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.