Strategic
and Maritime Situation
Areas under direct
Allied control included Canada and Newfoundland,
Bermuda, many of the West Indies, British and
French
Guiana, islands in the Central and South
Atlantic, much
of the Atlantic seaboard of Africa, and
Gibraltar. Also
the waters of Britain and France. The one major
defensive
gap was the lack of bases in Eire to cover the
Western
Approaches further out into the Atlantic.
Germany (now
including Austria and
Czechoslovakia) was restricted to a short North
Sea and
Baltic coastline. Its exits to the Atlantic
passed
through the Allied controlled English Channel
and North
Sea. However, Britain's survival depended on the
Atlantic
trade routes; Germany's did not. Britain and her
Allies introduced convoys
without delay having learned many of the hard
lessons of
World War 1.
Primary
Maritime Tasks
These
were
based on the assumption Britain and France
were actively allied against the European Axis
powers of Germany and Italy. The Royal Navy
would be responsible for
the North Sea and most of the Atlantic, although
the
French would contribute some forces. In the
Mediterranean, defence would be shared between
both
Navies, but as it happened, Benito Mussolini's
claimed
ownership of the Mediterranean - his 'Mare
Nostrum' did
not have to be disputed for another nine months.
Threats and
Responses:
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OBJECTIVE 1
- Defence
of trade routes, and convoy
organisation and
escort, especially to and from
Britain. |
- Until May
1940
the main threat was from U-Boats
operating in the North Sea
and South Western Approaches. For a few
months
two pocket battleships posed a danger in
the
broader reaches of the Atlantic.
- The first
overseas
convoys left
Britain via the South Western
Approaches. From
the Thames they sailed through the
English
Channel (OA) and from Liverpool
through the Irish
Sea (OB). Later in September convoys
left
Freetown, Sierra Leone (SL), Halifax,
Nova Scotia
(HX) and Gibraltar (HG) for the UK.
- In the
North
Atlantic anti-submarine escorts were
provided from Britain
out to 200 miles west of Ireland
(15°W) and to
the middle of the Bay of Biscay. For a
few
hundred miles from Halifax, cover was
given by
Canadian warships. The same degree of
protection
was given to ships sailing from other
overseas
assembly ports.
- Cruisers
and
(shortly) armed merchant cruisers
sometimes took
over as ocean escorts. Particularly
fast or slow ships
from British, Canadian and other
assembly ports
sailed independently, as did the many
hundreds of
vessels scattered across the rest of
the oceans.
Almost throughout the war it was the
independently-routed ships and the
convoy stragglers that suffered
most from the mainly German warships,
raiders, aircraft
and above all submarines that sought
to break the
Allied supply lines.
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OBJECTIVE 2
-
Detection and destruction of surface
raiders and
U-boats. |
- Patrols
were
carried out by RAF Coastal Command in
the North Sea, and by
Home Fleet submarines off southwest
Norway and
the German North Sea bases. RAF Bomber
Command prepared
to attack German warships in their
bases.
- Fleet
aircraft
carriers were
employed on anti-U-boat sweeps in the
Western Approaches.
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OBJECTIVE 3
-
Maritime blockade of Germany and
contraband
control. |
- As German
merchant ships tried to
reach home or neutral ports, units of
the Home Fleet sortied into the North
Sea
and waters between Scotland, Norway and
Iceland.
The Northern Patrol of old cruisers,
followed
later by armed merchant cruisers had the
unenviable task of covering the area
between the
Shetlands and Iceland. In addition,
British and
French warships patrolled the North and
South Atlantic.
- Closer to
Germany the first mines were laid by
Royal Navy
destroyers in the approaches to
Germany's North
Sea bases.
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OBJECTIVE 4
-
Defence of own coasts. |
- Right
through
until May 1940 U-boats operated around
the coasts
of Britain and in the North Sea.
Scotland's Moray
Firth was often a focus for their
activities.
They attacked with both torpedoes and
magnetic
mines. Mines were also laid by surface
ships and
aircraft.
-
British East Coast convoys (FN/FS)
commenced between
the Thames Estuary and the Firth of
Forth in
Scotland. Southend-on-Sea, the Thames
peacetime
seaside resort, saw over 2,000 convoys
arrive and
depart in the course of the war.
- Defensive
mine laying began
with an anti-U-boat barrier in the
English Channel
across the Straits of Dover, followed
by an East
Coast barrier to protect coastal
convoy routes.
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OBJECTIVE 5
-
Escort troops to France and between
Britain, the
Dominions and other areas under Allied
control. |
- An
immediate
start was made transporting the British
Expeditionary Force (BEF) to France. By
the end of 1939
the first Canadian troops had arrived in
Britain, and
by early 1940 Australian, Indian and New
Zealand forces were on their way
to Egypt and the Middle East. Troop
convoys were
always heavily escorted, and the
Dominion Navies
played an important part in protecting
the men as
they left their home shores. Australian
and New Zealand
cruisers were
particularly active in the Indian Ocean. |
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Major Warship
Strengths
|
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Navies |
Royal
Navy
|
French
Navy
|
German
Navy
|
Warship
types |
Home
waters
(a)
|
Atlantic
(b)
|
Atlantic
and
Channel
|
European
waters
|
Atlantic
station |
Battleships
|
9
|
-
|
2
|
3
|
2(c)
|
Carriers
|
4
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
Cruisers
|
21
|
14
|
3
|
7
|
-
|
Destroyers
|
82
|
13
|
20
|
22
|
-
|
Submarines
|
21
|
4
|
-
|
41(d)
|
16
|
Totals
|
137
|
31
|
26
|
73
|
18
|
|
plus
escorts
|
-
|
-
|
plus
torpedo
boats
|
-
|
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Notes:
Royal Navy was a
mix
of World War 1, modernised and recently
completed
ships. The French warships allocated to the
Atlantic
and the German were mainly modern.
(a) Home Fleet
commanded by Adm Sir Charles Forbes
with 7 capital ships, 2 carriers and 16
cruisers
based at Scapa Flow and Rosyth; Channel Force
with 2 battleships, 2 carriers
and 3 cruisers; Humber Force with 2 cruisers;
various destroyer
flotillas.
(b) North Atlantic
Command based at Gibraltar with 2 cruisers and
9
destroyers; America and West Indies Command at
Bermuda with 4
cruisers; and South Atlantic at Freetown with
8 cruisers and 4
destroyers.
(c) Pocket
battleships
"Admiral Graf Spee" in the South and
"Deutschland" in the North Atlantic.
(d) Includes
U-boats on patrol in the North Sea and
British coastal waters.
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