1. WW II -- Second Battle of the Atlantic
Lesson 14
WW II -- Second Battle of the Atlantic

2. Lesson Objectives
•  Understand the magnitude and significance of the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. •  Understand the degree of British dependence on maritime lines of communication. •  Describe U.S. participation in the Battle of the Atlantic prior to December •  Describe and analyze the tactics and technology used by both sides in the Battle of the Atlantic. •  Understand the importance of code breaking in the Atlantic war.

3. "The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril."
Winston S. Churchill,
The Second World War, Volume II, Their Finest Hour
1949

4. The Battle of the Atlantic Begins
( 0:50 – 8:00 )
"The Circle of Modern War" and logo
© Thomas D. Pilsch

5. The U-boat Threat
Hitler told the Kriegsmarine that the war would not begin until 1945
(January 1939)
The Kriegsmarine built Plan Z, their expansion blueprint, on this target
• 249 U-boats by 1944
Admiral Karl Dönitz ( )
German Submarine Commander

6. Germany had 57 operational U-boats in September 1939
The U-boat Threat
Germany had 57 operational U-boats in September 1939
• Only about half of these were effective ocean-going units
Type VIIC U-boat
Range: 8,500 nm Crew: Torpedo load: 14

7. Source: The World At War

8. Allied Strategy • Protect existing shipping
• Build to replace shipping losses, expand fleet
• Go on the offensive against the U-boats

9. Allied Strategy • Protect existing shipping
• Build to replace shipping losses, expand fleet
• Go on the offensive against the U-boats

10. Allied Strategy • Protect existing shipping
• Employ convoy system immediately
• Increase escort capability

11. Ships Lost vs. Built
Source

12. Convoy System RN employed convoys from start
• Did not have enough escorts
• Started crash construction program
USN did not use convoys initially
• Second “Happy Time” * for Germans
* Jan-Aug 1942

14. Convoy System Introduction of • Aircraft • More escorts
• Hunter-Killer tactics (later)
… turned the tide

15. Flower-class Corvettes
Length: 205 feet
Displacement: 940 tons
Speed: 16 knots
394 built (UK, Canada)
Video Link

16. Attributed to Samuel Clements (1835-1910)
Remember this one?
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.
Attributed to Samuel Clements ( ) 16

17. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
August 17, 1940
Hitler Declares Unrestricted Blockade Around British Isle

18. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
America Gets Involved
August 17, 1940
Hitler Declares Unrestricted Blockade Around British Isle
September 2, 1940
Destroyers For Bases Agreement

19. Destroyers For Bases September 2, 1940
US provided 50 WW I destroyers in exchange for bases

20. Destroyers For Bases September 2, 1940
US provided 50 WW I destroyers in exchange for bases
Bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, West India, Guiana
Destroyers became RN Town-class
• Named for North American cities and towns with namesake in UK
… became HMS Lewes

21. Events September 2, 1940 Destroyers For Bases Agreement
Selective Training and Service Act
• First US “peacetime” draft
Jan-March 1941
American-British Staff Conference

22. American-British Staff Conference
Washington, DC - Jan-Mar 1941
Discussed issues of coalition warfare
“Germany First” decision
• In the event of war with Germany & Japan, defeat of Germany would have highest priority
“Made before American entry into World War II, in the context of a world threatened by Axis aggression in Europe and Asia, the judgment that Germany must be defeated first stands as the most important single strategic concept of the war.”
Louis Morton
"Germany First: The Basic Concept of Allied Strategy in World War II"
Command Decisions, Kent Roberts Greenfield (ed)
Washington: US Army Center of Military History, 2000 22

23. Events September 2, 1940 Destroyers For Bases Agreement
Selective Training and Service Act
• First US “peacetime” draft
Jan-March 1941
American-British Staff Conference
March 11, 1941
Lend-Lease Act

24. Lend-Lease Act (March 11, 1941)
President of the United States authorized to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government [whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States] any defense article".
• No repayment requirement - > $50 B transferred
Significance
• US officially became a logistics participant in the war
• Added further emphasis to US mobilization

25. Events September 2, 1940 Destroyers For Bases Agreement
Selective Training and Service Act
• First US “peacetime” draft
Jan-March 1941
American-British Staff Conference
March 11, 1941
Lend-Lease Act
April 4, 1941
British ships allowed for repairs
April 24, 1941
US warships report German navy moves
July 1941
US assumed occupation of Iceland

26. Occupation of Iceland April 9, 1940 - Denmark occupied by Germany
Critical Location
April 9, Denmark occupied by Germany
May 10, British invade & occupy Iceland
July
US Marines assume occupation responsibility

27. Occupation of Iceland
US Marines in Iceland

28. Events August 9-12, 1941 Roosevelt & Churchill meet in Newfoundland
Roosevelt departs
Library of Congress

29. The Atlantic Conference
Argentia, Newfoundland August 9-12, 1941

30. Established Allied vision for a post war world
Atlantic Charter
Joint declaration of August 14, 1941
Established Allied vision for a post war world
Major Principles:
1. No territorial gains sought by the United States or the United Kingdom.
2. Territorial adjustments in accord with wishes of the peoples concerned.
3. People have a right to self-determination.
4. Trade barriers to be lowered.
5. Global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare.
6. Freedom from want and fear to be enforced.
7. Freedom of the seas
8. Disarmament of aggressor nations and postwar common disarmament

31. Events
September 1, 1941
US warships escort convoys containing US vessels
September 11, 1941
US warships ordered to “shoot on sight”

32. Events October 31, 1941 USS Reuben James sunk by U-boat • 100 killed
USS Reuben James DD-245
Link

33. Speed: 21 knots Range: 10,800 nm @ 12 knots Crew: 15 / 201
Destroyer Escorts
(DE)
USS Slater (DE-766)
Displacement: 1,240 tons (std) 1,620 tons (full) Dimensions: 306' (oa), 300' (wl) x 36' 10" x 11' 8" (max)
Armament: 3 x 3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1 twin 40mm Mk1 AA, 8 x 20mm Mk 4 AA, 3 x 21" Mk15 TT (3x1),
1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10 (144 rounds), 8 Mk6 depth charge projectors, 2 Mk9 depth charge tracks
Machinery: 4 GM Mod A diesel engines with electric drive, 6000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 21 knots Range: 10, knots Crew: 15 / 201
Source

34. Destroyer Escorts (DE)
Fleet destroyer
Fletcher class
Destroyer Escort
Cannon class
Destroyer escorts did not need speed of fleet destroyers
• 21 knots vs. 35 knots for destroyers
DEs could be smaller, cheaper, easier to produce

35. Prefabricated DE parts arrive at Mare Island CA from Denver
Building DEs
Prefabricated DE parts arrive at Mare Island CA from Denver

36. DE construction techniques
Building DEs
DE construction techniques

37. Rolling out a completed DE hull
Building DEs
Rolling out a completed DE hull
Bay City, MI

38. Other Threats
FW 200 Condor Maritime Patrol Aircraft
Source

39. Catapult Armed Merchantmen
HAWKER “HURRICAT”
Source
Source

40. Catapult Armed Merchantman (CAM)
( 15:05 – 16:40 )
"The Circle of Modern War" and logo
© Thomas D. Pilsch

41. Catapult Armed Merchantmen
Operational History
HMS Ariguani
35 CAM ships converted
• Made 175 voyages,
• 12 were lost to enemy action (34%)
Eight operational catapult launchings
Six enemy aircraft shot down
One RN pilot lost
Source

42. Other Threats Surface Raiders Pocket Battleships / Heavy Cruisers
Example: Admiral Graf Spee
Auxiliary Cruisers
Example: Atlantis

43. Surface Raiders Pocket Battleships & Heavy Cruisers Six 11-inch guns
Eight 5.9-inch guns
Speed: 21 knots
Displacement: 16,200 tons
Admiral Graf Spee
War Cruise
August-December 1939
Sank 9 merchant ships
(50,000 tons)
Scuttled, December 17, 1939
Off Montevideo, Uruguay
After battle with thee British cruisers
Video

44. Surface Raiders Auxiliary Cruisers Auxiliary Cruiser Atlantis
Atlantis with dummy funnel
Armament Layout
Hidden torpedo tubes & guns

45. Surface Raiders Auxiliary Cruisers
Auxiliary Cruiser Atlantis
Atlantis with dummy funnel
First auxiliary cruiser to sink a merchant ship
Circumnavigated the globe
Highest tonnage sunk of all surface raiders
• 22 ships, 146,000 tons

46. Allied Strategy • Protect existing shipping
• Build to replace shipping losses, expand fleet
• Expand US shipbuilding industry
• Apply mass production techniques to shipbuilding

47. All was ruled by that harsh and despotic factor, shipping.
Winston S. Churchill,
The Second World War, Volume III, The Grand Alliance
1950

48. Liberty Ships Based on a British design • Simple, welded hull
• Proven 1890-era steam engine
Originally tagged “ugly duckling” by FDR
“Liberty” campaign by Maritime Commissioner Emory Land changed image
• First ship: Patrick Henry
• Liberty Fleet Day: 15 ships launched across country (Sept. 27, 1941)

49. US Shipbuilding
US Maritime Commission
Source

50. Henry J. Kaiser
Industrialist ( )
Began in construction: Hoover Dam, Grand Coolee Dam, SF Bay Bridge
Joined with Todd Shipbuilding (1939)
Built two new shipyards: Richmond CA & Portland OR
Introduced mass production techniques to build standardized ships
• Liberty ships, Victory ships; C-1, C-2, C-3 cargo; T-1, T-2, T-3 tankers
Record for one Liberty ship: 4 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes
Source

51. Kaiser Shipyard - Richmond, CA
Shipyards
Kaiser Shipyard - Richmond, CA
1943

52. Workforce

53. Rosie the Riveter
Norman Rockwell
Source

54. "Your must tell your children, putting all modesty aside, that without us, without women, there would have been no spring in 1945."
Source

55. Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
Rosie the Riveter
Update
The Riveter
The Rifleman
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune
January 25, 2013

56. Workforce
Rosie the Riveter
Wanda the Welder

57. Mass Production Techniques

58. Mass Production Techniques

59. Mass Production Techniques

60. Mass Production Techniques

61. Mass Production Techniques

62. Record for one Liberty ship: 4 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes
The Finished Product
Record for one Liberty ship: 4 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes

63. Liberty Ships One of 2,718 built at 17 US shipyards
SS Jeremiah O’Brien
National Liberty Ship Memorial
Speed: 11 knots
Royal Navy Photo
One of 2,718 built at 17 US shipyards
Source
Source

64. Victory Ships Larger, faster than Liberty ship 550 built
SS United Victory
Source

65. SS Huntington Hills (completed in 33 days)
T-2 Tankers
533 built
Source
SS Huntington Hills (completed in 33 days)
Source
523 feet long overall • 68 foot beam • 30 foot draft
10,448 Gross tons
21,880 Loaded displacement tons
6,000 shaft horsepower Turbo-Electric propulsion
Speed knots
Liquid capacity 141,200 barrels (nearly 6 million gal)
Aircraft on “skeleton deck”
Source

66. Concrete Ships Shortage of steel caused search for alternatives.
SS Arthur Talbot
Shortage of steel caused search for alternatives.
Concrete ships had been tried in WW I with limited success.
WW II: 24 built in Tampa beginning in 1942 but with limited use
• Two crossed Atlantic and were used as breakwaters
• Others used for training in US
ConcreteShips.org

67. Allied Strategy • Protect existing shipping
• Build to replace shipping losses, expand fleet
• Go on the offensive against the U-boats
• Improve intelligence on U-boat operations
• Close Mid-Atlantic Gap
• Develop Hunter-Killer teams

68. Signals Intelligence
( SIGINT )
Enigma
Source

69. Enigma
Source

70. Enigma
Bletchley Park
Alan Turing’s “Bombe”
Source

71. Enigma
British intelligence received its first Enigma machine in 1939 from Polish military
Additional machines captured by Royal Navy
• May 9, 1941: U-110 off Iceland
• October 30, 1942: U-559 in the Mediterranean
USN captured U-505, June 4, 1944
Source

72. High Frequency Direction Finding (HF/DF)
( ELINT )
High Frequency Direction Finding (HF/DF)
“Huff-Duff”
German subs required to report positions
Allies used information to reroute convoys
• Later used to direct Hunter- Killer task forces

73. Source: The World At War
Mid-Atlantic Gap
Source: The World At War

74. Maritime Patrol Aircraft
USAAF A-29 Hudson
RAF Liberator
Source
RAF Fortress
Blimps

75. Maritime Patrol Aircraft
Caught On The Surface – Robert Taylor
Source
RAF Sunderland Flying Boat – Coastal Command vs. U-461
20 July 1943 – Bay of Biscay

76. Airborne Detection Tools
Leigh Light
Powerful aircraft light for night attacks
Introduced June 1942

77. Airborne Detection Tools
Airborne Radar
Antenna Detail
RAF Coastal Command Liberator Mk III with ASV radar
Permitted location of submarines in bad weather and at night
First U-boat kill November 1941

78. Pioneering video documentary 1952-53

79. Going on the Offensive (0 – 7:04) "The Circle of Modern War" and logo
© Thomas D. Pilsch

80. Escort Carrier Built in Kaiser shipyards on T-3 tanker hulls USS Bogue

81. Comparison With Fleet Carrier
Escort Carrier
Comparison With Fleet Carrier

82. Laid Down: 1 Oct 41 Launched: 15 Jan 42 Commissioned: 28 Sep 42
USS Bogue
CVE-9
Laid Down: 1 Oct Launched: 15 Jan Commissioned: 28 Sep 42
Displacement: 7,800 tons standard; 15,700 tons full load (design) Length: 495' 8" (151.1 m) Beam: '  (34 m) Power plant: 2 boilers (285 psi); 1 steam turbine; 1 shaft; 8,500 shp Speed: 16.5 knots Armament: 2 single 5"/51 (later 5"/38) gun mounts; (1943) 8 twin 40-mm/56-cal gun mounts; (1943) 27 single 20-mm/70-cal gun mounts Aircraft: 24 Aviation facilities: 2 elevators; 1 hydraulic catapult Crew: 890
Source

83. Hunter-Killer Team
Slide 8

84. Hunter Becomes the Hunted
U-118 under attack by aircraft from USS Bogue
June 12, 1943
Source

85. Capture of U-505 Task Force 22.3 June 4, 1944
Escort carrier Guadalcanal (CVE-60)
Captain Dan Gallery
Commander
Five destroyer escorts:
Pillsbury (DE-133) Pope (DE-134), Flaherty (DE-135), Chatelain (DE-149), Jenks (DE-665)

86. Capture of U-505 "The Circle of Modern War" and logo
© Thomas D. Pilsch

87. Boarding Party Arrives from USS Pillsbury
Capture of U-505
June 4, 1944
Boarding Party Arrives from USS Pillsbury

88. First USN combat prize since War of 1812
Capture of U-505
First USN combat prize since War of 1812

89. Capture of U-505
USS Guadalcanal towing U-505

90. Captain Daniel V. Gallery
Players in U-505 Capture
Captain Daniel V. Gallery
LT(jg) Albert L. David

91. Captain Daniel V. Gallery
Players in U-505 Capture
Captain Daniel V. Gallery
• Commander, Task Group 22.3
• Set his sights on capturing a U-boat
• After capture, Navy did not know what
to do with him
• Decorate him
• Court martial him
• Eventually promoted him to rear admiral
Why?

92. Players in U-505 Capture LT(jg) Albert L. David
• Asst. Engineering Officer on USS Pillsbury
• Led boarding party to U-505
• Remained inside sub despite threat of scuttling
charges & open sea valves
• Awarded Medal of Honor
• Only MH awarded for Battle of Atlantic

93. May 1943: The Turning Point
“What is now decisive is that enemy aircraft have been equipped with a new location apparatus … which enables them to detect submarines and attack them in low cloud, bad visibility, or at nights. Much the largest number of submarines now being sunk are being sunk by aircraft. … These losses are too high. We must now husband our resources because, to do anything else, would simply be to play the enemy’s game”
Admiral Dönitz to Hitler, May 1943
Source

94. U-boat Losses By Month
U-boat.net

95. Ship Losses

96. Ships Lost vs. Built
Source

97. Ships Built by US Maritime Commission
US Shipbuilding
US Maritime Commission
Ships Built by US Maritime Commission
Source
5,500+ ships

98. Losses
Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago

99. Victory in the Atlantic
( 25: :29)
"The Circle of Modern War" and logo
© Thomas D. Pilsch

100. "The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea, in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome.”
Winston S. Churchill,
The Second World War, Volume V, Closing the Ring
1951

101. The Second Battle of the Atlantic
“The German people do not understand the sea”
Attributed to Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz ( )

102. WW II – The Axis Advances
Next:
Lesson 15
WW II – The Axis Advances

103. Lesson Objectives
•  Describe and analyze the German decision process to attack the Soviet Union in June •  Describe and analyze the operational and logistic implications of Operation Barbarossa. •  Understand and be able to discuss the impact of total war within the Soviet Union. •  Understand how the initial successes of the German invasion of the USSR turned into such a total disaster. •  Be able to describe the magnitude of the Soviet-German War and its impact on the outcome of World War II.

104. End

105. Video Title "The Circle of Modern War" and logo
© Thomas D. Pilsch