German Military Cargo Ships Produced in Series Programs in Southern Europe 1941-1945 : A Photographic Documentation of the KT and SME Vessels of the Kriegsmarine built in the Mediterranean and Black Sea Area ,Wilhelm Donko

"The programme to build the Kriegstransporter (KT) was a desperate last attempt of Germany to provide replacements for the lost merchant ships in the Mediterranean. It was based on a personal initiative by Adolf Hitler. Its main aim was to fill the urgent need of supply for Rommel's troops in North Africa. The KTs proved very successful for this task but came too late and in far too small numbers to change the course of events. For the rest of the war they were used for transport duties in the Mediterranean by Gemany and Italy while the ships built in the Black Sea region were primarily used as submarine chasers by the German Kriegsmarine. The programme of the Black Sea Standard Ships (SME) came much too late to improve the transport capacity of the Axis Powers in the isolated theatre of war, finally no such ship was completed before the end of the war, but two vessels were delivered provisionally in November 1944."--Provided by the publisher.