All I would like to start reading and learning about the Atlantic Naval War. I would like to start with an overview book, a historic novel, or the equivalent of "the Naval War in the Atlantic for Dummies". Although I don't think I am a dummy ( always a concept under review by my spouse) I need to begin by knowing the overall structure or framework, from there I can add detail a piece at a time and know where to put it. If I start with too much detail then I have no context for the reading. My wife's dad was a destroyer signalman who ran the North Atlantic Convoy routes in WWII and I would like to get a peek into the war from his perspective. My dad was an 1st DIvision Omaha Beach DDay vet and I am beginning to understand that part of the war a little better. Thanks all in advance. Regards Ray
Samuel Eliot Morison had one volume of the Official United States History of WWII dedicated to the battle of the Atlantic, IIRC. Ah! The Battle of the Atlantic: September, 1939-May, 1943 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 1)
Thanks I din't know about the enigma. I read a book (summary) of his once before. I read it when I started working as a sonar engineer for the US Navy. I do remember good sections on the war in the Pacific and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. But not to much about the N. Atlantic. Maybe I will start there. Thanks. Ray
From other discussions Morison is very good for "big picture" stuf. Some of the details are somewhat wanting especially in the light of current scholarship. Still a good place to start for the US perspective from what I've read. I'm not sure how well he covers it from the British side of things though, especially prior to 7 Dec. (That should stimulate some posts from our more knoweledgeable members )
The cruel sea is fiction, though very good fiction and based on real life experiences by the author, and is certainly worth reading, his three corvettes is also good, . I would not look at Morrison as an authoritative source for the Atlantic, but it will give you a very good idea of the US viewpoint if that's what you are looking for. Roskill (roughly Morrison's British equivalent) on the other hand is anything but "introductory", and also from a era when enigma was still classified. One possible for a British viewpoint is Terraine's "business in great waters" though it covers both wars and is mostly U-Boat centric. By the time Enigma was declassified there were already some very good "general" books out there, so new authors tended to produce more specialistic books, can't think of a "post enigma" book that addresses the "big picture" (not just U-Boats but surface raiders, armed merchant raiders, blockade runners, base building, operations against the Vichy colonies, base building, etc.)
