Despite being heavily outnumbered by the navies of Great Britain and the United States, the German navy proved to be a serious adversary. Its major warships posed a constant threat to the Allied shipping lanes, and its U-boats in the North Atlantic threatened the very liberation of Europe. This important work explains why Hitler s navy was such a potent force. An indispensable guide to the ships, organization, command and rank structure, and leaders of the Kriegsmarine, the book s detailed text studies the navy from World War I to the collapse of the U-boat offensive and the demise of the Third Reich. More than 350 photos, many never before published, along with maps and diagrams, story updates and expands the author"s 1979 title, The German Navy in World War Two, for a new generation of readers.