Battle of the Atlantic: Canada

MARSHALL, 2006

Britain’s Lifeline Must Not Be Severed

Royal Navy: Greatest Navy in the World?

Destroyers for Bases

Britain needed to secure a supply line - Hitler tried to choke off that line…

Naval Race Revisited?

Can you remember who Bismarck

was? Think 1870.

Aircraft vs Ships: Who will win?

Battle of Denmark Straits: HOOD was sunk with one shot - only a couple of men survived.

Revenge for the HOOD!

The Threat

.

The Effect

Counter-measures: Detection

Tough Decisions Must be Made

Leigh Light

ASDIC = Canadian/British SONAR

System

Anti-SubmarineDetectionInvestigationCommittee

As well as Corvettes and destroyers, minesweepers were crucial to detect dangers above and below the surface.

ENIGMA/ULTRA

Counter-measures: Destruction of the THREAT

Depth Charges = drums of

TNT(here loaded on a side-shooting “K Gun”

Hedgehog Anti-submarine (A/S) Mortar

Not only submarines used torpedoes: ships and plane were also used as launch platforms.

Counter- measures:

The CONVOY

THE MAP ROOM: ATLANTIC THEATRE

CORVETTES

BUT…

The no-rescue rule was not always followed…

Canadian Destroyer

The Results: some statistics

Bringing the might of the USA economy to bear…

Ships lost: by theatre

Production by USA

Conclusions:Conclusions:

• The U-boats were successful - for the first half of the war.• North American help was essential for Britain.• The Allies used technology and tactics to drive the U-

boats off the French and then North American coasts.• The Germans countered with “wolf-pack” tactics.• Convoys with naval escorts greatly increased security of

merchant ships.• Ultimately it was aircraft that chased the U-boats to the

centre of the Atlantic.• In the end, Hitler failed to starve Britain.

Thanks, Marshall: You just gave me

an excellent paragraph outline!