Ebook: The Ships of the German Fleets, 1848-1945

This book aims to give a clear picture of the ships of the German national fleets which were responsible for a century of German naval prestige, beginning with the foundation of the navy of the democratic Reich in 1848 and ending at the close of the war in 1945. It also describes Germany's part in a worldwide phenomenon which, though recent, is hard to appreciate fully today. For only very few examples survive from this exceedingly interesting period in the development of shipbuilding; and only a few of the famous older warships have been preserved and put on display: Gustavus Adol-phus's Vasa of 1632 is in Stockholm and Nelson's Victory of 1806 in Portsmouth. But we shall never see again any of the huge warships built in this century, as the last remaining example, the former German Goeberiy was broken up in Turkey, in 1979.