How were the Americans able to win the Battle of the Atlantic?
1 Answer
All in all, the Allies won the Battle through a combination of technological advancement, a betterment of tactics, availability of supplies, and the advance of the war effort in different fronts.
Explanation:
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest campaign in WW2 and involved Germany (and later Italy) disrupting shipments of military equipment and supplies from North America to Great Britain - the idea being that if the Axis powers could disrupt enough equipment and supplies from reaching Great Britain, it would be forced to surrender.
It's a plan that nearly worked. The destruction wrought by the Axis submarines on Atlantic shipping was huge. So the question now becomes: How was the Battle won?
It was a combination of factors that decided it. First and foremost, technology advanced, making finding submarines at longer and longer distances easier and enhancing the killing ability of ships and aircraft against submarines.
Another was changes in tactics. At first, shipping was sent individually - the thinking that it was harder for German U-boats to find a single ship in the ocean than a big convoy. This didn't work well - German U-boats operated in "Wolf Packs" and sank large numbers of supply ships.
Over time, the Allies changed tactics and placed heavily armed escort ships (along with the newly developed aircraft carrier and their ability to project airpower over long distances away from land air bases) with groups of supply ships moving together. At the same time, German tactics changed and now it was U-boats that operated singly - and they were destroyed en masse.
Another factor has to do with the ability to build replacements of what was lost. The American factories and shipyards were never bombed nor were the supply lines that brought in a constant stream of steel, food, and other supplies. The Germans, on the other hand, began experiencing shortages of those same materials as Allied air power took over German skies. And German shipbuilding facilities were bombed faster than the Germans could keep them fixed.
All in all, the Allies won the Battle through a combination of technological advancement, a betterment of tactics, availability of supplies, and the advance of the war effort in different fronts.
This link has more information:
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/battle-of-the-atlantic
