Understandably, when studying the surface fleets of most of the world's navies the readers' imagination is most readily captured by the capital ships such as aircraft carriers and battleships; clue to their visual impression of massive strength, service in such vessels has always had an aura of glamour. This is shared by the much smaller but equally deadly submarines, whose dramatic operations have the added appeal of the intimacy of a small crew, in which we may find ourselves identifying with individuals. However, the capital warships - being extremely costly, not just in cash terms but also in material, industrial and manpower resources - inevitably formed only a small proportion of any navy's total order of battle. In terms of ship numbers and manhours, the great bulk of the hard daily sea-duty was to be found in the smaller, decidedly unglamorous world of support vessels. Without these ships no fleet could function, and the World War II Kriegsmarine was no exception. Germany's minesweepers alone formed a massive proportion of its total strength, and are very much the unsung heroes of the Kriegsmarine.
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