Timeline of the Battle of the Atlantic
This is a Timeline for the Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945) in World War II.
1939
September
September 3, 1939
- German submarine U-30 sinks the SS Athenia. This attack is interpreted by the United Kingdom as the start of unrestricted submarine warfare. However, in Germany it leads to stricter controls being issued by the Kriegsmarine. Germany at this point had 39 of its 58 U-boats at sea, but this was far less than the 300 which Admiral Karl Dönitz, chief of German submarine forces, considered to be necessary before the opening of war.
September 5, 1939
- HMS Neptune (20) stops, evacuates and sinks the German freighter Inn off the Canary Islands.
September 14, 1939
- U-39 attacks the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, but fails to cause any damage. The aircraft carrier's escorts force U.39 to the surface with depth charges and the crew are taken prisoner.
September 16, 1939
- The first Allied convoy sets sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia. HX-1 contained 18 merchant ships and was escorted by HMCS St Laurent and HMCS Saguenay to an Atlantic rendezvous with Royal Navy ships HMS Berwick and HMS York.
September 17, 1939
- U-29 sinks the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.
September 17, 1939
- The first Allied "fast convoy" HXF-1 sets sail from Halifax escorted by HMCS Fraser.
September 20, 1939
- U-27 is sunk with depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Fortune and Forester.
September 26, 1939
- German media reports the sinking of the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. However, this report is false: many such reports would be made during the war.
September 30, 1939
- German pocket battleship Graf Spee sinks the first merchant ship of its cruise. Total sinkings for its sortie will total nine vessels totalling 50,000 tons before it becomes embroiled in the Battle of the River Plate.
Dec 4
- First U-boat lost to an Allied submarine in the war when HMS Salmon sank the U-36 outside Kristiansund in Norway.
October
October 14
- U-47, under Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien, penetrates the British naval base at Scapa Flow, sinking HMS Royal Oak at anchor.
October 16
- Germany begins employing magnetic mines. These cause significant losses to Allied shipping.
November
November 21, 1939
- British light cruiser HMS Belfast hits a German mine, and is seriously damaged while operating in the Firth of Forth.
November 23, 1939
- A German magnetic mine is recovered successfully by the Allies, leading to the development of effective counter-measures. The German battleship Scharnhorst sinks the British armed merchant vessel Rawalpindi. The Scharnhorst and its accompanying Gniesenau are forced to abandon their sortie and return to port.
December
December 10, 1939
- The first Allied troop convoy TC-1 set sail from Halifax with 7,400 men of the Canadian First Division.
1940
February
February 14, 1940
- The United Kingdom announces armaments will be carried by all passenger ships. Germany responds by announcing that all vessels will be considered warships.
March
March 16, 1940
- A German air raid at Scapa Flow damages a cruiser and causes the first civilian casualties in Britain of the war.
June
June 25, 1940
- Canada lost its first navy vessel during an accident off the coast of France, when HMCS Fraser was cut in two by Royal Navy cruiser HMS Calcutta, with 45 lives lost aboard the Fraser and 19 aboard Calcutta.
August
August 4, 1940
- U-52 sinks 3 British merchant steamships.
October
October 22, 1940
- HMCS Margaree, recently acquired to replace HMCS Fraser, was sunk in a collision with the freighter MV Port Fairy 480 km west of Ireland. 142 men were lost, including the captain and four other officers.
December
December 1. 1940
- HMCS Saguenay was the first Canadian naval vessel hit by torpedo in the Battle of the Atlantic, attacked 300 miles west of Ireland by a submarine while escorting Convoy HG-47.
1941
June
June 13, 1941
- Newfoundland Escort Force created under the command of Admiral Murray based at St John's Newfoundland, to provide escort cover from the coast of Canada to Iceland.
July
July 7, 1941
- President Roosevelt announces that US warships will henceforth protect US merchant vessels in the North Atlantic, and the USA effectively joined the Battle of the Atlantic.
September
September 10, 1941
- Canadian corvettes HMCS Moosejaw and HMCS Chambly sank U-501 by depth charges and ramming in the Denmark Strait south of Tasiilaq, Greenland. This was Canada's first U-boat kill of the Battle of the Atlantic.
September 19, 1941
- HMCS Levis was the first Canadian corvette sunk during the war. Levis was hit by a torpedo while escorting SC-44 off the coast of Greenland.
October
October 31, 1941
- HX 156 was being escorted by the United States Navy in October, 1941, when U-552 torpedoed USS Reuben James. Reuben James was the first United States warship sunk during World War II.
1942
January
January 12, 1942
- MV Cyclops is sunk 160 miles south of Halifax, heralding the start of a U-boat campaign that saw approximately 200 merchant vessels sunk within 10 miles of the East coast of the USA.
January 30, 1942
- Convoy SC 67 departed Halifax and picked up a transatlantic escort in Newfoundland, which accompanied the convoy as far as Northern Ireland. This marked the start of the allied end-to-end convoy escort system, which remained in effect until the end of the war.
March 20, 1942
- A new system of BX and XB convoys was initiated between Halifax and Boston, to counter the U-boat campaign along the East coast of the USA.
June
June 10, 1942
- U-553, torpedoed and sank the British freighter Nicoya at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River several kilometres off Anticosti Island, followed by the Dutch freighter Leto
July
July 6, 1942
September
September 14, 1942
- HMCS Ottawa was torpedoed by U-91 while escorting Convoy ON-127 500 nautical miles (930 km) east of St. John's, Newfoundland, at 47°55′N 43°27′W / 47.917°N 43.45°W / 47.917; -43.45Coordinates: 47°55′N 43°27′W / 47.917°N 43.45°W / 47.917; -43.45 (German naval grid BC 6191). 114 crew lost their lives, including the commanding officer, while 65 survivors were rescued by nearby vessels.
October
October 14, 1942
- Newfoundland Railway passenger ferry SS Caribou was torpedoed by the U-69, in Cabot Strait
1943
September
September 8, 1943
- Italy surrenders, and Britain starts to redeploy their Mediterranean destroyers to the Atlantic.
December
December 26, 1943
- ships of the Royal Navy sank the German battleship Scharnhorst off Norway's North Cape.
Month-by-month summaries
1939
- September: Allied shipping losses total 53 vessels. 41 vessels totaling 153,800 tons are lost to submarines. German losses are two submarines.
- October: Allied shipping losses total 196,000 tons. German losses are five submarines.
- November: Allied shipping losses to submarines are 21 vessels totaling 51,600 tons. More than 100,000 tons are lost to German mines.
- December: Allied shipping losses are 73 vessels totaling 189,900 tons. 25 are sunk by submarines. The Germans lose one submarine.
Total Allied losses to mines during 1939 are 79 vessels totaling 262,700 tons.
1940
- January: Allied losses are 73 vessels totaling 214,500 tons, of which 40 vessels totaling 111,200 tons are sunk by submarines. Germany has 38 operational submarines to begin the year.
- February: Allied losses are 226,900 tons, of which 45 vessels totaling 169,500 tons are lost to submarines.
- March: Allied losses are 45 vessels, of which 23 are lost to submarines. Germany loses three submarines.
- October: Massacre of Convoy SC-7
1941
- June: Allied losses are 590,000 tons
1942
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1943
- March
- Allied shipping losses were 627,000 tons.
- April: Closing of Mid-Atlantic gap
- May
- Allied shipping losses were 157,000 tons, and 37 U-boats were sunk plus 32 damaged.
- U-boats withdrawn Black May
- June: 17 U-boats destroyed
- July: 46 U-boats destroyed
- August: 20 U-boats destroyed
References
The Battle of the Atlantic by John Costello and Terry Hughes (1977, Collins, London) ISBN 0 00 216048 10
External links
- The Battle of the Atlantic Original reports and pictures from The Times
- Chronology 1939-42 at naval-history.net
- Chronology 1942-45 at naval-history.net