Winston Churchill: The Battle Of The Atlantic

Winston Churchill, the wartime prime minister of Britain once wrote that, '... the only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril'. The U-boat peril was the German submarines(the 'Unterseeboot') threatening to leave Britain stranded from her allies. The Royal Canadian Navy participated in the Battle of the Atlantic and that was instrumental to the survival of Britain. Moreover, the Canadian Navy participated in assaults on Sicily, Italy, Hong Kong, North Africa and other Pacific Islands. Nonetheless, the Canadian Merchant Navy was another huge factor in deciding the outcome of World War two.

As Rear Admiral Leonard Murray, Commander-in-Chief Canadian Northwest Atlantic said,”The Battle of the Atlantic was not

The Battle of the Atlantic was one of longest and most important campaigns of World War two. In a 6 month span between January 1942 to July 1942, the German submarines sank almost 400 allied ships which was leaving Britain desperate for resources(The Battle Of The Atlantic). The Royal Canadian Navy had to protect the convoys all the way across the 4000 km voyage from Canada to Britain. Knowing that there would be hundreds of German U-Boats in the Atlantic, Canada quickly expanded its Navy. Before the war, Canada had only 6 vessels and 3500 personnel(The Battle of the Atlantic). At the end of the war, Canada had over 434 commissioned vessels and over 95,000 personnel(The Battle of the Atlantic). In 1943, Allied leaders decided to create the Canadian Northwest Atlantic as a separate area of joint Royal Canadian Navy–Royal Canadian Air Force responsibility. This meant that all northern Atlantic convoy operations were to be under the command of Rear admiral Leonard Murray. It is the only major war theatre in which a Canadian commanded. More than 25,000 merchant ships made it to their destination under Canadian escort(The Merchant

At Normandy, 16 minesweepers helped clear paths for the landing ships(Canada’s Naval history). The first Royal Canadian Navy vessel to make its presence felt in the Pacific was when the cruiser HMCS Uganda joined the British Pacific Fleet in time to participate in the Allied operations around Okinawa in the spring of 1945. HMCS Prince Robert returned to the Pacific theatre and was present in the liberation of Hong Kong. The RCN even manned two British escort carriers while Canada's very own escort carrier was still in production. Furthermore, the RCN destroyed 42 enemy surface ships and sank 33 submarines(Royal Canadian Navy). However, this came at a steep price. The RCN lost 33 ships and suffered over 1990 casualties(Royal Canadian