Steel Boat Iron Hearts cover art

Steel Boat Iron Hearts

A U-boat Crewman's Life Aboard U-505

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Steel Boat Iron Hearts

By: Hans Goebeler, John Vanzo
Narrated by: Norman Dietz
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Hans Goebeler offers rich and personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Since his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler's perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all, from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during World War II. The vivid, honest, and smooth-flowing prose calls it like it was and pulls no punches.

U-505 was captured by Captain Dan Gallery's Guadalcanal Task Group 22.3 on June 4, 1944. Trapped by this "hunter-killer" group, U-505 was depth-charged to the surface, strafed by machine gun fire, and boarded. It was the first ship captured at sea since the War of 1812. Today, hundreds of thousands of visitors tour U-505 each year at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

This edition includes a special foreword by Keith Gill, curator of U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry.

©2008 Hans Jacob Goebeler and John Vanzo (P)2016 Tantor Armed Forces Europe Germany Military Military & War Naval Forces World War II War Veteran Submarine Thought-Provoking U-Boat World War Ii Memoir

Listeners also enjoyed...

 I Flew for the Führer cover art
Humble Heroes cover art
Incredible Victory cover art
The Silent Service in World War II cover art
Enemy at the Gates cover art
PT 105 cover art
To the Limit cover art
Blood, Dust and Snow cover art
Blood Red Snow cover art
Day of Infamy cover art
On Full Automatic cover art
No Banners, No Bugles cover art
Thunder Below! cover art
December 7, 1941 cover art
The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby cover art
Russia at War, 1941–1945 cover art
All stars
Most relevant
A brilliant story from the viewpoint of a surviving U — Boat sailor. As most war histories are written by the winners it is intriguing to see the war through the eyes of someone serving in the forces of the losers. They share the same hopes and fears, yet history dehumanises the Germans, incorrectly. This book tells the truth of what it was to be a member of an Elite few who suffered the worst percentage losses of any of the services, yet went out on a war patrol knowing they may never come back. They have my deepest respect.

A view from the other side

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
At first I was not too hot on the narrator, but he really grew on me, and I very much enjoyed his rhythm and delivery after an hour or two. I was really captivated by this story, I knew nothing of the history of the boat, but this account brought it alive and was in great detail as to the reality of the daily life on board a U-Boat. The tedium, the sheer fear, the sabotage and constant threat from a vastly superior enemy.
This was excellent, a real gem and I will no doubt listen to it again.

Captivating and Unique Account of U-Boat Life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fascinating insight and a great account. A shame the author never acknowledged the wrong of the Nazis but only the allies. Well read.

A great account of life at sea I u-boat

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the story, but the narration was so monotonous and unemotional. Ruined the many tense moments.

Great story, poor narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed all aspect of this audio book. It captivated my interest throughout. On the plus side is a learning experience of the duties of U BOAT crewmen and their boat. It highlights in detail Uboats capabilities and limitations. The book also highlights the relationship between German servicemen in an occupied France and the French people. Although the book mentions resistance fighters, mostly the locals collaborated with their occupier (after all it is France). I’m not convinced about all the exploits of the author. For instance he mentions the time he identified and beat up a French man for sabotage, then was ordered alone to find and arrest this Frenchman who sabotaged U boats. I would have thought that the whole apparatus of the military would have swung into action mostly led by the Gestapo and SS security police to hunt the French man down. The author then said that his french prisoner was let off by a German military tribunal 🧐🤥. This is hardly likely since the Frenchman would mostly likely be robustly questioned and possibly tortured for information on other Sabotage persons working in the docks repairing Uboats, then sent on a one way ticket to a concentration camp where he belonged. No one sabotage a u boat and get Let off with it. This was wartime Germany not the soft on crime woke UK 🇬🇧. The author is also frank about his gifted abilities with women. I conclude the audiobook is a mixture of truths, half truths and here and there a dashing of lies. However, I enjoyed the audio book mainly for an inside to life aboard a Uboat. The Uboat crew suffered the biggest attrition and out of 40,000 only 10,000 crewmen survived the war. I have nothing but total respect for them including this author.

Worth Listening to

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews