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Battle of the Atlantic. Battle. This battle was the longest and most important battle of WWII. German U-boats. Targeted convoys in groups called wolf packs The goal was to stop the flow of supplies to Britain At the height of the was Germany had over 300 u-boats
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Battle • This battle was the longest and most important battle of WWII
German U-boats • Targeted convoys in groups called wolf packs • The goal was to stop the flow of supplies to Britain • At the height of the was Germany had over 300 u-boats • By early 1941, the Germans were sinking Allied ships faster than they could be built
Canadian Context • Germans sank the Caribou, a passenger ferry, sailing from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland • Killed 136 people • Only 6 days after declaring war, Canada’s first supply convoy set out from Halifax Harbour
Canada’s Role • Canadian Navy was to escort convoys halfway across the North Atlantic, then the British would take over • Training of Canadian sailors improved • Built more and better warships • 16,000 members on 188 warships • The Air Force increased its support of convoys • By 1943 more ships were getting past the German wolf packs • On the Water
Words from a Canadian Sailor... “What a miserable, rotten hopeless life . . . an Atlantic so rough it seems impossible that we can continue to take this unending pounding and still remain in one piece . . . hanging onto a convoy is a full-time job . . . the crew in almost a stupor from the nightmarishness of it all . . . and still we go on hour after hour.” Frank Curry of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) wrote these words in his diary aboard a corvette in 1941, during the Battle of the Atlantic a battle that would be called the longest in history.
Significance to Canada • Canada’s role in the Battle of the Atlantic was significant to the Allies victory over Germany • Canada used two lines of defence against the u-boats • New type of sea vessel called the corvette – could out-manoeuvre a submarine • The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)