German Destroyers of World War II [Hardcover]

I've bough this book when I was looking for german destroyers camo schemes. Althugh small in numbers of pages I like toomuch de detailed presentation of German destroyers evolution since 1934 up to the end of the war, and also a history of each one of the vessels included some captured destroyers that were in Kriegsmarine service. In all I've enjoy this book.

The author gives us a really good overview of the Destroyers that Germany had in WWII. In Pocketbattlships of WWII the author has fairly poor drawings. In this book a person gets enough information to make a good model of the ship. Also, the Author will show the difference between the various "Narvic" ships of the Narvic class.

The book itself is broken up in near chapters. First, the reader is given a back ground into the effects of the treaty ending the Great War and how that limited the German Navy. Second, the reader is given a chapter of the design and building of the Narvic and other types of German ships. Then the Author gives a short history on all the Destroyers that Germany built in WWII. Yes, every destroyer gets a write up.

I've never read such a good analysis of German ship construction. Now, the German destroyers were all very well armed, some were the equal of an American light cruiser (155mm guns X 6). But the trouble is the hulls were small and the power plants were dreadful. Many times the power plants of the German destroyers would blow a steam tube just before going into battle (a good way to quickly lose a fight). The Author says the British "Tribal" class destroyers never had an engine breakdown before a fight. Honestly, I can say I've never read such a thing about American cruisers, destroyers, or carriers. Indeed, American carriers were extremely sturdy. German engines were cranky and more than once put their crews at risk. Gerhard does an excellent job of showing the short comings of the German navy in WWII.

I highly recommend this book. It will give a student of the German WWII Kreigsmarine an excellent overview of the main type of combat ship the Germans used in WWII, a look into its design history, and the operational development in the ships.

Five stars and its well worth the money.

As a pseudo naval historian and one who has written magazine and newspaper stories on naval history I can highly recommend this study of the Kriegsmarine destroyers in WWII......... The destroyers of all navies in that conflict have often been overlooked so finding good data both technical and operational can be nearly impossible........ In this book you will find many answers to details about the often over rated and as often under rated German destroyers........... No collection on German warships of the second world war should be without this important source..........