Submarines played a decisive role in both world wars. In 1917 the sinking of the American ship “Sussex” by a German U-boat caused the United States’ entry into World War I. And, in World War II, the colossal duel between U-boats and the British and American navies was a crucial episode that weighed heavily upon the war’s final outcome. With the technical competence displayed in his previous works, the author offers a detailed and accurate account of submarines’ role from their beginnings, through their massive deployment by Germany in the Great War to break the Entente’s nautical blockade and the Third Reich’s efforts to reconstruct an underwater fleet, up to the great struggle between Germany and the Allied navies between 1938 and 1945.

Antonio Martelli used to teach Business Strategy and Policy at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan. He has published three other naval history books with Il Mulino.