2021/04/03 by M. Magnozzi · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Engineering · #Military History and Strategy #Intelligence, Security, War Strategy #Battle #Battlefield #Context (archaeology) #Work (physics) #Aeronautics #Key (lock) #Engineering #Management #Law #Operations research #History #Political science #Computer science #Computer security #Mechanical engineering #Archaeology #Ancient history
paper · doi:10.1080/00253359.2021.1898209
openalex publication_date 2021/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
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.