The Battle of the Atlantic
This was the longest campaign of the Second World War between North America and Britain. This war was fought to gain control over shipping lanes between Britain and N. America. Germany wanted to cut off all connections between the two forces so that Britain would be weaker and surrender to Germany. People became committed to putting an end to the German submarine (wolf packs) threat. By the time 1941 came about, German U-boats were sinking ships faster than they could be built. Allied ships began traveling in convoys (merchant ships surrounded by destroyers for protection). The Royal Canadian Navy helped provide a lot of support with their small war ships called corvettes. The Royal Canadian Air force provided with long range bombing planes to aid in the protection of the ships over the Atlantic. By 1943 German U-boats suffered heavily and the Allies had won the Battle of the Pacific.
Initially the RCN (Royal Canadian Navy) only had 13 ships approximately 3,000 sailors, by the end of the war it had expanded to include 370 ships and almost 100,000 personnel. Over 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives in this battle, but this was arguably Canada's most decisive contribution on the war effort. Canadians who were not enlisted also played a large part in the Battle of the Atlantic by manned the firefighters that transported war materials to Europe.
This was the longest campaign of the Second World War between North America and Britain. This war was fought to gain control over shipping lanes between Britain and N. America. Germany wanted to cut off all connections between the two forces so that Britain would be weaker and surrender to Germany. People became committed to putting an end to the German submarine (wolf packs) threat. By the time 1941 came about, German U-boats were sinking ships faster than they could be built. Allied ships began traveling in convoys (merchant ships surrounded by destroyers for protection). The Royal Canadian Navy helped provide a lot of support with their small war ships called corvettes. The Royal Canadian Air force provided with long range bombing planes to aid in the protection of the ships over the Atlantic. By 1943 German U-boats suffered heavily and the Allies had won the Battle of the Pacific.
Initially the RCN (Royal Canadian Navy) only had 13 ships approximately 3,000 sailors, by the end of the war it had expanded to include 370 ships and almost 100,000 personnel. Over 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives in this battle, but this was arguably Canada's most decisive contribution on the war effort. Canadians who were not enlisted also played a large part in the Battle of the Atlantic by manned the firefighters that transported war materials to Europe.