This volume charts the life of a German U-boat from construction through to active service, and looks at commissioning, sea trials and the first patrol of a typical boat during World War II. This illustrated book also offers a glimpse at domestic life on board a German U-boat, focusing on what the ordinary seaman would have seen and experienced during his first weeks aboard a brand new boat. Much of the training was carried out in the relatively unthreatened waters of the Baltic, until the advancing Russian forces pushed the German training schools and flotillas west. For the U-boat crews that successfully completed their training, the future was uncertain: out in the Atlantic, life expectancy was short and two-thirds of U-boat crewmen never returned.