Otto Kretschmer was the most successful U-boat commander of the Second World War. While his wartime actions have been narrated several times, his tactics, summarized by the famous motto ‘one torpedo, one ship’, have never been systematically analysed. In this work, Kretschmer’s success is appraised through the analysis of the key characteristics of his attacks, and the conditions of the battlefield in which he operated. In doing so, both the effectiveness and limitations of Kretschmer’s tactics are clarified and put into the context of the Battle of the Atlantic.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    ‘One Torpedo, One Ship’: An appraisal of Otto Kretschmer’s U-boat tactics, 1939–1941


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    The Mariner's Mirror ; 107 , 2 ; 202-215


    Publication date :

    2021-04-03


    Size :

    14 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    Unknown




    Torpedo boat practice

    Kimball, William W. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1899


    Torpedo-boat destroyers

    Barnaby, S.W. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1902


    Griswold's torpedo-boat

    Engineering Index Backfile | 1887


    Torpedo boat docks at the Kiel Imperial Ship Yard

    Gradenwitz, Alfred | Engineering Index Backfile | 1907


    Torpedo training and tactics

    Vachell, J.L. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1944