Blimps and U-boats : US Navy airships in the Battle of the Atlantic

"The disastrous consequences of the German U-boat onslaught against U.S. Allied shipping in the Atlantic during the early years of World War II are widely known. Not well documented is the use made of nonrigid pressure airships, or blimps, in countering the U-boat menace. This is the first full-length book to tell the story of the U.S. Navy's lighter-than-air craft. Blimps flew 37,000 operational sorties in the North and South Atlantic and the Caribbean and at the Strait of Gibraltar, and their operations included safely escorting tens of thousands of surface vessels. The author covers every aspect of the blimp's wartime efforts, from its construction, performance in various kinds of weather, piloting and navigation, and ASW tactics, to submarine detection gear, armament, and equipment problems. He also discusses numerous incidents such as the historic running gun battle between airship K-74 and U-boat U-134 in the Florida Straits. In an appendix he briefly covers airship activities from 1942 to 1945 along the U.S. Pacific Coast. J. Gordon Vaeth writes from firsthand experience. From 1942 to 1945 he was air intelligence officer to the Atlantic Fleet airship commander. In that position Vaeth knew many in the blimp force, and he himself created many of the documents - the operational summaries, intelligence bulletins, and regular newsletters - that serve as the key primary sources for World War II blimp operations."--Provided by the publisher.