The Battle of the Atlantic

"The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril" Winston Churchill

If you were asked what was the most dangerous job in the II World War, I guess most people would say, front line soldier, pilot, resistance fighter etc. You would be wrong. statistically you had the greatest chance of being killed as a merchant sailor bringing food in and out of Britain. All of this for £9 per month and 12.5 pence a day danger money!

A tanker hit by a U-boat is set in sink in a matter of minutes.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the fight to keep Britain from being starved into defeat by the Germans.

Most of our food and essential supplies came from the USA. In 1942 nearly 1,700 merchant ships were sunk by the German navy.

What was done to stop it?

1) Rationing. In January 1940 rationing was introduced. The less food used meant the less ships that were needed.

How would you cope with this for a week!        

2) The Convoy System. In 1942 this was used. It was not new, Lloyd George had used it in 1917. Ships would sail in groups under Royal Navy protection.

3) RADAR More refined systems of tracking the German submarines (U-boats) were used to sink our ships.

Here a sinking U-boat has its crew ready to abandon ship. RADAR proved to be the end for the U-boat.

4) ULTRA  The system used to break the German code. Once this was done it meant the U-boats could be intercepted and sunk.

By 1943 the losses were 597 and by the last year of the war were just over 100.