1. The Battle of the Atlantic The longest battle of World War 2 1939-45

2. How important was the battle of the Atlantic This was the only thing that really frightened me during the war. If we had lost the battle of the Atlantic there was every possibility that Hitler could have retained Western Europe and defeated Britain

3. German Tactics

4. What was brought across the Atlantic? Oil Munitions Food US troops for the invasion of Europe Tanks Aircraft

5. Data: Battle of the Atlantic 2282 Allied Ships sunk (15 million tons) 1.9 million tons damaged 1150 U-Boats built, 807 sunk (casualty rate of 85%) Convoys sailed 200 million miles The battle lasted 2073 days, from the first day of the war to the last Britain would have run out of food within 3 weeks without these supplies

6. How was the battle won? Closing the Mid- Atlantic gap Aircraft (VLR) Escort carriers Radar Asdic Convoy system Cracking German Naval Codes

7. Convoying

8. Aircraft VLR aircraft closed the mid-Atlantic gap Escort Aircraft carriers went all the way across the Atlantic and provided anti submarine protection

9. Submarine Warfare

10. What happened to U-Boats after 1942? Radar allowed planes to see periscopes and schnorkels ASDIC or SONAR allowed ships to hear submarines under water Once caught escorting ships and planes destroyed them with guns or depth charges

11. Tasks for this lesson Make notes on the first and last sections of the worksheet Copy the graph: what do you notice about the amount of ships sunk as the war progressed Why was the battle of the Atlantic so crucial to Britain in WW2?