An authoritative study of the crucial struggle to control the supply routes across the Atlantic during the Second World War. The first comprehensive reappraisal to be written in English for over a decade, it examines not only the action on and under the sea from the Arctic to the Cape, but also the politicking ashore. Dan van der Vat, formerly The Times correspondent in Bonn, is the chief foreign leader writer on The Guardian. His three previous books, all on First World War naval history, are The Grand Scuttle (winner of the Yorkshire Post new author award in 1982), The Ship That Changed The World and The Last Corsair (winner of the King George's Fund for Sailors' best book of the year award for 1983).