The Battle of the Atlantic was critical for the Allied cause. The UK, being an island nation, was heavily dependent on provisions from the United States. Germany, using submarines (“Unterseeboot”, “U-boats”) hoped to defeat Britain by weakening their economy and interrupting its war supplies. (For a graphic portrayal of World War II in the Atlantic, see videos of “Victory at Sea: The Battle of the Atlantic”, first episode (parts 1 through 3). (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ausVC2NhAo)) Noting the importance of the circumstances, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill later stated: “The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air depended ultimately on its outcome…” (Costello & Hughes, The Battle of the Atlantic, p. 210)
An essential part of the Battle of the Atlantic was Britain and the United States’ efforts to supply Soviet Russia with critical equipment and foodstuffs. Murmansk is a Russian port. It is an anomaly. It is ice-free and is kept open all winter by warm currents flowing up from the Gulf Stream. The Allies fought to keep the sea lanes open to Murmansk while the Germans were determined to destroy every ship which dared to make the attempt. Allied convoys made the “Murmansk Run,” meaning convoys of ice-laden ships and freezing-to-death-in-seconds conditions. Nearly 4.5 million tons of supplies were moved in 77 successful convoys over the course of five years in order to help the Soviet war effort. By the end of the convoys, 98 Allied ships had been lost.
After 6 years, German efforts to win the Battle of the Atlantic were defeated, but the Allies suffered great losses. They lost 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships as opposed to just 738 German U-Boats. http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/media-ugc/items/2012-05-04-01-08-22-Battle%20of%20the%20Atlantic…1939-1945.
“Murmansk Run/Ellis Island,” written and sung by Al Stewart (1980), describes the dangers of the Murmansk Run. (https://youtu.be/k7kpqqDpF4Y)
Your father sailed on the Murmansk run
To guide the flocks of the ships home one by one
Grey beneath the Arctic sun
Or the glow of Northern LightsI see you have his photograph
His eyes are watching for dangers fore or aft
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk runHe never did come home to you
It’s long forgotten, a childhood dream or two
But something of the cold got through
And it lingers in your eyesOn days like these you hear the wind
And feel the chill of the ice floes closing in
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk runSave our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted seaNow you hide yourself from view
You seem to find it an easy thing to do
Trading days beneath the sun
For the cold and wintry nights of the Murmansk runSave our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted seaWell you wake up in the morning on Hester street
And run to the factory, You can’t afford to be late
Working every morning, every evening, every day
For your money, Yet there’s nothing to saveWatching your life pass by the window
Feeling it all run through your hands
Counting the thousands behind in the lines
Waiting time for their chanceFrom Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip awayMeanwhile from the market come the cries
Of every tongue and every nation
Refugeless refugees
Faces from the endless plains of Russia
Blonde Norwegian, dark Croatian
Songs in sad minor keys
Feeling the heat inside the fumace
Trying to make that break away
Reaching their hands for a grip
On the edge just to slip back againFrom Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip awayAh well I’ve heard it said
If you just use your head
You can make your fortune here
One lucky break and that’s all it would takeBut it never seems to be near
Another day, another ship pulls into harbor
And the crowd spills down the gangway
Clutching their suitcases tightBlinking in the sunlight at the door of the new world
They hold the handrail
With all the post thrown behind
Caught in between now and forever
Wondering just what lies ahead
Each one is waiting and hoping
The door will be open to themOn Ellis Island, day after day
On Ellis Island, time slips awayFrom Ellis Island, day after day
From Ellis Island, dreams slip awaySave our souls, river of darkness over me
Save our souls, lost on the dark uncharted sea
“Heave Ho,” the official U.S. Merchant Marine service song, was written in 1943 by Lt. j.g. Jack Lawrence, one of the musicians in the base band at the U.S. Maritime Service Training Center, Sheepshead Bay, N.Y. Lawrence wrote the song to tell the story of life at sea during World War II; the merchant marine defying the harsh physical elements and the actions of the enemy. (https://youtu.be/7WqS30LE9JQ)
Heave Ho! My Lads! Heave Ho!
VERSE
Give us the oil, give us the gas
Give us the shells, give us the guns.
We’ll be the ones to see them thru.
Give us the tanks, give us the planes.
Give us the parts, give us a ship.
Give us a hip hoo-ray!
And we’ll be on our way.CHORUS
Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho!
It’s a long, long way to go.
It’s a long, long pull with our hatches full,
Braving the wind, braving the sea,
Fighting the treacherous foe;
Heave Ho! My lads, Heave Ho!
Let the sea roll high or low,
We can cross any ocean, sail any river.
Give us the goods and we’ll deliver,
Damn the submarine!
We’re the men of the Merchant Marine!
With the fall of France in June 1940, Germany gained new bases on the French Atlantic coast from which its U-boats could operate. The German air force could also operate closer to the shipping areas. Spreading into the Atlantic, the U-boats began attacking convoys in “wolf packs” that consisted of up to 30 or more U-boats. Through the remainder of 1940 and into 1941, the U-boats enjoyed tremendous success and inflicted heavy losses on Allied shipping. In 1941, 875 Allied ships were sunk. Allied losses in the Atlantic reached their peak in 1942 with the sinking of almost 500 ships between January and June 1942 alone. Supplies of fuel and food to Britain reached critically low levels. (Costello & Hughes, The Battle of the Atlantic, p. )
Early on, the Royal Navy was hampered by a lack of suitable escort vessels for convoys. This was eased in September 1940, when fifty obsolete destroyers were obtained from the United States via the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. The U.S. provided 50 World War I destroyers to Great Britain, which helped to make good previous naval losses. In return, the United States received 99-year leases for British bases in Newfoundland, in Bermuda, and at numerous points in the Caribbean. To further assist the British, President Franklin Roosevelt extended the Pan-American Security Zone nearly to Iceland, and, though purportedly neutral, the United States provided escorts within this region. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1138420.shtml)
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Germans dispatched U-boats to the American coast and Caribbean under the name Operation Drumbeat. Commencing operations in January 1942, the U-boats took advantage of unescorted American merchant ships as well as the U.S. failure to implement a coastal black-out. As a result, Allied merchant shipping losses spiked between January and June 1942, when more tonnage was lost off the U.S. coast than the Allies had lost during the previous two and a half years.
Allied maritime fortunes turned as a result of the integration of several technologies which had become available in the latter half of 1942 and 1943. These included modern radar equipment, the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, continued advances in reading German radio traffic, and the Leigh Light. The Leigh Light allowed Allied aircraft to successfully attack surfaced U-boats at night. Other advances included the introduction of merchant aircraft carriers and very-long-range patrol aircraft, i.e. long-range maritime variants of the B-24 Liberator, combined with new escort carriers. Meanwhile, unprecedented merchant shipbuilding, especially in the United States, had caught up and begun to forge ahead of losses by autumn of 1942. (Costello & Hughes, The Battle of the Atlantic, p. )
Historians estimate that more than 100 convoy battles took place during the war. In the course of the fighting, Allied losses totaled around 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships, as well as around 72,000 sailors killed. German casualties numbered 783 U-boats and around 30,000 sailors (75 percent of the U-boat force). (Id.)
Despite the success of the U-boat, at least at the beginning of the war, most naval officers on both sides regarded surface warships as the ultimate commerce destroyers. From the summer of 1940, a small but steady stream of warships and armed merchant raiders set sail from Germany for the Atlantic to raid the shipping lanes. The greatest of all surface warships were the battleships and the greatest of all battleships was the German KMS Bismarck. When commissioned in 1940, the Bismarck was the largest surface warship of her type anywhere in the world.
In May 1941, the Germans mounted an ambitious raid in the Atlantic: Operation Rheinübung. The Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen put to sea to attack Allied convoys. The British were aware of the Bismarck’s departure through captured messages, and turned out virtually its whole Home Fleet – Britian’s main battle force in European waters- to prevent the planned attack. The British fleet intercepted Bismarck and Prinz Eugen off the coast of Iceland.
In the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the British battlecruiser HMS Hood was blown up and sank within three minutes with the loss of all but three of her crew. But, Bismarck suffered damage to her forward fuel tanks and had to run to occupied France for repairs. The Bismarck nearly reached her destination, but was disabled by an airstrike from the carrier HMS Ark Royal, and then sunk by the Home Fleet three days later. Her sinking marked the end of the warship raids as a World War II tactic. The advent of long-range search aircraft, notably the PBY Catalina, largely neutralized surface raiders. Submarines became the undisputed anti-commerce weapon.
“Sink the Bismarck,” written by Johnny Horton and Tillman Franks (1960), sung by Johnny Horton, tells the story of the Bismarck’s demise. (https://youtu.be/M1Ufc2hI4FM) This was a pop song in the early 1960s that rose high on the music charts; nevertheless, it does contain some factual information.
In May of 1941 the war had just begun
The Germans had the biggest ship that had the biggest guns
The Bismarck was the fastest ship that ever sailed the sea
On her decks were guns as big as steers and shells as big as treesOut of the cold and foggy night came the British ship The Hood
And every British seaman, he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismarck, the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as treesWe’ll find the German battleship that’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck ’cause the world depends on us
Yeah hit the decks a runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
And when we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her downThe Hood found the Bismarck and on that fatal day
The Bismarck started firing fifteen miles away
‘We gotta sink the Bismarck’ was the battle sound
But when the smoke had cleared away the mighty Hood went downFor six long days and weary nights they tried to find her trail
Churchill told the people put every ship asail
‘Cause somewhere on that ocean I know she’s gotta be
We gotta sink the Bismarck to the bottom of the seaWe’ll find the German battleship that’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck ’cause the world depends on us
Yeah hit the decks a runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her downThe fog was gone the seventh day and they saw the morning sun
Ten hours away from homeland the Bismarck made its run
The Admiral of the British fleet said, “Turn those bows around”
We found that German battleship and we’re gonna cut her downThe British guns were aimed and the shells were coming fast
The first shell hit the Bismarck, they knew she couldn’t last
That mighty German battleship is just a memory
‘Sink the Bismarck’ was the battle cry that shook the seven seasWe found the German battleship t’was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismarck ’cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a runnin’ and we spun those guns around
Yeah we found the mighty Bismarck and then we cut her downWe found the German battleship t’was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismarck ’cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a runnin’ and we spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismarck and then we cut her down