The War at Sea: The Battle of the Atlantic

What was the Battle of the Atlantic? The Battle of the Atlantic is the name given to the battle for control of the North Atlantic Ocean. It lasted 6 years, from 1939 until 1945.

Why was the fight for the Atlantic so important?

Why was the Atlantic so important to the Allies? Britain is a small island nation and relies on food and other supplies from other countries The Allies depended on ships to take troops, war supplies, and food from Canada and the USA across the ocean to Britain Britain could not carry on the war without this lifeline, her survival and ability to fight depended on it

Why did the Germans want control of the Atlantic? The Germans knew the British needed the supplies sent over to keep her troops supplied and people fed they could starve Britain of these necessities if they sank the ships Germans set out to cut the lifelines to Britain by preventing supplies and support from reaching Europe

Sinking of the SS Athenia First UK ship that Germany sank in the Second World War On 3rd of September 1939, the passenger liner Athenia was torpedoed by a German submarine Occurred a week before Canada declared war 200 of the 1500 passengers were Canadian Several Canadians killed including ten-year-old Margaret Hayworth from Hamilton, ON A state funeral was held

Convoys To make it more difficult for the Germans, the Allies sailed in convoys This called for the formation of a group of ships to sail together as a group and under the protection of escort ships An aerial view of a convoy of ships, 1940

German submarines were doing serious damage to the convoys Until 1942, it seemed that the Allies would lose in the Battle of the Atlantic German submarines were doing serious damage to the convoys Convoy assembled in the Bedford Vasin, Halifax NS, April 1942

The German U-boat menace How were the German U-boats (submarines) able to get the upper hand in the early stages of the Battle of the Atlantic?

The German “wolf-pack” Mass attack tactics against convoys used by German U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic Idea: attack in packs and overwhelm defending warships

No long-range aircraft Air craft lacked the range to cover the central part of the Atlantic ocean Had to turn back this area or gap became known as the “black pit”, because of the heavy losses the U-boats were able to inflict there Supermarine flying boat of the RCAF Escorting Convoy, April 1941

Other reasons Lack of training Ships and equipment inadequate Too few ships – the Allies could not produce new ships at the pace needed to replace those being lost In 1939, Canada had only a few dozen Canadian registered merchant ships, six destroyers, five small minesweepers, two training vessels and 3500 personnel

How did the Allies win the Battle of the Atlantic? Intelligence Aircraft Technology Shipbuilding

Ships and training The Royal Canadian Navy continued its rapid expansion, but now with better equipment and improved ships This, plus improved training, enabled the Allies to take the lead in the Atlantic Soon the Allies were making more ships than the Germans were sinking. Corvette HMCS Kamsack in the North Atlantic, December 1943 By end of war, Canada had the 3rd largest navy with 375 ships and 110 000 personnel Canadian shipyards produced 403 merchant ships, 281 fighting ships, 206 minesweepers Corvettes could be produced cheaply and quickly. The Flower-class corvette was originally designed for offshore patrol work, and was not ideal as an antisubmarine escort; they were really too short for open ocean work, too lightly armed for antiaircraft defence, and little faster than the merchantmen they escorted, a particular problem given the faster German U-boat designs then emerging. They were very seaworthy and manoeuvrable, but living conditions for ocean voyages were appalling. Because of this, the corvette was superseded in the Royal Navy as the escort ship of choice by the frigate, which was larger, faster, better armed, and had two shafts. However, many small yards could not produce vessels of frigate size, so an improved corvette design, the Castle class, was introduced later in the war, with some remaining in service until the mid-1950s. Ability to outmanoeuvre a submarine. 10/123 lost (RCN)

Better Aircraft/ Aircover The Royal Canadian Air Force received better aircraft including very long-range Liberator bombers that could fly far enough to protect the entire convoy route This helped to close the “black pit” A consolidated VLR Liberator provides air-cover for a transatlantic convoy

New technology-Radar Scientists worked desperately to design new methods of locating and destroying the U-boats escorts were equipped with radar, which could detect surfaced U-boats even in dense fog.

New Technology - Radio Radio Directional Finding techniques such as HF/DF (high frequency direction finding) were perfected. They could pick up radio signals from U-boats. The location of wolf packs could be accurately determined using U-boat radio transmissions

Intelligence – code breaking developments From late 1941 onwards, British code-breakers got better at decoding German codes. If they broke the German code, they knew where the U-boats were and so could guide the convoys away from groups of U-boats. British cryptographers solved the German naval Enigma code, giving Britain the advantage

Canadian Sacrifice Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Canadian Merchant Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) were all key in the Battle of the Atlantic A large majority of 2000 members of RCN who died during war were killed during Battle of the Atlantic 752 members of the RCAF 1600 Merchant Navy seamen from Canada and Newfoundland killed Civilian casualties: On October 14, 1942, 125 people died when the ferry named the Caribou was sunk as it headed from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland

Merchant Marine Civilian sailors Rear-Admiral Leonard Murray, commander-in-chief Canadian Northwest Atlantic “The Battle of the Atlantic was not won by any navy or air force, it was won by the courage, fortitude and determination of the British and Allied Merchant Navy.” Wartime Minister of Transport declared “merchant seamen virtually form the fourth arm of the fighting services” Casualty rate was 1 in 7, a higher percentage of total casualties than those suffered by any of Canada’s fighting services Merchant navy veterans denied benefits and official recognition for decades http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/video-gallery/video/4556 https://legionmagazine.com/en/2010/07/canadas-merchant-navy-the-men-that-saved-the-world/

The Battle’s Significance In a memoir written after the war, Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, summed up the importance of this sea battle. “The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war,” Churchill wrote. “Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea, or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome, and amid all other cares we viewed its changing fortunes day by day with hope or apprehension.”

Enigma Machine

Enigma Wiring

Number of Possibilities 158 962 555 217 826 360 000 158 quintillion, 962 quadrillion, 555 trillion, 217 billion, 826 million, 360 thousand Some say that the breaking of the German Enigma code shortened the war by 2 to 4 years

Alan Turing (1912-1954) Played pivotal role in cracking of Enigma at Bletchley Park Arrested in 1952 for homosexual acts Rather than go to prison, he accepted injections of oestrogen to neutralise his libido (sex drive) Death by cyanide poisoning ruled a suicide

Battle of the Atlantic Game Play the game to see how the battle was played out. Follow the instructions on the game sheet Karl Donitz, Chief Admiral German Commander John Tovey, Vice Admiral, Allied Commander