Studies in War, Society, and the Military Series
232 pages
38 photographs, 1 appendix
November 2014
978-0-8032-6947-7
$24.95 Add to CartNovember 2014
978-0-8032-6946-0
$24.95 Add to CartThe submarine was one of the most revolutionary weapons of World War I, inciting both terror and fascination for militaries and civilians alike. During the war, after U-boats sank the Lusitania and began daring attacks on shipping vessels off the East Coast, the American press dubbed these weapons “Hun Devil Boats,” “Sea Thugs,” and “Baby Killers.” But at the conflict’s conclusion, the U.S. Navy acquired six U-boats to study and to serve as war souvenirs. Until their destruction under armistice terms in 1921, these six U-boats served as U.S. Navy ships, manned by American crews. The ships visited eighty American cities to promote the sale of victory bonds and to recruit sailors, allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to see up close the weapon that had so captured the public’s imagination.
In America’s U-Boats Chris Dubbs examines the legacy of submarine warfare in the American imagination. Combining nautical adventure, military history, and underwater archaeology, Dubbs shares the previously untold story of German submarines and their impact on American culture and reveals their legacy and Americans’ attitudes toward this new wonder weapon.
“I couldn’t put this book down. America’s U-Boats is a fast-moving narrative, expertly crafted by a gifted writer, and it tells the story of an especially compelling forgotten chapter of the Great War and its aftermath.”—Steven Trout, author of On the Battlefield of Memory: The First World War and American Remembrance, 1919–1941
“Chris Dubbs addresses an overlooked area of World War I cultural history, American fascination with German submarines during and after the war when the United States used confiscated U-boats to sell war bonds. In this captivating book, Dubbs displays a keen sense of irony and compelling ability to tell a story.”—Celia M. Kingsbury, author of For Home and Country: World War I Propaganda on the Home Front
“In this excellent work Chris Dubbs offers an evocative portrait of how the German U-boat captured the American imagination in World War I, defining the Germans as a ruthless enemy in possession of superior military technology that both repulsed and fascinated Americans throughout the twentieth century.”—Jennifer D. Keene, author of Doughboys, the Great War and The Remaking of America
