AMMOND, JR. AND ANNA CRAFTS CODMAN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Published November 1917_

CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY THE TRANSLATOR vii

INTRODUCTION BY JOHN HAYS HAMMOND, JR.: THE CHALLENGE TO
NAVAL SUPREMACY xi

I. ORDERED TO COMMAND A SUBMARINE 1

II. BREATHING AND LIVING CONDITIONS UNDER WATER 6

III. SUBMERSION AND TORPEDO FIRE 17

IV. MOBILIZATION AND THE BEGINNING OF THE COMMERCIAL WAR 39

V. OUR OWN PART IN THE COMMERCIAL WAR AND OUR FIRST
CAPTURED STEAMER 53

VI. THE CAPTURE OF TWO PRIZE STEAMERS 74

VII. OFF THE COAST OF ENGLAND 97

VIII. THE METHOD OF SINKING AND RAISING SHIPS 122

ILLUSTRATIONS

PASSENGERS AND CREW LEAVING A SINKING LINER
TORPEDOED BY A GERMAN SUBMARINE IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN _Frontispiece_

INTERIOR OF A SUBMARINE xliv

A TORPEDOED SCHOONER 36

GERMAN SUBMARINES U 13, U 5, U 11, U 3, AND U 16 IN KIEL
HARBOR 40

VON FORSTNER'S SUBMARINE (U 28) IN ACTION IN THE NORTH SEA:
A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN FROM THE DECK OF ONE OF HER
VICTIMS 78
From the London _Graphic_, March 27, 1915

LIFEBOAT LEAVING THE SINKING P. AND O. LINER ARABIA 98

BRITISH HOSPITAL SHIP GLOUCESTER CASTLE, SHOWING RED CROSS
ON BOW, SUNK IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL BY A GERMAN SUBMARINE 126

FOREWORD

The following pages form an abridged translation of a book published
in 1916 by Freiherrn von Forstner, commander of the first German
U-boat. It was written with the somewhat careless haste of a man who
took advantage of disconnected moments of leisure, and these moments
were evidently subject to abrupt and prolonged interruptions. Many
repetitions and trivial incidents have been omitted in this
translation; but, in order to express the personality of the Author,
the rendering has been as literal as possible, and it shows the
strange mixture of sentimentality and ferocity peculiar to the
psychology of the Germans.

Part of the book gives a technical description,--not so much