Bitter Ocean: The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945

Bitter Ocean is a masterful, authoritative account of perhaps the least-known major battle of World War II, the Battle of the Atlantic. British, Canadian, and American air and sea forces fought the German U-boats in this desperate battle, and prevailed — at a terrible cost.

Between 1939 and 1945, over 36,000 Allied sailors and navy airmen and 36,000 merchant seamen lost their lives in the Atlantic Ocean. They were attempting to deliver the weapons, food, and supplies essential to keeping Britain alive, as well as the supplies vital to the armies fighting in Europe. In addition to the troops themselves, every tank, plane, and bomb crossed the Atlantic aboard ship. As dreadful as the loss of life was for the Allies, the Germans fared even worse. More than 80 percent of German U-boat crewmen never made it home, the highest casualty rate of any branch of the military on either side. Bitterly contested and nearly lost, the Allies' battle for control of the Atlantic shipping lanes remains perhaps the least understood chapter of World War II — until now.

Drawing on a wealth of archival research as well as interviews with veterans on both sides of the ocean campaign, author and maritime journalist David Fairbank White takes us aboard ship and beneath the waves as he reconstructs this epic clash from both sides. With captivating immediacy, Bitter Ocean evokes the grim years 1940-42 when Admiral Karl Donitz's U-boats — tough wolves, stubby, 761 tons of driven, overcharged Nazi attack power — succeeded in sinking more tonnage than Allied shipyards could replace. He shows us the technological breakthroughs that reversed the course of the battle in 1943, includingimproved radar, machines that cracked the German naval code, and very long-range bombers. As the hunters became the hunted, the tide turned, but the German fleet continued to fight despite the increasingly terrible odds.

As he tells the powerful, wrenching stories of individual convoys that suffered from the German submarine attacks, White displays a novelist's flair. Vividly written, Bitter Ocean is scrupulously factual, a triumph of scholarship that will enthrall every student of history.

Between 1939 and 1945, more than 36,000 Allied sailors and navy airmen and 36,000 merchant seamen lost their lives in perhaps the least-known major battle of World War II, the Battle of the Atlantic. All the tanks, planes, bombs, and other vital supplies that the U.S. used to fight in Europe — as well as the American troops themselves — crossed the Atlantic aboard ship, a journey made perilous by the German U-boats that prowled the seas. In Bitter Ocean author and maritime journalist David Fairbank White gives us a masterful, authoritative account of how these American, Canadian, and British air and sea forces fought the Germans and prevailed — at a terrible cost.

As dreadful as the loss of life was for the Allies, the Germans fared even worse; more than 80 percent of German U-boat crewmen never made it home. Drawing on a wealth of archival material as well as interviews with veterans on both sides of the ocean campaign, White takes us aboard ship and beneath the waves as he reconstructs this epic battle. Bitter Ocean vividly evokes the grim years when Admiral Karl Dönitz's U-boats succeeded in sinking more tonnage than Allied shipyards could replace and shows us the technological breakthroughs that reversed the course of the battle in 1943.

Written with a captivating immediacy, Bitter Ocean is a triumph of scholarship and narrative history.

White pens a masterful account of one of the least-known battles of World War II, the Battle of the Atlantic in which U.S., Canadian, and British air and sea forces fought German U-boats for Britian's fate at a dreadful cost.

David Fairbank White has been a reporter for The New York Times and The Journal of Commerce, where he worked on the maritime desk. He is the author of the novel True Bearing. He lives with his family in New York City.