WWII Uboat campaign Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

WWII Uboat campaign - Term Paper Example German boats were equipped with 5 torpedoes and one main gun (Russell 122). U- Boats were mainly constructed for intelligence gathering of enemy movement and for launching special operations. German war planners very efficiently used U-boats to threaten and ultimately target the royal and merchant navy. U-boats sunk Royal navy and merchant ships sunk in huge numbers in different occasions. Restrictions of â€Å"treaty of Versailles† could not compel German navy to do away with submarine tactics during the Second World War (Gannon 47). Besides sinking battleships, boats also sunk an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic waters. U-boats almost compelled Britain war planners to consider surrender in the war. After the completion of German campaign in Western Europe, Hitler’s navy employed all the u-boats in Atlantic for patrolling the waters. This posed great threat to British merchant fleet as very less escort was available to guard the ships against German u-boat attacks. Sub marines had already proved the metal in the First World War but after passing about 20 years the U-boat tactics played havoc in Atlantic waters (Russell 119). U-boats played an important part in world war two, Winston Churchill claimed that U-boat war in Atlantic was so impressive and result oriented that Britain was forced to consider surrender during the Second World War.... German navy decided to target merchant fleets to threaten trade in the Atlantic. Merchant fleets used to travel with inadequate fleet so vulnerability to German attacks was already increased. It was almost impossible for Britain to provide complete protection and aerial cover to fleets throughout their Atlantic route. German navy started analyzing the points on the sea route where these fleets were coverless and no aerial or naval support available to merchant ships (Showell 71). Mid Atlantic was one of the lucrative options for attacking these fleets. The royal Britain navy was already over tasked in different regions of the world. Royal navy was facing challenging situation in accomplishment of the tasks in Atlantic, Far East and the Mediterranean. Therefore, the royal navy was already overstretched in the war. Such huge tasks of royal navy demanded careful planning and use of intelligence and tactics from naval and army commanders (Russell 132). Royal navy was greatly assisted by the French navy in defending the Mediterranean. Germany had 56 boats out of which only 46 were operational at the start of the war. According to the understanding of the famous â€Å"treaty of Versailles† Germany was not allowed to maintain any submarine as part of its naval fleet (Stern 58). Therefore, Germany took other measures by sending the troops abroad for submarine training. The treaty posed no restrictions on training the troops for anti submarine tasks. U-boat commanders were told to target merchant ships in Atlantic to break the backbone of British trade. In august 39, seventeen U-boats were sent to Atlantic Ocean with the mission of patrolling and laying mines (Showell 72). At the start of the battle, u-30 attacked and sunk liner â€Å"thania† casting 112 life causalities