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Only today's atomic submarines have outstripped the fabulous twin-funneled K boats--the biggest, fastest submarines of World War I. But no other class of warship suffered so much calamity and controversy. Authorized by Churchill, these steam-powered submarines were the best-concealed debacle in British naval history. Their crews called themselves the suicide club and in this authoritative documentary their story is vividly reconstructed. Built secretly to meet a threat that existed only in the minds of the flag officers, the so-called "submersible destroyers" suffered an unprecedented series of accidents from the day they began their trials. Six sank with an appalling death toll. The forty-seven men of K 13 were luckier. They were rescued after fifty-seven hours trapped underwater. During the Battle of May Island when British ships carved through their own K flotillas one night, two K boats sank, two were crippled, and a cruiser lost her bows. Then there was the mysterious disappearance of K 5 in the Atlantic. All told, not one K boat escaped. The product of two years' research, this fascinating book looks for answers to what went wrong during the series of dreadful mishaps described.
On 31 January 1918 nine K Class steam-powered submarines sailed with the Grand Fleet to Exercise in the North Sea. The ships left the Firth of Forth at a speed of 21 knots on a cold winter night with the flagship HMS Courageous leading the way. Following in her wake was HMS Ithuriel and the K Class submarines of the 13th Submarine Flotilla and then 5 nautical miles astern of them, four more capital warships. As they approached The Isle of May navigational confusion broke out, caused by the misinterpretation of ship's steaming lights and mayhem followed. During the next couple of hours five collisions occurred involving eight ships and resulting in the death of 105 officers and ratings. This fiasco and the resulting naval investigation and court marshal were shielded from the general public and kept in secret files until the full details were released in 1994. From this official report, the author now tells the full story of that dreadful night and the proceedings that followed. Background information on the evolution of the ill-fated and much hated K Class submarines is also included together with the investigation and court marshal proceedings of the events surrounding that tragic night.
From January to July 1942, more than seventy-five ships sank to North Carolina's "Graveyard of the Atlantic" off the coast of the Outer Banks. German U-boats sank ships in some of the most harrowing sea fighting close to America's shore. Germany's Operation Drumbeat, led by Admiral Karl Donitz, brought fear to the local communities. A Standard oil tanker sank just sixty miles from Cape Hatteras. The U-85 was the first U-boat sunk by American surface forces, and local divers later discovered a rare Enigma machine aboard. Author Jim Bunch traces the destructive history of world war on the shores of the Outer Banks.
The history of the development of submarines covered in this book spans the most tumultuous years of the 20th century. When the little Holland No. 1 was launched in 1901, few could guess that the submarine would become the most potent weapon of war ever developed.
Andrew Higgins built boats that could "crunch through driftwood, bounce over logs, climb a beach," and "wham up on a sloping concrete sea wall." In World War II, that was exactly what was needed to get soldiers and Jeeps from the ocean to land. This biography for young readers traces the invention of the legendary Higgins boat--and the adventurous childhood of the remarkable man behind it.
Nestled among the hills of western New York State is the beautiful lake Keuka, the Indian word for "canoe landing." Once visited, the loveliness and serenity of this particular lake in New York's Finger Lakes region draws people back. Visitors return to stay for a week or the summer, and tourists come back, often annually. Many who have lived or summered at the lake return to retire. Keuka Lake brings back the time period from 1850 to 1960, the era of black-and-white photography. Featured are the local grapes and wineries, the steamboats, the commercial activities on and around the lake, and the lake itself. Today, the boats are no longer steam powered and the wineries are more plentiful, but other aspects of life have not changed. The residents are hospitable; the pace is slow; the lake is resplendent and inviting.