The Battle of the Atlantic
An Atlantic Convoy Underway
The most dangerous weapon of Germany in the Second World War was the submarine or U-Boat. They sank a total of 2,973 Allied ships, the vast majority of which [2,828] were merchant vessels. Starting with only 27 boats in 1939, the Kriegsmarine built a total of 1,162 of which 785 were lost. The effort to defeat the U-Boat was known as the Battle of the Atlantic and it lasted the entire duration of the war.
The Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian ship owners and seamen played an enormous role in the Battle of the Atlantic operating escorts and merchant ships, guarding and operating ports and organizing convoys.
Numbers tell the story of the contribution:
Royal Canadian Navy |
Sept. 1939 |
Sept. 1945 |
Ships |
13 |
373 |
Personnel |
3,500 |
110,000 |
Ships Lost |
- |
240 |
Personnel Lost |
- |
2,000 |
U-Boats Sunk |
- |
50 |
Canadian Merchant Marine |
- |
- |
Merchant Ships |
38 |
410 |
Died at Sea |
- |
1,600 |
Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison described a typical day's ocean traffic during the Battle of the Atlantic:
Every day on the [North] American half of the...Atlantic convoy route, there were five or six convoys at sea, making altogether 206 ships and 38 escorts, with 49 U-Boats [hunting] them. [Note the number of submarines exceeded the number of escorts until late in the war.] [Also,] every day in coastal waters between Quebec and Jacksonville, there were 205 ships, 190 of them with 26 escorts in eight or nine convoys.
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In Nova Scotia's capital, erected in Point Pleasant Park, is one of the few tangible reminders of the men who died at sea. The Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War lost twenty-four ships and nearly 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives.
At Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia stands the sole monument to the Canadians lost at sea during the World Wars.
1914 - 1939 1918 - 1945
IN THE HONOUR OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE NAVY, ARMY AND MERCHANT NAVY OF CANADA WHOSE NAMES ARE INSCRIBED HERE. THEIR GRAVES ARE UNKNOWN BUT THEIR MEMORY SHALL ENDURE
For some additional information on the Battle of the Atlantic visit:
The Battle of the Atlantic
German Description of Attacks on Convoys PQ-15 and QP-11
Canada's Air Force in the Battle of the Atlantic
Credits: The statistics used above are from the web site of Canadian Veterans Affairs; the Morison quote is from his History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 1, Chpt. 17.
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