What was the geographical perspective during the battle of the Atlantic:WW2?

Question

During the battle of Atlantic, what was the sea like? Where was it fought? Was the sea calm and easy to manoeuvre through, or was it rough and troublesome. Did this location advantage or disadvantage the soldiers? How did they cope with fighting in this location?

Answer 1

It is probably better to call it the 'Battle for (control of) the Atlantic'. It lasted several years from 1939 to 1945. There were battles within battles and many civilian merchant seafarers went down with their ships, especially prior to the formation of the 'convoy system'.

Nazi Germany relied heavily on U-boats or submarines which at first had the advantage as these boats, while cramped, were less victimized by the rough seas which were predominant in the North Atlantic. The U-boats used surprise and sometimes (again especially before the convoys) could fire at merchant ships and sink them at will. Most battles were fought along the seal lanes in the Atlantic (sea lanes being those routes which were most navigable) between North America and the British Isles.

Airmen and naval officers were those charged with most of the responsibility of defending convoys. Various forms of new technology were developed over the course of the war/battle which turned the tide (sorry about the pun) in the favour of the Allies. Canada's Royal Canadian Navy came to be a major player in protecting convoys using smaller, faster and lighter more manoeuvrable boats (sometimes with light aircraft carried aboard to protect the convoys from 'wolf packs' of U-boats. By the end of the War Canada's Navy which hardly existed before the war grew to be the third largest on the planet.

Nazi Germany attempted to bring new technology into U-boat use but had over specialized in terms of having U-boat 'mills' just rapidly manufacturing one particular design, they just could not keep up.



Look for source below and thumb through the entire book while reading about the Battle of the Atlantic (pages mentioned in citation):

Answer 2

The battle of the Atlantic was fought in the North Atlantic and the South Atlantic. The weather determined the sea conditions. Ships sank without a shot being fired, they were caught in seas that were too violent to survive.

Answer 3

The Battle of the Atlantic was 80%-90% fought in the northern shipping lanes between Canada/ US New England and the British Isles. So, on a map or globe the diamond shaped area of ocean of Canada Newfoundland to the south tip of Greenland, south of Iceland to Ireland then SE to the Azores (mid ocean islands on the Latitude of NYC) and back to Newfoundland . This is the northern most 20% of the Atlantic with the Atlantic's coldest most stormy seas.

Weather was basically almost never good for a whole trip, always cold and some of the worst/ coldest ocean weather on earth and just about impossible for winter which lasts 6 months of 12 that far north.

The geography involved is that it had to be that far north to be covered as much as possible by British/ allied air protection which could only be based in NE Atlantic Canada, Greenland, Iceland, North Ireland and it was also the shortest way to the British Isles.

The seas were 'difficult' at least 80% of the time and usually super cold too. Sailors coped by dressing really warm, going in 'convoys' of ships protected as much as possible by warships and the artic based land planes, and praying they wouldn't be sunk...that far north even in summer a man wouldn't last more than 1/2 hour in the cold water and in winter only 2-5 minutes.

Answer 4

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest running campaign of WW2. It was at its height between 1940 and 1943. In that time there was a complete range of sea states from flat calm to fierce storms.



It was a vast area. There was a big difference between the warm weather experienced near the Equator and the icy weather near the Arctic, where the spray would freeze to the ships. Humans could only survive for a matter of minutes if they were forced to jump into the water.



The weather could be very fierce. Many ships and aircraft were lost because of it without firing a shot.



It wasn't soldiers (apart from troops being transported and some given jobs as gunners). It was sailors and airmen.