Page 29 - History of War - Issue 25-16

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC

THE CONVOY SYSTEM
This was the key way merchant ships making the
hazardous trip across the North Atlantic organised
themselves. Travelling in large groups, they were protected
by ‘outriders’ from the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian B24 LIBERATOR
Navy and the later the US Navy. Although there could be
scores of ships in a convoy, because of shortages there
were often just four warships accompanying them, which
used a combination of sonar and radar to ‘watch’ for
U-boats both above and below the waves. AIRCRAFT
Although aircraft were the U-boats’ greatest
adversary, early on in the war the Allies had
no long-range planes capable of patrolling
the entire north Atlantic. An area in the
heart of the ocean known as the ‘air gap’
allowed the U-boats to hunt unhindered.
As the war went on, however, planes
such as the Consolidated PBY Catalina
and bombers like the Consolidated B-24
Liberator were adapted so that they could
l y longer distances.

FIDO TORPEDO
The US-built Mark 24 was a 310
kilogram torpedo that used two
acoustic transducers (or antennae)
that reacted to sound so that it
could literally home in on its target.
Measuring 215 centimetres long
and 50 centimetres wide, it was
dropped from aircraft and then,
DESTROYER powered by a ive-horsepower
The Royal Navy had about 180 electric motor, propelled towards
its target at a speed of 12 knots
destroyers when the war broke out. In (the top speed of Dönitz’s U-boats
the early stages of the conlict, these while submerged was just ten knots)
were the most effective weapon for delivering a 40 kilogram high-
defending convoys against submarine explosive warhead.
attacks. Fast moving and more heavily
armed than the U-boats, they also had
shallow hulls making them particularly
difi cult for U-boat commanders
to torpedo them. By the end of the
conl ict, a further 277 destroyers had
been commissioned, while 153 had
been sunk – but only 28 to submarines.

DEPTH CHARGES TORPEDO MINE
As they struggled to keep up with
convoys while submerged, the U-boats
often attacked on the surface and at
night when their slender shape was
hard to detect with binoculars. Once MOORED MINES
engaged by a warship or an aircraft,
however, they’d need to dive to survive.
Underwater, they were vulnerable to “SINCE HUMANS FIRST BEGAN ENGAGING IN
depth-charge attacks from above.
These timer-controlled, high-explosive ORGANISED CONFLICT THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO,
charges were jettisoned into the
water in patterns, often exploding THE VICTORS HAVE ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY BEEN © Acute Graphics
simultaneously above and below the
THOSE WITH THE TECHNOLOGICAL EDGE”
submarine, sandwiching it in a blast.

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