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05-19-06, 09:41 PM | #1 | ||
Watch
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Philippines
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The U-Boat Commander's Handbook
This is a US Navy translation of the 1943 book of hints and tips for U-Boat Commanders.
This should be required reading for anyone involved in designing WW2 sub games. It contains useful nuggets they could include like which areas are good/poor for hydrophones or ASDIC and ways to minimize detection while surfaced. That said, despite the fact that the cover claims the 'text is . . . very readable', it is anything but. The English translation is rife with ponderous, overlong and convoluted passages with confusing sentence structure that would give a corporate lawyer cold sweat. The book is a 'direct wartime translation', and IMHO that is the problem. It is too direct. I suspect the translators were so exact in their work that they probably followed the original German structure and syntax. The result is something like this gem from Paragraph 35: Quote:
Well, having too much time on my hands, I decided to rewrite the whole book (it isn't too long. - like 115 pages with photos) to what I hope is a more digestible style. Here's my version of the foregoing passage: Quote:
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05-21-06, 07:26 AM | #2 |
Chief
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Western NC
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Nice work! I'm anxious to see the finished product!
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Retired US Army Paratrooper Virtual Sub Skipper |
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