The Battle of the Atlantic

France had fallen in 1940United Kingdom was out of money. In December 1941, the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war.

However…The Battle of the Atlantic….started in

1939

RECALL

The longest continuous military campaign of World War II, running from 1939 right through to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945

At its height from mid-1940 through to about the end of 1943

World War II lasted for a total of 2,075 days.

The Battle of the Atlantic lasted for 2,073 of these.

It started with the sinking of the passenger liner Athenia on the day Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Canada Remembers

 

German U-Boats patrolled the Atlantic against the British blockade of Europe and in an effort to stop supplies from America from ever reaching Britain.

U-boats operated in groups of 10 called "wolf packs."

The German navy, carried out submarine warfare to cut off Britain's imports and military supplies.

U-boats

GERMAN ATTACK

The Allies developed a convoy system where merchant ships were guarded by destroyer escorts.

The British developed a system for detecting U-boats that resembled radar.

This development gave the Allies the edge in the Battle for the Atlantic.

ALLIES RESPOND

became a port for ships escaping war from Europe-refugees

Convoys of ships formed in Halifax harbour loaded with troops, guns, tanks, shells, foodstuffs and headed across the Atlantic.

Convoys: Groups of merchant ships that are protected from enemy attack by naval escort ships or air force planes.

HALIFAX

Germans did everything to stop supply lines.

Convoy ships were mined or torpedoed within hearing distance of Halifax

New technology was developed: corvettes, depth charges, sonar

In Halifax, "Plotters" tracked ship movements and U-boats.

Many of them were the women of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS)

U-boats began attacking ships in the St. Lawrence river.

On Aug. 27, 1942 the American ship Chatham was sunk

Oct. 13,1942 the passenger ferry, the SS Caribou going from Nfld. to Nova Scotia was sunk by a single torpedo =173 dead civilians

From the summer to the fall of 1942, German U-boats sank 21 ships in the St. Lawrence.

St. Lawrence

The campaign pitted the German Navy’s surface raiders and

U-boats against Allied convoys from North America and the

South Atlantic to the United Kingdom and Russia, protected

mainly by the British and Canadian navy’s and air forces,

later aided by United States ships and aircraft.

The British and their allies gradually gained the upper hand, driving the German surface raiders from the ocean by the middle of 1941 and decisively defeating the U-boats in a series of convoy battles between March and May 1943

More than 2,000 merchant ships were lost to a submarine attack in the North Atlantic and more than 30,000 merchant seamen died as a result.

About 330 convoys in the Atlantic were attacked by U-boats.

565 escorts and 234 stragglers were sunk.1,100 proceeding independently were also sunk.96,977 crossings were completed successfully.

SUMMARY