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The Battle of the Atlantic

As it is known, the Kriegsmarine (German navy) is well known for building U-boats, to prey on enemy shipping. Hitler wanted his submarines to sink Allied shipping, mostly those with destination to either Great Britain or Russia. In the beginning of the Second World War, many cargo ships were operating on their own and therefore unprotected. This made them easy targets for submarines. The Allied losses in 1942 were hundreds of ships. German wolf packs (groups of submarines operating together) had no problem decimating Allied shipping. Something needed to be done about the u-boat problem. The result were major jumps in WWII anti-submarine tactics and weapons. The Allies began to organize their ships into shipping convoys, where the cargo vessels were surrounded and protected by warships. New anti-submarine weapons were created like the hedgehog anti-submarine mortar. New anti-submarine escort vessels were built, like escort carriers and frigates. Some anti-submarine warships were actually organized into hunter-killer groups, where they would actively hunt down German u-boats. Long range patrol bombers equipped with radar would actively search for submarines. The Kriegsmarine began to suffer from unrecoverable losses and, by the end of 1943, was no where near the force it was. At the same time, American shipbuilding efforts were increased. Simple and quickly built cargo ships such as the Liberty ship building program were started, and began to create hundreds of new cargo vessels. This building program joined with advanced submarine tactics and weapons, were able to win the Battle of the Atlantic, and keep the Allied forces supplied, contributing to the victory in WWII.

Works Cited

//The Americans Holt McDougal //. Student ed. Orlando Florida: Houghton, 2012. Print.