U-Boat Killer: Fighting the U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic

MacIntyre has written a very readable account of his experiences as a destroyer captain during the Battle of the Atlantic. He doesn't hold back from criticizing the British Admiralty for their errors in the early part of the War in combating the U-boat menace. He definitely lived an exciting time sinking several U-boats and having two ships torpedoed from under him. From some of his comments, I don't think he would have been the most pleasant officer to serve under but he definitely seemed to understand how to beat U-boats at their own game. He finished with a chapter written in 1956 about how naval forces are still important even though current belief at the time was that a war would over very quickly because it would be fought with show more nuclear weapons delivered by airplanes or rockets. show less

This is a good autobiography by Captain Donald Macintyre, another of the top escort commanders. Macintyre writes in such a delightful "you are there" style that his book gives one a special pleasure when reading. He is quite self deprecating and at one point writes that he went into the wardroom after an air attack on his ship and saw several of his officers sitting calmly at the table, drinking tea. They seemed so calm in fact that Macintyre said he envied them because when they were under attack he always shook like a leaf. The other officers said that they were just discussing how fearful they were when under attack and how they envied him for being so calm. A good laugh was had by all and no doubt Macintyre made a point of saying show more this.

MacIntyre sank U-99 and in doing so captured the entire crew including the number one U-Boat ace of the war, Otto Kretschmer. The author has a wonderful sense of humor, an eye for the absurd, and the ability to describe the terror of both war and the sea. On his small escort ship the waves which often surrounded the ship were so tall he couldn't see anything but the water. A must read. show less