The Battle of the Atlantic

The control of the Atlantic was vital for Britain because it was the link through which she received supplies from the USA and Canada. Without these supplies, she could not have carried on the war. Germany knew she had to cut off these supplies. Regarding this matter, the German submarines were quite effective until 1941. The reasons for this effectiveness were:

- her secure naval bases in Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
- the mines she laid around Britain's coasts.
- her long-range anti-shipping bombers.
- the crack of some of the codes used by British ships and the torpedoing of the convoys (U-boats limited the use of radios to avoid detection.).
- the attack from the surface at night so as not to be detected by the British anti-submarine device.
- the easy targets the US ships were.


Even so, the British innovated once again and were able to beat the U-boats. The British improvements were:

- the decoding of German codes, which allowed them to guide convoys away from the U-boats.
- two new weapons: torpex and the hedgehog depth charge.
- better training for convoy commanders and support groups of destroyers equipped with radar and listening equipment.
- long-range bombers used against submarines and fitted with special radar and depth charges to be dropped from the planes.
- the use of radio to link ships and aircraft and also to link these with on-shore commanders.
- the use of USA's cargo ships called Liberty, which were quickly built.

Finally, the Allies succeeded and in 1944 Doenitz called-off the U-boat campaign.