Thomas Gallagher's account of the gallant and almost unbelievable expedition of British Midget submarines to attack and disable the German battleship Tirpitz is one of the great stories to come out of World War II. The Tirpitz was the mightiest naval vessel in all of Europe. When the Germans slipped her into the fiords of occupied Norway in January 1942, she became an overwhelming menace to Allied shipping. Her presence made it impossible for British battleships and aircraft carriers desperately needed in the Pacific to get there. All attempts to destroy her had failed. Winston Churchill and many others felt that she was one of the two or three most crucial problems of the war. Churchill demanded a new weapon. The result was the British X-craft, or Midget submarine, and a secret mission against the battleship that was 1000 times the X-craft’s size. -- From the book jacket.

Preface -- The challenge -- the challenge met -- the passage -- The attack -- Aftermath.