"U-Boat War in Photos" volume 1 (U-1 through U-29) The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuously running battle in the history of war. The German U-Bootfahrer were some of the most honorable fighters in the war despite wartime propaganda to the contrary. They did not machine gun men in the water but rather, they helped struggling survivors of the sunken ships in the early years. After 'Black May' of 1943 when the German codes were broken and 'Huff-Duff' (or High Frequency Directional Finder = HFDF) came on the scene and U-Boats did not dare linger on the surface did the U-Boats cease giving aid; they never murdered men at sea. Nearly 3,000 ships were sunk, tens of thousand merchant sailors died, more than 800 U-Boats were lost and nearly 29,000 U-Bootfahrer perished in the cold oceans of the world. At the end of the war however, the U-Bootwaffe was the only oversubscribed branch of the Wehrmacht (German military forces). After 'Black May' U-Boats had one chance in ten of returning from their first Feindfahrt (war patrol) and nine out of ten chances of being sunk. Still they enlisted.....still they went to sea, most never to return.