Phantom Fleet: The Hunt for Nazi Submarine U-505 and World War II's Most Daring Heist

by Alexander Rose

The thrilling tale of one of the greatest heists in the U.S. Navy’s clandestine capture of a Nazi U-boat at the climax of World War II.

Shortly before noon on June 4, 1944, the sonar operator on a destroyer prowling off the coast of West Africa heard a sharp, metallic ping. The sound could mean only one the German submarine that their hunter-killer group had long been tracking, U-505, was lurking somewhere below. The ensuing struggle between exhausted hunter and venomous prey would make history when American sailors boarded an enemy warship at sea for the first time since the War of 1812.

That day’s victory was the culmination of an unrelenting campaign against the Nazi submarine threat by the U.S. Navy’s “Tenth Fleet”—a mysterious unit possessing the oracular ability to predict the locations and movement of Hitler’s U-boats. Run by Commander Kenneth Knowles, Tenth Fleet had guided Captain Dan Gallery to U-505; to repay the favor, Gallery was going to steal an Enigma machine for him.
 
Now all they had to do was to make an entire U-boat, its crew, and its secrets vanish into thin air . . .
 
In this swashbuckling adventure story, bestselling historian Alexander Rose draws on long-classified encrypted documents and intercepted German transmissions to reveal in full, for the first time, how an owlish egghead and a glory-seeking buccaneer teamed up to score the richest prize on the high seas.

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 20, 2025

About the author

A little about myself. I was born in the United States, grew up in Australia, educated (to the best of my modest abilities) in Britain, and have now circumnavigated back to the U.S. I served as a writer and producer on the AMC show, "Turn: Washington's Spies," which was adapted from my book, "Washington's Spies."

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or BlueSky (or just go to my website). If you're interested in historical espionage, please do subscribe (free) to my Substack newsletter, "Spionage," at https://alexanderrose.substack.com/

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nerds can do some really cool things. No, I am not talking about myself (but thank you for thinking about me!). Instead, I am talking about the nerds who fought the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. The Germans had their nerds. The U.S. and U.K. had Ultra nerds. (Do you see what I did there?) Alexander Rose tells their story in Phantom Fleet.

Sure, you may ask yourself why should we care about nerds? We want men of action! Don't you worry, dear reader. Rose's book culminates in one of the most ridiculous heists in warfare history. I should stress that the book is not a quick rundown of one day where a U.S. hunter-killer group tracked a U-boat down for a final battle. Rose takes his time setting up the board by giving the reader a deep look into naval intelligence and the men who were moving the pieces around. The Germans were winning until they weren't. The U.S. figured things out until they didn't. The U.K. was leading the intelligence war until they were left behind.

There was a lot of one-upsmanship even among the Allies. Rose brings all of these men to life so the reader can understand who they are and why they acted the way they did. For some of them, their instincts would lead to ruin while others would be lauded for being the first Americans to board an enemy warship since 1812. I've read multiple books by Rose and he seems to get better with each release. There is no letdown with this one.

(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company.)

[Ron Baumer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely interesting and well-done book on the lesser-known area of the intelligence work done in WW2. We know of the code breaking done by the Allies, but the extent to which it was used was not widely publicized. The "Tenth Fleet" is an example of that work. The author does an excellent job of providing the background story and main characters and how they came together to capture the U505. While the book's main theme is this capture, it goes beyond to give you all of the story happening in the background. This book is highly recommended for the historical fan looking for hidden gems and stories from WW2.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.