June 7, 2024

Colloquium Topic: The War Comes Home: Nazi Germany's U-boat Offensive in American Waters

Few Americans realize that the worst naval defeat in US history occurred along North American shores in 1942. This battle claimed thousands of lives and threatened to cripple the Allied war effort, yet these bloody events are largely forgotten today. Learn about this fascinating chapter of World War II with wreck diver and Marine Corps veteran K.A. Nelson, author of Killing Shore: The True Story of Hitler's U-boats Off the New Jersey Coast (Casemate Publishers, 18 April 2024). This presentation will delve into several facets of the U-boat offensive in American waters, the broader wartime struggle for control of the seas, and their implications today. With expansionist dictatorships on the march in Europe and Asia, and merchant ships under attack on the high seas, the brutal lessons of 1942 are more relevant than ever.

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Colloquium Speaker: Kyle Nelson

K.A. Nelson served six years as a Marine Corps officer after graduating from Penn State University. Inspired by diving the wrecks of merchant ships torpedoed off the Jersey Shore, he researched and wrote Killing Shore over a period of three years. He resides near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Learn more or contact him at www.KA-Nelson.com.