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Victory in the Atlantic
6-7 minutes
Victory in the Atlantic
Winter 1942-1943: in the North Atlantic, winter storms raged with
gigantic waves and gusts of winds. But there were worst threats:
the number of German submarines, the dreaded U-boats, was
growing. Hunting in packs of up to 20 submarines, they targeted
Allied convoys. These attacks were so destructive that they
threatened to bring transatlantic shipping to a halt, making
impossible the invasion of Europe. During the first twenty days of
March 1943, 85 Allied ships were torpedoed and sunk. These were
the darkest hours of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Dark hours for Royal Canadian Navy escort groups as well, as they
were severely criticized by Western Approaches Command. In
March 1943, three of the four Canadian escort groups were pulled
away from the Mid-Ocean Escort Force for additional training at the
Royal Navy base in Londonderry. They were then assigned to the
Great Britain-Gibraltar route used by convoys involved in Operation
Torch, the invasion of North Africa.
And then , the wind shifted direction .. .
A Change in the Balance of Power
A "hedgehog" on board HMCS Moose Jaw, Halifax, May 1st, 1944.
Department of National Defence I National Archives of Canada,
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PA-112918.
If the U-boat fleet was growing, the number of Allied convoys,
freighters, tankers and escort ships increased as well, in part
through the efforts of the Canadian shipping industry.
Improved ASDIC , radar and radio direction finding...§ystems were
installed on Allied vessels allowing them to better locate and hunt
down German submarines. A new weapon, the "Hedgehog" was
coupled to the ASDIC and could fire up to 24 mortar shells of 30 kg
in front of a frigate or corvette. British intelligence services broke
the new Enigma cipher allowing the Allies to intercept U-boat radio
messages. Air patrols became more frequent and longer-ranged,
flying from air bases in Iceland, Newfoundland or Great Britain.
The creation of support groups separate from escort groups made it
possible to hunt down U-boats with some efficiency and without
leaving convoys unprotected from attacks by other submarines of
the pack.
In April 1943, the command of escort forces in the Atlantic was
once more restructured : Western Approaches Command remained
responsible for North Atlantic convoy operations east of
Newfoundland; the US Navy was responsible for operations in the
South Atlantic, including the Great Britain-Mediterranean route . The
Royal Canadian Navy was put in charge of operations in the North
West Atlantic. Rear Admiral L.W. Murray was appointed as
commander in chief for that new theatre.
The following month, the three "C" (i.e. Canadian) escort groups
completed their training and returned to the North West Atlantic
sector. All ships were upgraded to improve their combat worthiness.
Other Royal Canadian Navy ships were to be upgraded as well as
the war went on, but the gap between Canadian and Royal Navy
ships was never filled . In June 1943, the first Canadian-
built frjgates were commissioned.
In May, all those measures began to have a definite impact. In three
weeks and a half, 30 U-boats were destroyed by the Allies, in
regard of 50 merchant ships sunk. Between June and August 1943,
80 U-boats were destroyed or seriously damaged. Admiral Karl
Donitz was forced to order his submarines to avoid Allied convoys.
Even if the balance of forces changed within a few weeks, the
submarine threat remained a major one. German naval engineers
continued to improve U-boats and their weapon systems. In
September 1943, the Kriegsmarine introduced the acoustic torpedo
that could follow a sound source such as a propeller. That new
weapon had devastating effects until the Allies came up with a
sound-producing device that attracted the torpedo far enough from
the hull so that it would explode without causing harm. In early
1944, the schnorkel was introduced, a device that allowed a
continuous supply of fresh air while the submarine was just below
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the surface. U-boats thus equipped could stay below the surface for
days on end, almost invisible but able to use their powerful diesel
engines.
Starting in the summer of 1943, the German Navy found itself
unable to regain the advantage in submarine warfare; Allied losses
diminished and merchant ship convoys were now able to deliver
supplies unhampered. The volume of goods to be shipped to Great
Britain was enormous: for D-Day alone, some ten million tonnes of
supplies were required.
Combined Operations
LCl(L) 299 of the 2nd Canadian flotilla ferrying soldiers of the 9th
Canadian Infantry Brigade towards Normandy beaches, June 6th ,
1944
Photo by Gilbert A. Milne. Department of National Defence I
National Archives of Canada, PA-136986.
The Royal Canadian Navy ensured convoy escorts operations in
the North Atlantic up to the very last weeks of the war, in May 1945.
It also took part in those large-scale combined (Army, Navy, Air
Force) operations that started in 1943: the invasion of North Africa
in November 1942, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, the landing of
Allied forces in Italy in September 1943; as well as support
operations required for the campaign in Northwest Europe, from
June 6th, 1944, to the Armistice.
The Royal Canadian Navy's participation in combined operations
took different forms. From 1943 onwards, speedboats patrolled the
Channel; Canadian-flagged minesweepers ensured the safe
passage of invasion flotillas in mine-infested waters. The RCN
landing crafts got Canadian and British soldiers to their destination .
And naturally, Canadian frigates and corvettes took part in landing
operations, protecting the Allied fleet against enemy submarines
and warships.
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