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Battle of the Atlantic
by John Barratt
The Combatants
On 21 November 1918, as Germany's once-proud High Seas Fleet sailed into the
British naval base of Scapa Flow to surrender, the Royal Navy seemed at the
pinnacle of its long history. With 61 battleships to France's 40 and the
U.S.A.'s 39, the British fleet appeared uncontestably to be the strongest in
the world...
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The Surface Raiders
On the outbreak of hostilities, Grand-Admiral Raeder, knowing that the German
surface fleet was no match for the Royal Navy in a general action, sought other
means to challenge his stronger opponent. During World War I, the Kaiser's Navy
had made a number of attempts at commerce raiding, notably by von Spee's
squadron in the opening months of the war, and with converted merchant vessels
of various kinds...
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Re-birth of the U-boat
The devastation wrought by German U-boats on Allied merchant shipping during
World War I brought Imperial Germany nearer to victory than the efforts of any
of her other armed forces. It was with memories of this that the Allies, by the
terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) prohibited the small Navy of the new
German Republic from having any submarines.
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The Convoy System
The convoy system, which can be defined as a group of merchant vessels sailing
together, with or without naval escort, for mutual security and protection, has
a much longer history than sometimes suggested. It was commonly employed during
the Age of Sail, notably by British vessels under threat from French and US
commerce raiders, and indeed probably has its origins in ancient times.
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Enigma and Ultra - the Cypher War
The German "Enigma" machine was initially developed after World War I as a
commercial encrypting device, but the military were quick to recognise its
value, and developed it for their own uses. In basic terms, the "Enigma"
resembled a typewriter, which scrambled the text typed into it by means of
notched wheels or rotors. The messages could be unscrambled by a similar
machine with its rotors adjusted to the same settings as the sender. German
cypher experts refined the basic machine by adding plugs with variable
electronic circuits, whose settings operators changed approximately every 24
hours, according to code books, listing the daily variations, with which they
were issued.
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The U-Boat War, 1939-42
On the outbreak of war in September 1939, Donitz had 39 U-boats stationed near
the main British shipping lanes. On the first day of hostilities, the liner
"Athenia", was sunk by a U-boat commanded by Kapitan Franz-Julius Lemp. The
German commander had mistaken her for a troop-transport, but the deaths of a
large number of civilians, including Americans caused an immediate widespread
outcry. Hitler had in fact forbidden unrestricted submarine warfare of the kind
which had helped bring the USA into World War I, in the hope that Britain
might, after the fall of Poland, agree to a compromise peace.
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The Climax
By July 1942 the days of easy pickings for the U-boats along the Eastern
Seaboard of the USA were over. It was time for Donitz to switch his efforts
back to his old hunting grounds in the mid-Atlantic. He had seemingly ample
grounds for optimism. In May 1942 German experts had produced a study which
concluded that if the U-boats were able to sink a monthly average of 700,000
tons of Allied merchant ships for the rest of the year, Britain, despite all
the efforts of shipbuilding yards on both sides of the Atlantic, would be
doomed.
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The Bitter End
On 31st May, a week after calling off the U-boat offensive in the North
Atlantic, Donitz reported on the situation to Hitler. After listing all the
current allied advantages, the head of the Kriegsmarine outlined the various
technological developments which he hoped would tilt the war once more in the
U-boat waffe's favour. Already being tested was the "Naxos" short-wave radar
detector.
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The Arctic War
For those who took part in them, the Arctic convoys were probably among the
most difficult of any missions mounted in World War II. The German invasion of
Russia in June 1941 brought Great Britain a new ally, but also created new
demands on her limited resources. As the Red Army reeled under the massive
German onslaught, it became increasingly doubtful whether the Soviet Union
would be able to hold out for long...
Copyright © 2002 John Barratt
Written by John Barratt. If you have questions or comments on this article,
please contact John Barratt at:
johnbarratt46@johnbarratt46.plus.com.
About the author:
John Barratt has authored many books to include: Armada 1588, The
Battle of Marston Moor, The Civil War in South-West
England 1642-1646, and Cavalier Generals.
Published online: 12/15/2002. |
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