U-Boat 977

New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 1953 W.W. Norton and Company, New York. 1953. Hardcover. Stated First Published in the United States 1953. Book is tight, square, and unmarked but for family library stamp on the front and rear endpapers and the title page. Book Condition: Good +; bumping to head, tail, and tips; shelfwear to head, tail, tips, and board bottom edges. No DJ. Orange vinyl grained paper over boards and spine with black lettering on the spine. Maps as endpapers. 260 pp 8vo. U-boat 977 was the German submarine that escaped to Argentina at the end of World War II. The journey started from Bergen in Norway, in April 1945 and took three and a half months to complete. Because of continuing allied naval activity the commander decided to make the first part of the journey underwater. Before surfacing near the west coast of Africa U-977 had spent a remarkable sixty-six days submerged. It was inevitable that when U-977's journey and escape to Argentina and its port of Mar del Plata became known it would be the center of rumor and theory. The author who was the commander of U-977, has written a full account of his earlier career that culminated in this last command. It depicts the grueling aspects of a submariner's life aboard a vessel that was subjected to the harsh conditions of the seas and oceans and warfare. Schaeffer took part in many of the decisive U-boat operations in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. A clean very presentable copy.