Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

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Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

• Lesson 11 World War II The US Navy in North
  Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic,
  1941-1945

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Learning Objectives

• Comprehend the internal political situation in
  the U.S. during the period before December 7,
  1941 relative to American involvement in overseas
  problems.
• Know that Germany was the greatest threat to
  European and North American security.
• Know U.S. attempts to remain neutral prior to
  1941.
• Comprehend the absolute priority given to keeping
  the sea lanes to Britain open.
• Know the relationship between Roosevelt and
  Churchill in the establishment of the United
  Nations and the broad concepts of Allied strategy.

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Learning Objectives (cont)

• Comprehend the confrontation between German
  U-boat strategy versus Allied convoy
  Antisubmarine (ASW) strategy in the Atlantic.
• Know German surface raider effectiveness .
• Comprehend the differences between British War
  of Attrition versus American plans for a direct
  confrontation with Germany.
• Comprehend how Allied amphibious landings
  assisted in ending the war in Europe.

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Germanys Invasion of Europe

• Sept 1939, Germany invades Poland. England and
  France declare war on Germany
• 1939-1940 brings inconclusive results on the
  western front
• Britain moves to blockade Germany
• Germany begins commerce raiding with U-boats and
  surface raiders

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1 Sep 1939 Germany Invades Poland
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Germanys Invasion of Europe

• Germany invades Norway, April 1940
• - Action designed to keep Britain from
  tightening blockade by mining northern approaches
• May 1940 Germans launch attack on low countries
  and France
• Outflank the Maginot line
• France falls June 1940
• Britain withdraws troops from Europe

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British Convoy Strategy

• Strategy adopted from the outset
• Recognizes the importance of keeping the lines of
  communications open with the U.S.
• Dönitz organizes U-boats to hunt in Wolfpacks
  to prey on convoys. Was very effective when
  based out of France and Normandy.
• U-Boat sinkings climax in fall of 1940.

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17 Sep 1939 U-29 sinks carrier HMS
CourageousU-47 sinks Royal Oak.
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HMS Courageous
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HMS Courageous sinking
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Hitler giving awards for sinking of HMS Courageous
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HMS Royal Oak
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HMS Royal Oak
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HMS Royal Oak
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Enlisting American Help

• British acquire more escorts and the ability to
  break the German Ultra Code
• The U.S. drifts into undeclared war with Germany
  attempts to maintain neutrality, 1939-1941
• FDR an internationalist/ interventionist
• Congress influenced by isolationist and America
  First propaganda.
• FDR runs for third term under isolationist
  platform. Later passes the first peacetime
  draft.
• FDR knows a German victory would threaten US
  security because it would destroy British sea
  power which was thought to be the Shield of the
  Republic.

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Enlisting American Help

• US sends Neutrality Patrols to help British
  ASW.
• All aid to Britain short of war includes
  destroyer-bases deal and Lend-Lease program.
• FDR concedes this is not Wilsons neutrality in
  thought and deed.

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U.S. Enters War

• U.S. officially enters war after attack on Pearl
  Harbor
• Germany U-boat offensive moves to the U.S. East
  Coast
• As the Convoy Strategy becomes more effective,
  Doenitz moved his U-boats south (tonnage
  strategy)
• Doenitz shifts U-boats back to North Atlantic in
  1942. U.S. counteracts with escort carriers and
  HF/DF locations of Wolfpack
• Doenitz forced into Central Atlantic as allies
  strengthened convoys and developed ASW tactics.
  Hunter-Killer groups run out of U-boats to sink

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Germanys Surface Fleet

• Germany used surface raiders with moderate
  success. No large surface battles in Atlantic,
  as German surface fleets had a hard time breaking
  out into the Atlantic.

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Competing Allied Strategies.

• British preferred a peripheral strategy
• War of Attrition
• North Africa
• Egypt
• Sicily
• U.S. preferred direct attack on Germany through
  western France
• Operation Roundup

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US went with Brits

• Allowed U.S. to pursue Pacific War
• Drew German resources off the Western Front,
  weakening them for an eventual cross channel
  invasion
• Allies checked German advances in Egypt
  stalemated on Russian front attacked Italy
  beginning in July 1943

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Competing Allied Strategies

• Sequence for pursuing peripheral strategy in the
  Mediterranean
• Operation Torch
• Operation Husky

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Operation Torch

• General Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Western Naval Task Force
• Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt
• Major General George S. Patton
• D-Day 8 November 1942
• Target is Casablanca

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Operation Husky

• Invasion of Sicily
• Same General Officers as Torch
• More sophisticated amphibious landing
• LSTs, LCTs, LCIs
• Night landing
• Mussolini falls from power

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Competing Allied Strategies

• Allies spend next year building up in England for
  cross channel invasion
• Normandy Overlord
• invasion (June 1944)
• Southern France Dragoon
• (August 1944)
• succeed in pushing Germans back into its
  borders.
• Spring 1945 War ends in Europe.

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Discussion
Next time World War II The US Navy in the
Pacific, 1941-1945