Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Battle of the Atlantic

View from Coast Guard cutter USCGC Spencer (WPG-36) as it depth charges U-175.
(Source)
Two days after World War II in Europe began, concurrent with the declaration of war upon Germany by France and the United Kingdom, the Battle for the Atlantic began. It wouldn't end until Nazi Germany surrendered on the 8th of May, 1945.

In that time period 36,200 Allied sailors and 36,000 Allied merchant seamen died, 3,500 merchant vessels and 175 warships went to the bottom of the sea, and 741 aircraft were lost in anti-submarine sorties. The Germans had approximately 30,000 U-boat sailors killed, 783 submarines lost and 47 other warships were sunk. The Kingdom of Italy lost approximately 500 killed with the loss of 17 submarines, as the Italians operated primarily in the Mediterranean, what few boats they got past Gibraltar had a small impact in the Atlantic. (Also see here for a month by month breakdown of shipping losses versus U-boat losses.)

The first ship to fall victim to a German U-boat was the SS Athenia, sunk by U-30 in direct violation of her orders to not sink passenger liners.
The battle of the Atlantic also resulted in civilian deaths. Hundreds died at sea as they tried to escape the bombings and evacuate to safer countries such as Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India. The first civilian casualty occurred on September 3, 1939, the first day of the war, when the Cunard passenger liner Athenia was hit by U-30, which attacked in the mistaken belief she was an armed merchant cruiser. Of the 1103 passengers on board, 118 drowned. The day after, Hitler ordered that no more attacks were to be made on passenger ships. Despite this, many more ships were torpedoed by German U-boats over the war years, many killing civilians. One of the most famous tragedies was the sinking of SS City of Benares on 17 September 1940, 600 miles off the coast of Ireland. It was carrying 406 passengers, 100 of whom were children evacuees, of which 87 children and 175 adults drowned. Not all attacks were as deadly, such as the sinking of the City of Simla, which sunk off the coast of Glasgow, resulting in three dead and 347 survivors. (Source)
The war in the Atlantic was brutal, it wasn't always the enemy trying to kill you, both sides had to battle the elements. One thing sailors know is that the sea is always trying to kill you.

World War II North Atlantic convoy duty during heavy weather. Feb. 1942.
(Source)
Life aboard ship was nerve-racking, knowing that somewhere out there were men in submarines whose job was to sink their ship. To send them to the bottom without regard to their fate. Often the last thing a merchant seaman in World War II experienced in this life was the abrupt impact and subsequent explosion of an enemy torpedo. Perhaps those who died in the initial impact were the lucky ones, better that than to be in the sea watching your ship go down with little hope of rescue.

Allied tanker Dixie Arrow, torpedoed off Cape Hatteras by U-71, in 1942.
Life for the U-boat crewmen was equally harsh. Unlike a modern nuclear submarine which can convert nearly limitless amounts of sea water to fresh water, the U-boats only had what they could carry. U-boat crewmen couldn't shave or bathe during the entire patrol, which could last for weeks. (Update: John in Philly pointed out that U-boats did have the ability to distill fresh water from sea water for eating, drinking, and cooling the diesel engines. But not enough for washing up. Thanks John!)

Leaving port, the boat would have every available space crammed with food. Canned goods, fresh vegetables, sausages, bread, you name it. As the patrol wore on, and the fresh food was consumed, the sailors were stuck with canned food.

The smell, did I mention the smell? Diesel fuel, light machine oil, and the smell of forty or so of your shipmates who haven't bathed in days, all combined to make it a place only for the strong stomached.

The hull was also crammed with machinery, valves, levers, dials, instruments, etc., etc. Most of these things would injure you if you weren't paying attention. I have personally barked my noggin in the control room of a WWII-era US sub, it hurt!

Crew berthing in the forward torpedo room.
(Source)
The U-boats had a number of early successes, including the mission of U-47 under Günther Prien. U-47 managed to penetrate the British fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow and sink the battleship HMS Royal Oak. While she was an older battleship, she was still a British battleship sunk at anchor, under the very noses of the Fleet!

U-boats also managed to bag a British aircraft carrier in the first month of the war, narrowly missing another!
On 14 September 1939, Britain's most modern carrier, HMS Ark Royal, narrowly avoided being sunk when three torpedoes from U-39 exploded prematurely. U-39 was forced to surface and scuttle by the escorting destroyers, becoming the first U-boat loss of the war. Another carrier, HMS Courageous, was sunk three days later by U-29.
Another issue for the Allies in the early stages of the battle were areas over the Atlantic which were out of range of Allied aircraft. Aircraft were, and still are, one of a submarine's deadliest foes.

Areas of air coverage and no air cover on the North Atlantic convoy routes.
(Source)
In an attempt to provide some air coverage the British resorted to the "CAM ship."*

Sea Hurricane Mk IA on the catapult of a CAM ship.
While these were of some use against German aircraft, they were of little or no use against U-boats. It wasn't until escort carriers became available in quantity that the gaps in air coverage were closed.

An SB2U Vindicator scout bomber from USS Ranger flies anti-submarine patrol over Convoy WS-12, en route to Cape Town, November 27, 1941. The convoy was one of many escorted by the US Navy on "Neutrality Patrol", before the US officially entered the war.
Lest you think the U-boats operated alone, the Germans used Rudeltaktik which literally translates as "pack tactic," what came to be known in English as wolf packs. Single U-boats would be positioned individually in wide arcs across the known convoy routes. The first boat to sight a convoy was not supposed to attack, but radio the convoy's position in to headquarters, who would then order the other boats in to the attack.

Imagine being a merchant seaman, in the middle of the night a ship is hit by a torpedo, then another, then another with multiple U-boats swarming in for the kill. A busy night for the escorting destroyers, destroyer escorts, corvettes, and Coast Guard cutters! (U-boat captains liked to attack at night, with torpedoes, for reasons of stealth. Again, a low silhouette against the rolling sea is hard to spot during the day, let alone at night.)

German submarine technology increased by leaps and bounds during the battle, they invented the snorkel which would allow a boat to run their diesels while still submerged to recharge the batteries, drawing air for the engines through the snorkel. Some of the later German boats, like the Type XXI, were used by a number of nations after the war and influenced later submarine designs -
The Type XXI design directly influenced advanced post-war submarines, the Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program (GUPPY) improvements to the United States Gato, Balao, and Tench-class submarines, and the Soviet submarine projects designated Whiskey, Zulu and Romeo by NATO. The Chinese built Romeo-class submarines, and subsequent Ming class, were based on Soviet blueprints. (Source)
But the Allies weren't asleep on the technology front. Devices which could project depth charges out to the sides of a ship (the K-gun), rather than just dropping them off the stern, which required you sail directly over the U-boat's position, and the "Hedgehog" were developed. The latter projected explosives forward of the ship in a large pattern and would explode on contact with the submarine's hull, standard depth charges went off at a preset depth.

Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar mounted on the forecastle of the destroyer HMS Westcott.
Radar sets which could be carried by aircraft and which were capable of detecting periscopes and, of course, snorkels, killed many a U-boat. especially in the Bay of Biscay. The Germans invented a radar detector as a counter-measure. As in most modern wars, countermeasures were developed to counteract enemy weapon and sensor systems on both sides, something which continues to this day.

While the Allies did win the Battle of the Atlantic, it was a "close run thing." Casualties on both sides were high, but the losses to the German U-boat fleet were severe. It has been estimated that 75% of the U-boat sailors never came home.

They fought for a heinous cause, but no one can question their bravery.

The German submarine U-185 (Type IXC/40) sinking on 24 August 1943 at 27°00′ N 37°06′ W after being attacked by U.S. Navy aircraft from the escort carrier USS Core (CVE-13). 25 men of U-185 and nine survivors from U-604, who had been aboard U-185, were rescued.

Bonus film clip!



Das Boot is a favorite of mine, was actually the first movie I watched on German television with a couple of weeks of arriving in Germany. I still watch it in the original German. The film is very well done and depicts the lives of a U-boat crew fairly well.





* CAM = Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen

I think I have submarines out of my system, for now.

38 comments:

  1. trivia: I put Das Boot soundtrack on a loop when world of warships ran its submarine event few months ago... it was awesome combo!
    https://youtu.be/jSxBLRs7c-c
    and the guys at Wargaming just announced they are going to release subs, starting with German nad USN ones, soon...
    also:
    The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril. - Churchill

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  2. Great post.

    I would suggest reading Admiral Daniel Gallery's book about the capture of the U-505.
    https://smile.amazon.com/U-505-Rear-Admiral-Daniel-Vincent-Gallery-ebook/dp/B01KUGU5S0/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3VQITC6VU0ZG4&keywords=daniel+gallery&qid=1565867902&s=digital-text&sprefix=daniel+gallery%2Caps%2C138&sr=1-2

    And from the viewpoint of the U-505 crew.
    https://smile.amazon.com/Steel-Boat-Iron-Hearts-Napoleonic-ebook/dp/B004E9UB5M/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=u-505&qid=1565867927&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

    CAM aircraft.
    The aircraft were launched by rocket catapult, and then the pilot had to ditch the aircraft and hope he would be picked up.
    Those pilots were well past brave.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAM_ship

    Again, great post.

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  3. They used to call subs "pig boats". The oil I could handle, but "Beeeeeee Ohhhhhhhhh" is another thing entirely!!!! Add to all that the stale humid air with higher than normal CO2 and it would be like breathing some one's oily armpit. *shiver*

    My son rode a bus from San Antonio to Fort Sill. Said it smelled like BUTT. Some lady started fogging with strawberry essence, and he said the mix didn't work. He asked her to stop, "because strawberry butt is actually worse than just plain butt." That's my guess for a sub as well. Not a good mixture.

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    Replies
    1. I think you've hit the nail on the head there, STxAR!

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    2. Especially in the WWI days, when the boats were gasoline powered. And everyone smoking. And sweating. And the oils. And the cooking smells. And everything.

      In contrast, the days of the nuclear boats is practically science fiction in cleanliness and roominess. To an extent.

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    3. I assume the only way to tolerate such a fetid environment would be the blessing of nose blindness. If that were true, does that mean additional ejections of noxious odors from shipmates' butts would be lost in the mix?

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    4. We humans are an adaptable species, I would guess that after a couple of days of inhaling such noxious odors, one would get used to it.

      Or apply for a transfer to the infantry...

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    5. While serving aboard a GUPPY II (SS 340) about 1961 the Corpsman came back from liberty and related the following tale: After leaving the boat, I went to the locker club, took 2 showers, shampooed my hair, etc., put on all brand new clothing fro my skivvies outward and went to the barbershop. On getting in the chair the barber asked me "What boat are you on?" I asked him how he knew and he said "I can smell submarine"
      .

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  4. Replies
    1. Shows you how desperate they were, to throw a brand new Hurricane and a Merlin engine plus the machine guns away on a one-shot mission to attempt to stop the German Condors and flying boats.

      Definitely Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures.

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  5. Tin cans are slightly better than subs (I’m talking Gearing, Summers, Fletchers, and earlier).
    The capacity of the evaporators precludes showers for crew members most of the time when they are underway.
    At least there was more space and no necessity to bunk with the machinery.

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    Replies
    1. Not to mention being able to air them out better. Except during a typical winter storm in the North Atlantic, where the ship is rolling and pitching and yawing 30-40 degrees in each direction and it seems that vomit fills the air. Yeah.... no....

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    2. Beans - Fresh air is definitely a feature.

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  6. Who really won the Battle of the Atlantic? The Atlantic took Gold. When the sailors feared the ocean more than the U-Boats, it says something about the fierceness of the North Atlantic, especially during winter. Met a Cold-War tin can sailor who said his WW2 era buddies sometimes wished they'd have gotten torpedoed (and survived) in order to get out of one more transit during Atlantic-Rough conditions. Of course, they probably would have said they'd rather make one more transit instead of surviving a torpedoing, being sailors...

    We, the USA, were the Silver medalists.

    After the war, the Atlantic was OUR ocean. Until the politicos gave it away during the peace dividend era... Bastiges...

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  7. The Battle of the Atlantic was effectively won between March 1943 and May 1943. In a very short time the allies went from suffering heavy losses on convoys to getting convoys across virtually unscathed. Doenitz admitted defeat at that time as U boat losses were so high. During March-May 1943 a lot of technologies converged, such as radar, homing torpedoes, more ships and planes and the Bletchley Park codebreaking efforts. Bletchley Park would not have been possible without the Poles and this Brit freely acknowledges their aid. We should also recognise the massive growth of the Canadian Navy. They did a lot of the 'grunt work' in the Atlantic during WW2. It was boring, dangerous, essential drudgery but stuff like that wins wars. The 'back room boys' also helped. The concept of 'operations research' which informed tactics and strategy was developed in the UK. Inspirational individuals such as Captain Johnny Walker RN who developed the tactics that helped to win the battle of the Atlantic came to the fore. Admiral Max Horton who was CinC Western Approaches was a WW1 submarine Captain, a 'poacher turned gamekeeper'. He was one who helped set the overall strategy that won the war.
    Like I say it's logistics, strategy and brainpower that wins wars.
    Retired
    As someone who didn't serve in the military my view is that WW2 was won as much by the 'backroom boys' as it was by the frontline troops.

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  8. "One thing sailors know is that the sea is always trying to kill you."

    AMEN!

    Brave men on both sides.

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  9. Steel, oil, gunpowder and fire. Why do we love them so?

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    Replies
    1. Our species does seem to glory in such things.

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  10. A humble unmentioned contribution was huff-duff (high frequency direction finding from Allied stations ringing the Atlantic. When a surfaced U-Boat made a radio transmission, her position could be located within a sixty mile or so diameter circle. Analysis could also tell if the sub had just surfaced and sometimes identify it by the radioman's "fist" on the key. Not real precise and not useful in the "black hole" except for rerouting convoys to avoid them. Later, with long range aircraft and allied hunter-killer groups, U-boat radio transmissions became almost a form of suicide

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    1. There is another puzzle I ran across...in his book "No Banners, No Bugles" Commander Ellsberg made a very deep dive to recover 'something' from a sunken U-Boat off Oran (if you don't like being confined in a sub, then don't go into a sunken submarine right at the limit of a hard hat diving rig)...he said he recovered something that he did not disclose. An Enegma machine...or the rotors...or the code books for them?...

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    2. Unknown. Odd coincidence, I'm rereading Ellsberg's book, "Under The Red Sea Sun," and I will have to reread "No Banners, No Bugles," and then, "The Far Shore."
      I'm reading them in my hardcover books, and I just found they are also available on Amazon for the Kindle.

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    3. My list of books to read is growing exponentially.

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  11. In "No Banners, No Bugles" the Army proved they had balls too. When the assault transport Thomas Stone was torpedoed.the Army commander and Navy Captain agreed to launch their troops in the landing craft for the assault on Oran - a day early and about a hundred eighty miles at sea...

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  12. I was fortunate enough to take Damage Control and Vessel Stability classes from a retired captain who was on the Murmansk run in the WWII merchant marine. Guy was ancient. There were merchant marine academies all over the US, cranking out 3rd mates in just 18-24 months. The attrition was so bad that you advanced in rank each time you completed a voyage. By the end of his first year, my instructor was a chief mate, and had been sunk twice. He made captain soon after, and was sunk twice more.
    IIRC, the merchant marine at the time had a 25% fatality rate.

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    Replies
    1. Yup, they suffered greatly, yet persevered to victory.

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