The Battle of the Atlantic
A Summary of the Longest Campaign
of World War II
1939-1945
The Strategic Situation
• Britain needed supplies to fight the war
• Convoys of ships brought oil, wood,
aluminum and finished goods like planes
and tanks
• Without supplies Britain could not continue
the war
The Battleground
The Nazi Strategy
• The Germans tried to cut off supplies to Britain by
sinking transport ships
• They used some raiding vessels (cruisers and
battleships), but primarily U-boats (submarines)
Allied Strategy
•
The Allies tried to protect the transport ships in
three ways:
1. Convoys – large flotillas of ships
2. Escorts – Destroyers and Corvettes deployed to
protect the convoys
3. Air cover – limited to within a few hundred
miles of Canada and Britain
• Allied ships feared the mid-Atlantic where there
was no air cover
Allied Convoys
German Tactics
• Groups of U-boats would hunt for convoys in
“Wolf Packs”
• U-boats would maneuver in front of the convoy
and then submerge – surfacing in the middle of the
convoy
• German subs would first use deck guns to sink
boats – if a threat existed they would use
torpedoes instead
U-Boat Attack
Convoy Tactics
• Allied warships would look for U-boats using
“ASDIC” – a early form of Sonar.
• If a surfaced U-boat was detected, warships tried
to ram them
• If the U-boat submerged, Allied warships would
drop “depth charges” – barrels of explosive set to
go off at different depths.
• Planes would also attack and drop depth charges
Convoy Tactics
The Battle
• June 1940 – February 1941 “The Happy Time” for the Uboats – Hundreds of ships sunk
• March 1941 – December 1941 – Allies use ASDIC, HF-DF
radar + better tactics to thwart U-boats -- British break
German Code – “Enigma”
• Jan., 1942 – July 1942 – “Operation Drumbeat” – U-boats
attack USA shipping – easy targets
• July 1942 –Feb 1943 – Wolf Pack in Mid-Atlantic
• April-May 1943 – Climax of the Battle – U-boats suffer
enormous losses -- remain a threat until the end of the war
Surface Raiders
British Battleship Hood
German Battleship Bismarck
Swordfish Dive bomber
Conclusion
• Allied victory in the Atlantic was essential
to Allied victory in Europe
• By defeating the U-boat and Surface Raider
threat, we were able to win the war
Your Task: Convoy Puzzle
• You are to deploy your convoy in the best
formation to protect it from the Nazi U-boats that
are hunting it. You must create a diagram AND
explain it in 3-5 sentences
• You have 20 transport vessels that go about 10
knots (11mph)
• You have one destroyer (small warship with depth
charges & ASDIC) as a command vessel
• You have two corvettes (very small escort vessels
with depth charges & ASDIC)