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Battle of the Atlantic
By: Zia Khan, Alex Lee, Nathan Nguyen,
Bryan Song and Chase Cleary
Thesis
The Battle of the Atlantic was the attempted
naval blockade of the British Isles by Nazi
Germany and the ensuing struggle needed to
keep it in place. By being able to prevail over
the German U-Boat presence, the allies were
able to win the battle of Britain and gain a
foothold on the European continent.
Timeline of the Battle:
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September 3, 1939- British passenger ship sunk by German U- Boat fleet. 112 killed.
September 6, 1939- 36 Allied ships set out over Atlantic due to convoy purpose
August 17th 1940- The Germans are given full permission to attack all merchant ships, in an attempt to
submit GBR.(what’s GBR) March 11, 1941- Franklin Roosevelt gives authorization for unrestricted supply
to the Allies against the Axis
May 9, 1941- HMS Bulldog successfully captures German U-110 and enigma machine. Code-breakers
immediately begin trying to decode this device.
May 27, 1941- The first escorted convoy, the HX-129 begins to cross the Atlantic.
June 1-30, 1942- 834,000 tons of allied goods are lost- sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic. May 1, 1943Allied aircraft are fitted with U-Boat radar detecting systems.
May 24. 1943- Axis Admiral Karl Doenitz re-organizes the attacking strategy, making the U-Boats attack in
much smaller fleets.
June 6, 1943- D-Day renders German and French U-Boat bases in-operable.
April 1-30, 1945- USN sinks 4 German U-Boats, making for some of the last casualties in the battle
May 1, 1945, The Battle of the Atlantic is now over.
Map
Facts on the battle of the Atlantic
● The Battle of the Atlantic was not a single battle
o long naval struggle between 1939 to 1945
● The Allies wanted to secure the Atlantic convoy routes which were the
lifeline for the European Allies.
● The main strategy was to defeat Great Britain by severing their maritime
links to war materials.
o Norwegian bases permitted German U-boats to escape the Allied
blockade.
Facts continued
● Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz then ordered U-boats to attack in "wolf packs"
o up to 20 U-boats, and the wolf packs sank increasing tonnage.
● The British developed a centralized system of convoy routing
o dispersed ships widely, and strengthened escorts,
o U-boats extended their range farther into the Atlantic
● Technical Developments
o radar and airborne depth bombs
German U-Boat
● Anglicized U-boot
o Unterseeboat
● Classes of U-Boat
o Type I - Type XXIII
o Type VII most popular
● Armaments
o Acoustic Torpedos
● Use in warfare
o Economic Damage
A poster for the movie U-571
Major Events
Battle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence- In 1942, German U-Boats(submarines)
sank 23 merchant and naval ships between 1942 and 1944.
Black May- May 1943 represented the month in which German Navy had its
greatest strength of operational submarines (240 total; 118 on patrol at sea
during this month), it was only able to sink about 30 Allied ships in the Atlantic
Ocean.
Important People
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Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll
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Fleet Admiral for the United states Navy
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Commanded the Atlantic fleet
Karl Dönitz
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Under his command, the U-boat fleet fought the Battle of the Atlantic
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From 1940-1942, he waged an unsuccessful campaign to destroy the British merchant marine and starve out the
British isles.
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Grand Admiral Erich Raeder
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Carried out Hitler command of saying “all merchant ships definitely recognized as enemy can be torpedoed without
warning.”
Impact
● Supplied Great Britain with munitions and foodstuffs
● Influenced America into joining the war
● Lead to the development of Sonar
● Weakened Nazi Naval capabilities