This is a first-hand account of life aboard a German U-Boat between 1940 and 1946. NCO radio-operator Wolfgang Hirschfeld risked his life by keeping a diary of his U-Boat career - an occupation punishable by court martial. Hirschfeld, privy to top secret information via the messages he was employed to send, served under three exceptional commanders: one who would later publicly resign his commission whilst still on the open sea, another who was unjustly stripped of his command for incompetence, and the third, the legendary commander of the ghost ship Atlantic.