have changed the outcome of World War II as we know it.

Table of Contents

(Subject to Confirmation)
Introduction
Origins
The Plan
The Raid
Aftermath
Analysis
Further Reading

Product details

Published Nov 24 2022
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 80
ISBN 9781472849243
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations Illustrated throughout with around 50 photos and 9 pages of colour illustrations
Series Raid
Short code RAID 58
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Mark Lardas

Mark Lardas has always been fascinated by things r…

Illustrator

Irene Cano Rodríguez

Irene Cano Rodríguez (known as Araire) is a freela…

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