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The Battle of the Atlantic

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

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The Battle of the Atlantic

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  1. The Battle of the Atlantic A Summary of the Longest Campaign of World War II 1939-1945

  2. 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

  3. The Battleground

  4. 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)

  5. Allied Strategy • The Allies tried to protect the transport ships in three ways: • Convoys – large flotillas of ships • Escorts – Destroyers and Corvettes deployed to protect the convoys • 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

  6. Allied Convoys

  7. 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

  8. U-Boat Attack

  9. 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

  10. Convoy Tactics

  11. The Battle • June 1940 – February 1941 “The Happy Time” for the U-boats – 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

  12. Surface Raiders British Battleship Hood Swordfish Dive bomber German Battleship Bismarck

  13. 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

  14. 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)

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