I served from 1962-1966 aboard the SS-572, and SSBN-600 as a reactor operator. That service is what changed me from an 18 year old kid into a man. My father was a crew chief on B-17s that bombed Germany. It’s difficult to understand today’s military. BWV IC3SS, 9901. I really appreciate this channel. Thank you very much.
My father volunteered for the US Navy on December 8th, 1941. His first active duty was Spring 1942, North Atlantic Convoy. At one point he found himself on detached duty onboard a Liberty ship. One night he was tapped by his NCO -- "MacDonald, you're on U-boat watch." At that point he is handed a pair of binoculars and a .45. My dad looked at this and said, "What the f*** am I supposed to do with this? Shoot the periscope?" His NCO explained that if he spotted something he was supposed to just fire the .45 into the air. It was an extra way to attract the attention of the (hopefully) nearby destroyer. Due to his experiences, knowing the song Ruben James by Woody Guthrie was a matter of duty in my household...
I'll be honest, it took me a while to warm to your style when you replaced Indy on the great war channel... but I actually have grown to prefer your narration.@@jessealexander2695
My late Dad was a wartime merchant seaman 1940 - 1946 and he said that up to mid 1943 he felt they had virtually no protection and only knew there was a submarine attack when ships were hit, but after then it was not unusual to see an escort vessel suddenly veer off and start depth charging thanks to Sonar.
It was not thanks to sonar. The British already HAD Sonar, its just at the time we called it by the name ASDIC. Despite the different names however Sonar and ASDIC are *exactly* the same thing. It was initially developed in late 1917 - 1918, and became a workable system during the early twenties. What changed was number of escorts available, tactics, and other non sonar related technologies such as better ways of deploying ASW weapons (the initial stern dropped depth charge rails had the major disadvantage that the escort lost sonar contact with the target as they started their pass), and the development of smaller, more powerful radar sets due to the development of he Cavity magnetron.
During my teenage years, I had the opportunity to tour the U-505 submarine exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. I was taken aback by the limited space. Thank you for the very interesting history video.
I noted that in Gallery's book on U505 there was no acknowledgement that the British had acquired an Enigma machine ... even in 1955 (I think that was the year of publication) Britain presumably hadn't admitted publicly to having broken the code.
1944 would see the peak size of the U-Boat fleet. With 100 boats at sea in June. A number they would never reach again. 1944 would also be the deadliest year, with 239 boats lost.
Great summary. A few extra elements you missed also had big effects. Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU) was an analysis group that studied reports to successfully predict Uboat positioning. Passive sonar buoys and Acoustic torpedoes had big impacts. Sonar and hydrophones improved dramatically throughout the war. Aircraft, escort and convoy tactics, numbers and equipment steadily improved, adapting much faster than Uboats. The radar, radio and decryption (EW) battle was complex and went through many iterations. Tech was developed much faster and introduced more quickly and completely between allies than axis.
FWIW I had the 'Das Boot' mini-series on VHS in German. Watched it many times and found something new in each viewing. Great war film. (My tapes are gone. Lost in a move. Same for the VCR to play them.)
Real Time History. The only TH-cam channel capable of working a reference to Daniel Boone into a video about the Battle of the Atlantic. Fun Fact: Daniel Boone actually had a cameo appearance in Das Boot. He was the bear.
I congratulate this channel. It’s the first video of theirs that I have watched and I think by far the most comprehensive, even handed, professional examination of a war conflict that I’ve watched. I am a pensioner and so money is tight. I will see what I can do about Nebula
The Poles broke the code in 1932 but by 1938 the Germans improved the code's security and their method no longer worked in deciphering the more complicated wartime enigma code. That's where Turing comes in. Rejewski and company absolutely deserve a lot of credit and there is a memorial in Bletchley Park in their honour.
You forgot to mention Walker RN, THE British Navel person who actually changed the way destroyers hunted U Boats in the Atlantic. Check his book he wrote in the fifties.
@@steeltrap3800 It’s actually a book about how he trialed a new form of anti submarine warfare, and perfected the technique, which involved two destroyers/ frigates hunting as a team against U- Boats.
@@davethom73 Yes, I know a bit about his methods. I found the rolling barrage especially interesting, in part because I have Peter 'Ali' Cremer's book: "U-333 The Story of a U-boat Ace" and he describes being on the receiving end of one of those (he was sent out on patrol following 'black May' to try to find out what was happening, being one of the most experienced u-boat skippers alive at that time). Cheers
True. It was probably the only war theatre where Germany had a realistic chance to decide the war in their favour. The Atlantic was the lifeline for Britain and the Soviet Union.
Ah, I would like to point out a small criticism (great video overall though): An important contributor to the loss of overall skill level & experience of the U-Boat crews towards the middle war (late '42-'43) was the difficulties in training said crews due the the yearly restriction of their relatively safe training areas in the Baltic. It is of course, difficult to quantify the effect, but this was pointed out in Clay Blair's "Hitler's U-Boat War." I have to re-read much of it to find the exact reference.
I didn't hear you mention that the British created a "game", to teach eacort Captains how to hunt, find and destroy U-Boats. Training in the use of the tools often negates the opponent having better tools.
10 หลายเดือนก่อน +4
Very interesting stuff. I have to say I didnt know how bad the Uboots performed in the late war. Some of these statistics are quite eye opening
Two other important weapons introduced in 1943 were Hedgehog and the Mk 24 acoustic anti-submarine homing torpedo, Fido. Equally important was the work of the Western Tactical Approaches Unit, who developed new procedures such as Raspberry, to corrral and trap attacking U boats. That aspect is sadly overlooked in videos such as this. The excellent Drachinifels did one of his items on this and serious students of the topic should watch it.
3 inch Anti Submarine Rocket Projectile was first used in May 1943. Got two kills, one by a Swordfish off an Escort Carrier and one by a Beaufighter in the Bay of Biscay. Sonobuoys were introduced in 1942 and Magnetic Anomaly Detectors in early 1944.
My dad was in the Coast Guard. His duties were to load ammo, alternating with u-boat patrols at the mouth of the James and Elizabeth Rivers where they met the Chesapeake Bay and where the Bay met the Atlantic Ocean, all within a few miles of each other.
The radio was the U-Boat's Achilles heel- even without Ultra code breaking the HF/DF capabilities, together with more and better escorts, 10 cm radar and air patrols meant that once a U-Boat sent a sighting report the Allied ships could track down and attack the U-Boat shadowing the convoys. Codebreaking was vital, of course especially when the Allies could locate the U-Tankers and sink them. Radar was probably the most important tech, though.
@@briang.7206 Decoding the message is not the issue, whether that message is telling you where the submarines are IS. When given their orders submarines were given a patrol zone, so you might know that a Submarine is in a certain area of sea, but what Enigma will not tell is is exactly where it is. Which is why HFDF and Centimetric Radar were more important on the Escorts than Ultra level intelligence. HFDF and Radar will tell you pretty much exactly where the Submarine is, and that is the information an Escort Skipper actually needs to prosecute an attack on a U-Boat... But that level of information will not be sent over enigma....
@@alganhar1 yes I read a book about the early development & use of radar. I was very interested in the subject since I was a radar operator in the U.S. Navy.
By the end of the war, Germany had perfected the submarine. I believe the biggest improvement, Germany made was the snorkel. That allowed the U-Boats the ability to run their engines while submerged. Running electric engines while submerged slowed the U-boats. By being able to use their diesel engines while submerged increased their range.
"We go out on patrol and they're just waiting for us! They've broken our code!" German Admiralty: "Enigma is unbreakable." Alan Turing, "Unbreakable? Hold my beer." U-boat submariners had a 75% casualty rate, the highest of all German forces during the war.
Its insane how well produced these videos are. Even though im sure far less money was availabe for your channel, it outstrips most, if not all, documentaries.(ok maybe not ken burns 😅)
The cavity magnatron radar mounted on the sub-hunters like B24's and Vickers Wellingtons was sensitive enough to detect U-Boats on and even near the surface.
@@jackb1803 A 200-300 foot metal object distorts natural magnetic fields, whether submerged or not. Their exact location could be determined. It's called magnetic anomaly detection. MAD was the combined use of radar, magnetic detectors, and shortwave sonar. It would locate submerged subs near the surface. If they were at any depth, eg. submerged more than 200 feet, it wouldn't work. Magnetic anomaly detection was used to pinpoint, target, and drop depth charges on submarines that were below the surface. It wasn't brand new in 1940. MAD had been in development and field tested in the 1930's, and it worked. The ASW craft would have to fly very close to the surface, ~100 feet above. PBV Catalinas, Navay B-24's, and Lockheed PV-1 and PV-2s' were the US's airborne subhunters. Other technologies and intelligence was used to narrow down the sub's position within a few nautical miles. Then, an ASW bomber stood a chance of locating it.
In the middle of the Atlantic, there was a large area that could not be accessed by aircraft. Eventually aircraft could reach subs in this area. In documentaries German Sub Commanders said aircraft were there worst enemy. The aircraft appeared quickly and could attack the sub before it submerged. When aircraft were equipped with radar, things got even worse for the submarines.
English text at 2:53 is a small grammar mistake. Its built not build. It is a Different tense of the word. Its spoken built as well. I love your content. Trying to help.
Jessie - As always , an excellent presentation . Consider another presentation on the " Battle of the Beams . " During the Battle of Britain , British scientist RV Jones discovered the Luftwaffe were guiding their bombers at night by radio beams . This lead to the back and forth between the British jamming these radio beams and the Luftwaffe introducing different radio guidance systems . .
While mention of huffduff is here, the real importance of it was not on ships, but the US 10 fleet (see book of same name). The only US fleet with no ships. It controlled a network of land based RDF towers from Brazil up along the coasts through Greenland and Iceland. Using these, they were able to track uboat locations with enough accuracy for early warnings. The best example was the build up to D-Day. The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were faster than any available escorts, so they sailed back and forth to the US to bring US soldiers, without escorts. The 10th fleet directed them around waiting uboats, who shifted based on the broken convoy codes. Yet they made their trips again and again. That said, this was a very well done, and accurate, video. Some of the sinkings in early 42 were due to the US being slow to create convoys, and a shortage of escorts as most had been sent to the Pacific, or given to the UK through lend lease
My father went to England aboard the Queen Mary. She traveled alone and wad fast enough to outrun the U-boats. He reported a mid ocean coarse change to avoid a U-boat. Probably from this exact technology. He was a Corpsman and was on a hospital ship, returning the wounded after D-Day.
I recently read a very interesting book: A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin 2019 Recounting the history and work of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU), created by Winston Churchill in 1942 - Parkin explores the role of war games in British efforts to defeat U-boat operations against Allied shipping. In addition to the technological developments to detect the U-boats, the escort captains needed to learn tactics to fight them effectively after detection. Those tactics were developed by a team of Wrens at WATU in Liverpool, who then trained the escort captains. Before reading the book I had never heard of this part of the war effort. On reflection, it does make perfect sense, in the same way the Bletchly Park became a kind of school for code breakers.
My understanding of the final defeat of the German U-Boat terrible problem is that BETTER TECHNOLOGY ( as long distance aircraft fitted with airplane specially designed RADAR ). RS. Canada
Black May broke the Kreigsmarine. However, the writing on the wall was evident much earlier. In March of ‘41 U-boat aces Prien, Schepke, and Kretschmer were lost in a space of ten days. At that time the Allie’s lacked the escorts and air coverage as they desperately were trying to build up enough to cover all convoys.
I must admit, I'm slightly disappointed you didn't sneak any Das Boot footage in there just as a joke haha. Loved the archival footage and photos from this one though. Great work.
while going through that German propaganda footage we used in this episode, I noticed that some shots were almost 1:1 in das Boot. At least I think so, need to re-watch it again to be sure.
It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage episode about German submarines that threatened support lines of allies below Atlantic Ocean water . Episode Introduction clearly explained how German naval hunter forces changed to hunted forces .thank you 🙏 ( RTH) channel for sharing this magnificent episode
What a fantastic doco. Well done. The stats right at the end were fascinating. A few aces accounted for the majority of the kills. I have seen plenty of stuff on Prien who of course sank the Royal Oak battleship in Scapa Flow. The British had an inkling they'd killed him later on in the Irish Sea I think, but when the Germans didn't announce his death, they dropped pamphlets over Germany, asking "Where Is Prien?" and that forced the Germans hand.
I've long thought that the US admiral in charge of the navy, Admiral King, should have lost his job for opposing the convoy system. When it became clear that his approach was not working and that convoys would need to be adopted, then he should have gone.
Oh he did more than just that. Bun fight he had with the USAAF stopped the British from getting the Liberators we needed in 1942. The Air Gap could have been closed a lot earlier than it was. The Guy was also going to send all of the Mk 24 Mines to the Pacific. The Combined Chiefs of Staffs overruled him.
The devil is always in the details. King and the Navy declined to operate COASTAL convoys that were unescorted or inadequately escorted. Big difference.
One reason for the drop in U Boat success in Jan and Feb 1943 was due predominantly to the Atlantic storms in that period, which were some of the most severe, with 100 ft waves recorded. This made U Boat operation almost impossible.
That's ok, the storms made convoys impossible, those 100 foot waves aren't friendly to Liberty ships. U-boats were safe and snug under the surface while the merchantmen above were risking life and limb.
@@crinolynneendymion8755 From what I've read, U Boats spent the majority of their time on the surface as their range was quite limited underwater as well as being bit too slow to be able to catch up to their prey. So underwater time was limited to evasion, surveillance and attack. otherwise up there with the ships.
No convoy escorted by an antisub blimp lost a ship to u-boats. The subs dived deep to avoid them. Do not think of little toy blimps either, the L and K ships were huge with 10 man crewsm depth charges and 50 cal MG's. I knew Commander Lou Prost, be lived to be over 100. That is one whole aspect of the war you missed the history of. One of those was worth more than a few destroyers alone, they did lose ships to torpedoes. Tigers of the Sea show them if you need footage.
Actually the battle of the Atlantic was won by a bunch of British WREN's who worked out, how the Germans attacked the convoys, then they taught all of the Allied ship captains how to hunt the U-Boats. There is a documentary series called the War Gamers.
Haven't watched episodes yet, so here goes in no particular order. Properly escorted convoys. Decoding enigma, radar, and radio detection, and finally closing the air gap with B24's flying out of Reykjavík. You know what
I’m telling you it wasn’t the capture of U571. It was a combination of detection improvements,development of attack strategies and of the USN swallowing its pride and finally accepting the lessons already learned from the British and Canadian navies.
@@kenlinden9621 Yes they were, at least they were military for the Duration. The group you are referring to was Western Approaches Tactics Unit, WATU, and it was almost entirely made up of WRNS, usually called Wrens in the UK. WRNS = Womens Royal Naval Service. What they were not was pre war professional Naval Personnel, the women of WATU were essentially selected from the most intelligent young women in the WRNS, basically told that they were to develop new ASW tactics, and that they would be teaching the RN Escort and Destroyer skippers in those tactics. They had a delightfully whimsical naming convention for their tactics, usually naming them after plants or flowers. Raspberry was a way for a group of escorts to essentially corral a U-Boat contact, then take turns making attack runs. I often wonder if they got their naming conventions from Captain Walker (one of Britains great ASW aces), or if he got them from WATU, as he had a similar method of naming his tactics... Unfortunately we will never know as he died in 1944.
Most interesting video - everybody knows about the cracking of Enigma but this was the first time I heard that the Germans had returned the compliment!
Sadly the Wren wargamers of WATU were not mentioned. They too played a pivotal role. Why is it only in the last six months I have found out they existed? Obviously I am not the only one kept in the dark for so many years.
My father's cargo ship, one of at least 30 allied flag vessels in convoy ONS 5 was attacked and sunk in the North Atlantic by about 25 U Boats in early April 1943. These ships were on their return voyages following delivery of supplies to Britain. One merchant mariner was lost from his ship, the cook, due to drowning. In the ensuing battle, over several days and nights, five U-Boats were sunk or disabled by various means including ramming carried out by a few British destroyer escorts. The crew on my father's ship (he was second mate on this voyage, having graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point, New York 1941) were subsequently picked up by Canadian sailors on corvettes much like Higgins boats I believe.
My grandfather was a petty officer on the USS Card, a baby flattop responsible for U-boat hunting in the North Atlantic. They won a Presidential Unit Citation for their success in U-boat hunting, which my grandfather had proudly framed on his wall.
This video was significantly better than I expected. I'd like to offer a suggestion for future videos to make them even better. The graphs used to present statistics were especially welcome. However, many statistics were later only spoken (and reflected in subtitles). I tend to assimilate statistics presented using graphs more effectively than the spoken or written words. I don't think I am unusual. Hence, would you please try to present even more of the statistics as graphs? I think the stats. contrasting numbers of U-boats with tonnage sunk might show even more dramatically the course of the 'Battle of the Atlantic' changed. Of course, it's just a suggestion. I may be wrong, or unusual. Thank You very much for an extremely well made, interesting, fact-filled video, Best Wishes. ☮
Great video. Thanks for mentioning the Royal Canadian Navy, they usually get forgotten. The Canadians usually just shrug this off, they weren't there for the glory. They had to do the job mostly without the latest technology, that was reserved for the Brits. A lot of them were bobbing around in corvettes that were barely sea worthy. But they got the job done.
You know the Royal Navy used a huge number of Flower Class Corvettes (the same as the RCN used) right? The Canadians made the, in my opinion perfectly sensible decision, to instead of designing a new ship from the keel up, they would just use a nice, handy British design that did the job and that Canada could build in numbers as soon as possible. While those Canadian Corvettes differed slightly from the British version, they were in most respects basically the same ships. They used the same sonar, radar and HFDF technology, and the same ASW weaponry. Also they were a long was from being 'barely seaworthy'. The Flower Class design was based off a Whaler hull designed for Antarctic and Antarctic work. It was a very seaworthy little ship, and could handle some really nasty seas. What they were NOT, was comfortable. If you are subject to sea sickness a Flower Class corvette is one of the last ships you want to sail on!
I believe one of the most important contributing factor for the Allied success in the Battle of the Atlantic was the installation of radar onto the maritime patrol bombers. Submarines during that period had one particularly glaring weakness: they had to resurface for hours in order to recharge their batteries. Operationally, the crew would do this in the middle of the night so they would be hard to spot, but with the equipping of radar on the patrol planes, they could no longer perform this vital task properly. Now the cover of darkness offered no respite to the sub crew, as they could be located and attacked even in darkness, usually with fatal consequences. Hunted day and night, this would result in decreased operational effectiveness and range for the submarines. Near the end of the war, the German Navy would develop new technology to allow their newer subs recharge without fully resurfacing, but by then, it was too little too late.
I've had many questions over the years about the Germans attack on Allied intelligence which is something we rarely hear about. I had often wondered how the British use their knowledge of enigma in order to make their codes harder to crack because they definitely realize there was no uncrackable code. You mentioned that the Germans cracked the British Navy codes in November, 1941 and I'm wondering whether or not the British figured that out and if so when?
You’ve spoken in previous episodes about how Germany’s chronic fuel shortages hamstrung them in other theaters; was that a major factor in the Atlantic? My understanding is that u-boats themselves were pretty fuel efficient; but could fuel shortage help explain why the Germans didn’t field more of them, why the Luftwaffe didn’t provide air cover, &c?
I served from 1962-1966 aboard the SS-572, and SSBN-600 as a reactor operator. That service is what changed me from an 18 year old kid into a man. My father was a crew chief on B-17s that bombed Germany. It’s difficult to understand today’s military. BWV IC3SS, 9901. I really appreciate this channel. Thank you very much.
Might just be my favorite channel (along with your other channel) on TH-cam. Please continue with the phenomenal effort and content. Thank you
My father volunteered for the US Navy on December 8th, 1941. His first active duty was Spring 1942, North Atlantic Convoy. At one point he found himself on detached duty onboard a Liberty ship. One night he was tapped by his NCO -- "MacDonald, you're on U-boat watch." At that point he is handed a pair of binoculars and a .45. My dad looked at this and said, "What the f*** am I supposed to do with this? Shoot the periscope?" His NCO explained that if he spotted something he was supposed to just fire the .45 into the air. It was an extra way to attract the attention of the (hopefully) nearby destroyer.
Due to his experiences, knowing the song Ruben James by Woody Guthrie was a matter of duty in my household...
I love this channel. The amount of information and details jammed into 20 minutes, coupled with Jesse's clear narration is an excellent combination.
Thanks!
I'll be honest, it took me a while to warm to your style when you replaced Indy on the great war channel... but I actually have grown to prefer your narration.@@jessealexander2695
Clearly passion driven. Well done
Professional story-telling, music volume and music choice perfect, perfectly relevant images. A+ level video.
thanks, we try our best to always find the most accurate footage.
especially the music at the end of this episode
Better with no music at all.
@@ppumpkin3282lol really?
@@ppumpkin3282 maybe in your minority opinion...
My late Dad was a wartime merchant seaman 1940 - 1946 and he said that up to mid 1943 he felt they had virtually no protection and only knew there was a submarine attack when ships were hit, but after then it was not unusual to see an escort vessel suddenly veer off and start depth charging thanks to Sonar.
It was not thanks to sonar. The British already HAD Sonar, its just at the time we called it by the name ASDIC. Despite the different names however Sonar and ASDIC are *exactly* the same thing. It was initially developed in late 1917 - 1918, and became a workable system during the early twenties.
What changed was number of escorts available, tactics, and other non sonar related technologies such as better ways of deploying ASW weapons (the initial stern dropped depth charge rails had the major disadvantage that the escort lost sonar contact with the target as they started their pass), and the development of smaller, more powerful radar sets due to the development of he Cavity magnetron.
During my teenage years, I had the opportunity to tour the U-505 submarine exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. I was taken aback by the limited space. Thank you for the very interesting history video.
And she is a Type IX bigger than the earlier Type VII.
I noted that in Gallery's book on U505 there was no acknowledgement that the British had acquired an Enigma machine ... even in 1955 (I think that was the year of publication) Britain presumably hadn't admitted publicly to having broken the code.
Yep if you were short and you joined the navy you were a submariner if you were short and you were in the army you were a tanker
1944 would see the peak size of the U-Boat fleet. With 100 boats at sea in June. A number they would never reach again. 1944 would also be the deadliest year, with 239 boats lost.
Indeed, but more U-boats at sea sinking fewer allied ships and getting sunk more often themselves was not sustainable.
Yes because of more u boats being built but not enough resources and funding
Congrats for you FANTASTIC ACCURATE GERMAN LANGUAGE PRONONCIATION! Superb presentation !
Great summary. A few extra elements you missed also had big effects. Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU) was an analysis group that studied reports to successfully predict Uboat positioning. Passive sonar buoys and Acoustic torpedoes had big impacts. Sonar and hydrophones improved dramatically throughout the war. Aircraft, escort and convoy tactics, numbers and equipment steadily improved, adapting much faster than Uboats. The radar, radio and decryption (EW) battle was complex and went through many iterations. Tech was developed much faster and introduced more quickly and completely between allies than axis.
almost perfect but you forgot breaking the enigma code
Raspberry, Pineapple, Banana, Step Aside, tactics developed by Wrens playing war games.
FWIW I had the 'Das Boot' mini-series on VHS in German. Watched it many times and found something new in each viewing. Great war film. (My tapes are gone. Lost in a move. Same for the VCR to play them.)
Get the dvd. It's got footage i haven't seen before.
Real Time History. The only TH-cam channel capable of working a reference to Daniel Boone into a video about the Battle of the Atlantic.
Fun Fact: Daniel Boone actually had a cameo appearance in Das Boot. He was the bear.
This is true. As an American we do appreciate it.
Thanks!
I read 'Black May' many years ago and would wholeheartedly recommend it. Its retelling of the Battle for ONS5 is a real page-turner.
Spectacular, you guys. You may be the best history channel on YT
Wow, thank you!
Excellent format that works well on a phone, big screen TV, or headphones.
I congratulate this channel. It’s the first video of theirs that I have watched and I think by far the most comprehensive, even handed, professional examination of a war conflict that I’ve watched. I am a pensioner and so money is tight. I will see what I can do about Nebula
Quite agree. This is an excellent account of the battle.
welcome to the show and glad you enjoyed it. If money is tight, don't worry about Nebula, if you watch here on TH-cam, that also helps a lot.
Jesse, if you thought I wasn’t going to go straight to that Das boot techno video, you’d have been wrong. I wasn’t disappointed.
Thank you for not pronouncing Doenitz like "donuts", as some channels have done.
And that's why you should ALWAYS watch to the very end of the video.
So you’re telling me it wasn’t due to the capture of U-571
Lol such a silly movie... but there are some decent special effects in it though.
Nah! Hollywood would Never make a fake movie glorifying Americans!
I love that movie despite its flaws
@@mrchambers31 same
There in almost never single element to complex solution
I belive that the combination of many elements is needed
This is excellent stuff. Clear, easy to understand and pulls no punches.
Had you huge advantage because the Brit’s broke the enigma machine. Bletchley park. Alan Turing. Legend.
The Poles, actually. They sent the first version of the Enigma to the UK in '39.
I'm joining in to say that it was Polish mathematicians that cracked the Enigma code long before the Brits.
Alan Turing had the idea but the machine was built by GPO Technicians who got no recognition. Without their genius it would have remained an idea
The Poles broke the code in 1932 but by 1938 the Germans improved the code's security and their method no longer worked in deciphering the more complicated wartime enigma code. That's where Turing comes in. Rejewski and company absolutely deserve a lot of credit and there is a memorial in Bletchley Park in their honour.
It's worth reading the Wiki in its entirety to get an objective overview.
Cherry picking your favorite bits does not constitute a true history.
You forgot to mention Walker RN, THE British Navel person who actually changed the way destroyers hunted U Boats in the Atlantic. Check his book he wrote in the fifties.
It must be a truly miraculous book to have been written in the 1950's given Capt Walker died in July 1944, two days after having suffered a stroke.
@@steeltrap3800 actually it was written by Terrance Robertson, in the 50’s.
@@davethom73 So it's not HIS book, then, but a book ABOUT him?
@@steeltrap3800 It’s actually a book about how he trialed a new form of anti submarine warfare, and perfected the technique, which involved two destroyers/ frigates hunting as a team against U- Boats.
@@davethom73 Yes, I know a bit about his methods.
I found the rolling barrage especially interesting, in part because I have Peter 'Ali' Cremer's book: "U-333 The Story of a U-boat Ace" and he describes being on the receiving end of one of those (he was sent out on patrol following 'black May' to try to find out what was happening, being one of the most experienced u-boat skippers alive at that time).
Cheers
10:03 The math behind the huffeduff equipped ships is staggeringly simple and elegant and genius. Wow, that's off to that mathematician
This often tends to be overlooked for flashier parts of history but is quite important
True. It was probably the only war theatre where Germany had a realistic chance to decide the war in their favour. The Atlantic was the lifeline for Britain and the Soviet Union.
300k subscriptions isn't enough given the level of quality you guys produce. Keep it up and may you reach subs in the millions in the future. 🎉🎉🎉
Ah, I would like to point out a small criticism (great video overall though): An important contributor to the loss of overall skill level & experience of the U-Boat crews towards the middle war (late '42-'43) was the difficulties in training said crews due the the yearly restriction of their relatively safe training areas in the Baltic. It is of course, difficult to quantify the effect, but this was pointed out in Clay Blair's "Hitler's U-Boat War." I have to re-read much of it to find the exact reference.
Great book - well worth finding and reading.
I didn't hear you mention that the British created a "game", to teach eacort Captains how to hunt, find and destroy U-Boats. Training in the use of the tools often negates the opponent having better tools.
Very interesting stuff. I have to say I didnt know how bad the Uboots performed in the late war. Some of these statistics are quite eye opening
Great videos
Always learn something, thank you!
Vielen Dank, weiter so!
Awesome vid and an awesome channel! Keep it up guys :)
Excellent video with outstanding narration and I enjoyed it very much. Subscribed today.
The allies had cracked the German enigma code and were able to track most of the u boats!
what a perfect ad for Nebula. Great vid btw. I really liked it.
Two other important weapons introduced in 1943 were Hedgehog and the Mk 24 acoustic anti-submarine homing torpedo, Fido. Equally important was the work of the Western Tactical Approaches Unit, who developed new procedures such as Raspberry, to corrral and trap attacking U boats. That aspect is sadly overlooked in videos such as this. The excellent Drachinifels did one of his items on this and serious students of the topic should watch it.
3 inch Anti Submarine Rocket Projectile was first used in May 1943. Got two kills, one by a Swordfish off an Escort Carrier and one by a Beaufighter in the Bay of Biscay. Sonobuoys were introduced in 1942 and Magnetic Anomaly Detectors in early 1944.
My dad was in the Coast Guard. His duties were to load ammo, alternating with u-boat patrols at the mouth of the James and Elizabeth Rivers where they met the Chesapeake Bay and where the Bay met the Atlantic Ocean, all within a few miles of each other.
Great video. Thanks
Excellent job on the video. Footage and graphics very well done
Excellent, not only i content, but also in clear, distinct presentation.
Great history, thanks! BTW, @9:00 Anton Staller, the German submariner, would survive the war and become a notable church organ maker!
Uboat commanders seemed to either die very young or have illustrious post war careers
Great presentations always
The radio was the U-Boat's Achilles heel- even without Ultra code breaking the HF/DF capabilities, together with more and better escorts, 10 cm radar and air patrols meant that once a U-Boat sent a sighting report the Allied ships could track down and attack the U-Boat shadowing the convoys. Codebreaking was vital, of course especially when the Allies could locate the U-Tankers and sink them. Radar was probably the most important tech, though.
I read that operators were lazy in changing the settings on the code machine making it easier to decode messages.
@@briang.7206 Decoding the message is not the issue, whether that message is telling you where the submarines are IS. When given their orders submarines were given a patrol zone, so you might know that a Submarine is in a certain area of sea, but what Enigma will not tell is is exactly where it is.
Which is why HFDF and Centimetric Radar were more important on the Escorts than Ultra level intelligence. HFDF and Radar will tell you pretty much exactly where the Submarine is, and that is the information an Escort Skipper actually needs to prosecute an attack on a U-Boat... But that level of information will not be sent over enigma....
@@alganhar1 yes I read a book about the early development & use of radar. I was very interested in the subject since I was a radar operator in the U.S. Navy.
How you did the allies 1943 air war video. Perhaps you can do the same for the pacific with the Doolittle raid the b17 and b29 etc.
I am blessed with the knowledge about the 1992 Das Boot theme techno remix.
Emergency, engage water pumps LOL!
4:17 Thank you for this. I heard a lot of the Enigma and Type B, but almost nothing of Axis code breaking efforts.
By the end of the war, Germany had perfected the submarine. I believe the biggest improvement, Germany made was the snorkel. That allowed the U-Boats the ability to run their engines while submerged. Running electric engines while submerged slowed the U-boats. By being able to use their diesel engines while submerged increased their range.
"We go out on patrol and they're just waiting for us! They've broken our code!" German Admiralty: "Enigma is unbreakable." Alan Turing, "Unbreakable? Hold my beer."
U-boat submariners had a 75% casualty rate, the highest of all German forces during the war.
Its insane how well produced these videos are. Even though im sure far less money was availabe for your channel, it outstrips most, if not all, documentaries.(ok maybe not ken burns 😅)
The cavity magnatron radar mounted on the sub-hunters like B24's and Vickers Wellingtons was sensitive enough to detect U-Boats on and even near the surface.
Umm radar can only detect something above the water including a periscope
@@gowdsake7103 Umm read what I wrote. I never claimed it could detect a completely submerged submarine.
The cavity magnetron was only half of the solution as the "sensitivity" part is the job of the "acorn" tube in the receiving side of the radar unit.
@@jackb1803 A 200-300 foot metal object distorts natural magnetic fields, whether submerged or not. Their exact location could be determined. It's called magnetic anomaly detection. MAD was the combined use of radar, magnetic detectors, and shortwave sonar. It would locate submerged subs near the surface. If they were at any depth, eg. submerged more than 200 feet, it wouldn't work. Magnetic anomaly detection was used to pinpoint, target, and drop depth charges on submarines that were below the surface. It wasn't brand new in 1940. MAD had been in development and field tested in the 1930's, and it worked. The ASW craft would have to fly very close to the surface, ~100 feet above. PBV Catalinas, Navay B-24's, and Lockheed PV-1 and PV-2s' were the US's airborne subhunters. Other technologies and intelligence was used to narrow down the sub's position within a few nautical miles. Then, an ASW bomber stood a chance of locating it.
Well explained with mention of many previously unknown incidents.
In the middle of the Atlantic, there was a large area that could not be accessed by aircraft.
Eventually aircraft could reach subs in this area. In documentaries German Sub Commanders said aircraft were there worst enemy. The aircraft appeared quickly and could attack the sub before it submerged. When aircraft were equipped with radar, things got even worse for the submarines.
Thank you for the endless hours of awesome high quality content jessie
Thank you for clarifying what the causes of the U-Boat decline were. It was always a little vague to me.
English text at 2:53 is a small grammar mistake. Its built not build. It is a Different tense of the word. Its spoken built as well. I love your content. Trying to help.
Thank you! Following on Nebula TV as well. A great series.
As an old timer who hates the vast majority of new amateur content, this was refreshingly well narrated and full of actual information.
thanks!
This was a really fine report -- thank you.
Jessie - As always , an excellent presentation .
Consider another presentation on the " Battle of the Beams . " During the Battle of Britain , British scientist RV Jones discovered the Luftwaffe were guiding their bombers at night by radio beams . This lead to the back and forth between the British jamming these radio beams and the Luftwaffe introducing different radio guidance systems .
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I find it sad, records always talk about tonnage or ships lost. Never any mention of the thousands of crews killed.
Great video!!
It would be cool if you made a video about the German paratroopers(Fallschirmjäger). Thanks
we are planning a video on Crete in the future. And they play a role in our Sicily video.
@@realtimehistory thank you.
While mention of huffduff is here, the real importance of it was not on ships, but the US 10 fleet (see book of same name). The only US fleet with no ships. It controlled a network of land based RDF towers from Brazil up along the coasts through Greenland and Iceland. Using these, they were able to track uboat locations with enough accuracy for early warnings. The best example was the build up to D-Day. The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were faster than any available escorts, so they sailed back and forth to the US to bring US soldiers, without escorts. The 10th fleet directed them around waiting uboats, who shifted based on the broken convoy codes. Yet they made their trips again and again.
That said, this was a very well done, and accurate, video. Some of the sinkings in early 42 were due to the US being slow to create convoys, and a shortage of escorts as most had been sent to the Pacific, or given to the UK through lend lease
My father went to England aboard the Queen Mary. She traveled alone and wad fast enough to outrun the U-boats. He reported a mid ocean coarse change to avoid a U-boat. Probably from this exact technology. He was a Corpsman and was on a hospital ship, returning the wounded after D-Day.
I recently read a very interesting book:
A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin 2019
Recounting the history and work of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU), created by Winston Churchill in 1942 - Parkin explores the role of war games in British efforts to defeat U-boat operations against Allied shipping.
In addition to the technological developments to detect the U-boats, the escort captains needed to learn tactics to fight them effectively after detection. Those tactics were developed by a team of Wrens at WATU in Liverpool, who then trained the escort captains. Before reading the book I had never heard of this part of the war effort. On reflection, it does make perfect sense, in the same way the Bletchly Park became a kind of school for code breakers.
thanks for mentioning the comment, a few commenters have brought this topic up but not where they heard about it.
My understanding of the final defeat of the German U-Boat terrible problem is that BETTER TECHNOLOGY ( as long distance aircraft fitted with airplane specially designed RADAR ).
RS. Canada
Black May broke the Kreigsmarine. However, the writing on the wall was evident much earlier. In March of ‘41 U-boat aces Prien, Schepke, and Kretschmer were lost in a space of ten days. At that time the Allie’s lacked the escorts and air coverage as they desperately were trying to build up enough to cover all convoys.
I must admit, I'm slightly disappointed you didn't sneak any Das Boot footage in there just as a joke haha.
Loved the archival footage and photos from this one though. Great work.
while going through that German propaganda footage we used in this episode, I noticed that some shots were almost 1:1 in das Boot. At least I think so, need to re-watch it again to be sure.
that was the best detailed yet succinct discussion answering the title.
It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage episode about German submarines that threatened support lines of allies below Atlantic Ocean water . Episode Introduction clearly explained how German naval hunter forces changed to hunted forces .thank you 🙏 ( RTH) channel for sharing this magnificent episode
What a fantastic doco. Well done. The stats right at the end were fascinating. A few aces accounted for the majority of the kills.
I have seen plenty of stuff on Prien who of course sank the Royal Oak battleship in Scapa Flow. The British had an inkling they'd killed him later on in the Irish Sea I think, but when the Germans didn't announce his death, they dropped pamphlets over Germany, asking "Where Is Prien?" and that forced the Germans hand.
I've long thought that the US admiral in charge of the navy, Admiral King, should have lost his job for opposing the convoy system. When it became clear that his approach was not working and that convoys would need to be adopted, then he should have gone.
Oh he did more than just that. Bun fight he had with the USAAF stopped the British from getting the Liberators we needed in 1942. The Air Gap could have been closed a lot earlier than it was. The Guy was also going to send all of the Mk 24 Mines to the Pacific. The Combined Chiefs of Staffs overruled him.
The devil is always in the details. King and the Navy declined to operate COASTAL convoys that were unescorted or inadequately escorted. Big difference.
@@richardvernon317 Hap Arnold would not release 4-engine bombers to the Navy for ASW work until 1943. That is what the fight was all about.
One reason for the drop in U Boat success in Jan and Feb 1943 was due predominantly to the Atlantic storms in that period, which were some of the most severe, with 100 ft waves recorded. This made U Boat operation almost impossible.
That's ok, the storms made convoys impossible, those 100 foot waves aren't friendly to Liberty ships. U-boats were safe and snug under the surface while the merchantmen above were risking life and limb.
@@crinolynneendymion8755 From what I've read, U Boats spent the majority of their time on the surface as their range was quite limited underwater as well as being bit too slow to be able to catch up to their prey.
So underwater time was limited to evasion, surveillance and attack. otherwise up there with the ships.
My late dad was a merchant seaman on the Atlantic convoys. I never even realised until after he was gone.
Could you do a series about the battle of the bulge and operation market garden like the battle of Berlin series. 🙏
If they do check the ORBAT of Market Garden and all will be revealed
No convoy escorted by an antisub blimp lost a ship to u-boats. The subs dived deep to avoid them.
Do not think of little toy blimps either, the L and K ships were huge with 10 man crewsm depth charges and 50 cal MG's. I knew Commander Lou Prost, be lived to be over 100.
That is one whole aspect of the war you missed the history of. One of those was worth more than a few destroyers alone, they did lose ships to torpedoes. Tigers of the Sea show them if you need footage.
This sounds interesting seeing I used to live next door to Bletchley Park
Actually the battle of the Atlantic was won by a bunch of British WREN's who worked out, how the Germans attacked the convoys, then they taught all of the Allied ship captains how to hunt the U-Boats. There is a documentary series called the War Gamers.
Haven't watched episodes yet, so here goes in no particular order.
Properly escorted convoys. Decoding enigma, radar, and radio detection, and finally closing the air gap with B24's flying out of Reykjavík.
You know what
And Sunderlands my friend that could actually land on the water and save crews
I’m telling you it wasn’t the capture of U571. It was a combination of detection improvements,development of attack strategies and of the USN swallowing its pride and finally accepting the lessons already learned from the British and Canadian navies.
The Brits also 'war gamed' anti-uboat tactics... An interesting program, as the war gamers were not military personnel.
@@kenlinden9621 Yes they were, at least they were military for the Duration. The group you are referring to was Western Approaches Tactics Unit, WATU, and it was almost entirely made up of WRNS, usually called Wrens in the UK. WRNS = Womens Royal Naval Service.
What they were not was pre war professional Naval Personnel, the women of WATU were essentially selected from the most intelligent young women in the WRNS, basically told that they were to develop new ASW tactics, and that they would be teaching the RN Escort and Destroyer skippers in those tactics.
They had a delightfully whimsical naming convention for their tactics, usually naming them after plants or flowers. Raspberry was a way for a group of escorts to essentially corral a U-Boat contact, then take turns making attack runs. I often wonder if they got their naming conventions from Captain Walker (one of Britains great ASW aces), or if he got them from WATU, as he had a similar method of naming his tactics... Unfortunately we will never know as he died in 1944.
What is the background track playing at the end 16:30?
Nice!
Most interesting video - everybody knows about the cracking of Enigma but this was the first time I heard that the Germans had returned the compliment!
Excellent!
Coming back to this video, I feel like the convoy battles of the Mediterranean would be a great video to make one day.
we will cover more of the U-Boat war in the future. In January we will go back to the Atlantic in 1940 but also cover the other maritime theaters
Sadly the Wren wargamers of WATU were not mentioned. They too played a pivotal role. Why is it only in the last six months I have found out they existed? Obviously I am not the only one kept in the dark for so many years.
My father's cargo ship, one of at least 30 allied flag vessels in convoy ONS 5 was attacked and sunk in the North Atlantic by about 25 U Boats in early April 1943.
These ships were on their return voyages following delivery of supplies to Britain. One merchant mariner was lost from his ship, the cook, due to drowning. In the ensuing battle, over several days and nights, five U-Boats were sunk or disabled by various means including ramming carried out by a few British destroyer escorts.
The crew on my father's ship (he was second mate on this
voyage, having graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point, New York 1941) were subsequently
picked up by Canadian sailors on corvettes much like Higgins boats I believe.
Shame not to mention the involvement of things like WATU which helped drive the tactical innovation of the escorting forces.
My grandfather was a petty officer on the USS Card, a baby flattop responsible for U-boat hunting in the North Atlantic. They won a Presidential Unit Citation for their success in U-boat hunting, which my grandfather had proudly framed on his wall.
Too many commercials this is the last you tube program i'll watch
best
Bruce Peek
There is no mention of the acoustic homing torpedo here.
This video was significantly better than I expected. I'd like to offer a suggestion for future videos to make them even better. The graphs used to present statistics were especially welcome. However, many statistics were later only spoken (and reflected in subtitles). I tend to assimilate statistics presented using graphs more effectively than the spoken or written words. I don't think I am unusual. Hence, would you please try to present even more of the statistics as graphs? I think the stats. contrasting numbers of U-boats with tonnage sunk might show even more dramatically the course of the 'Battle of the Atlantic' changed. Of course, it's just a suggestion. I may be wrong, or unusual.
Thank You very much for an extremely well made, interesting, fact-filled video,
Best Wishes. ☮
The allies knows how to assemble their technology, expertise, experiences to defeat the uboat
Great video. Thanks for mentioning the Royal Canadian Navy, they usually get forgotten. The Canadians usually just shrug this off, they weren't there for the glory. They had to do the job mostly without the latest technology, that was reserved for the Brits. A lot of them were bobbing around in corvettes that were barely sea worthy. But they got the job done.
You know the Royal Navy used a huge number of Flower Class Corvettes (the same as the RCN used) right? The Canadians made the, in my opinion perfectly sensible decision, to instead of designing a new ship from the keel up, they would just use a nice, handy British design that did the job and that Canada could build in numbers as soon as possible.
While those Canadian Corvettes differed slightly from the British version, they were in most respects basically the same ships. They used the same sonar, radar and HFDF technology, and the same ASW weaponry.
Also they were a long was from being 'barely seaworthy'. The Flower Class design was based off a Whaler hull designed for Antarctic and Antarctic work. It was a very seaworthy little ship, and could handle some really nasty seas. What they were NOT, was comfortable. If you are subject to sea sickness a Flower Class corvette is one of the last ships you want to sail on!
I believe one of the most important contributing factor for the Allied success in the Battle of the Atlantic was the installation of radar onto the maritime patrol bombers. Submarines during that period had one particularly glaring weakness: they had to resurface for hours in order to recharge their batteries. Operationally, the crew would do this in the middle of the night so they would be hard to spot, but with the equipping of radar on the patrol planes, they could no longer perform this vital task properly. Now the cover of darkness offered no respite to the sub crew, as they could be located and attacked even in darkness, usually with fatal consequences. Hunted day and night, this would result in decreased operational effectiveness and range for the submarines. Near the end of the war, the German Navy would develop new technology to allow their newer subs recharge without fully resurfacing, but by then, it was too little too late.
This channel is my favorite on all youtube im trying not to watch all the videos too fast lol
I've had many questions over the years about the Germans attack on Allied intelligence which is something we rarely hear about. I had often wondered how the British use their knowledge of enigma in order to make their codes harder to crack because they definitely realize there was no uncrackable code. You mentioned that the Germans cracked the British Navy codes in November, 1941 and I'm wondering whether or not the British figured that out and if so when?
You’ve spoken in previous episodes about how Germany’s chronic fuel shortages hamstrung them in other theaters; was that a major factor in the Atlantic? My understanding is that u-boats themselves were pretty fuel efficient; but could fuel shortage help explain why the Germans didn’t field more of them, why the Luftwaffe didn’t provide air cover, &c?
Interesting video, I never realised how important this theatre was
It was due to the skill of the RN RCN sailors. Captain Johnny Walker.