The U-Boat Killer
- Episode aired Apr 6, 1997
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The Vital Supply Line.
In 1939 Britain was an island nation, dependent for war making on supplies and foodstuffs from North America. In Germany, Admiral Dönitz was determined to cut that supply line with U-boats. It began as a good strategy. The U-boats sank more merchant ships than could be replaced. The Brits organized the convoy system -- as many as 50 merchants with a light escort of warships, mainly aging destroyers and slow sloops. The destruction continued. When the US joined the Allies in 1941 it was hoped that things would turn around but they didn't.
The Americans had had no experience in anti-submarine warfare. Cargo ships sailed placidly up and down the east coast of America silhouetted by the bright lights of cities and were systematically turned into offshore glorioles. The U-boat crews called it "the happy time" or "the rabbit hunt." The Brits introduced the corvette, a slow, lightly armed and very lively ship built on the frame of a whaler, designed specifically for ASW. There are at least two feature films made about life on a corvette -- "Corvet K-222" and the excellent "The Cruel Sea." But equally important -- and perhaps most important of all -- the escorts' technology was improving. The original device -- ASDIC or sonar -- depended on sound waves bouncing off the submarine's hull. It didn't work when submarines staged an attack at night because the action was on the surface. Specialized radar made surface attacks much more dangerous.
The Germans organized their U-boats into wolf packs which caused havoc among the convoys. The Allies responded with air searches using radar, a bright light for night attacks, long-range patrol planes, and sonic torpedoes which homed in on the noise made by the U-boats engine and propellers.
By May, 1943, the tide had turned, and in the last year of the war, a submarine patrol was the equivalent of a suicide mission. Dönitz' own son was lost on a patrol. The Germans had lost what was to be called The Battle of the Atlantic.
This is a decent, balanced, and informative series. There are commentaries from participants, both British and German, but most of the time is taken up with contemporary newsreel footage accompanied by Sean Bean's narration. No mention of sonic torpedoes or catapult-launched Hurricanes or circling Condors, but it's a proper documentary all the same.
The Americans had had no experience in anti-submarine warfare. Cargo ships sailed placidly up and down the east coast of America silhouetted by the bright lights of cities and were systematically turned into offshore glorioles. The U-boat crews called it "the happy time" or "the rabbit hunt." The Brits introduced the corvette, a slow, lightly armed and very lively ship built on the frame of a whaler, designed specifically for ASW. There are at least two feature films made about life on a corvette -- "Corvet K-222" and the excellent "The Cruel Sea." But equally important -- and perhaps most important of all -- the escorts' technology was improving. The original device -- ASDIC or sonar -- depended on sound waves bouncing off the submarine's hull. It didn't work when submarines staged an attack at night because the action was on the surface. Specialized radar made surface attacks much more dangerous.
The Germans organized their U-boats into wolf packs which caused havoc among the convoys. The Allies responded with air searches using radar, a bright light for night attacks, long-range patrol planes, and sonic torpedoes which homed in on the noise made by the U-boats engine and propellers.
By May, 1943, the tide had turned, and in the last year of the war, a submarine patrol was the equivalent of a suicide mission. Dönitz' own son was lost on a patrol. The Germans had lost what was to be called The Battle of the Atlantic.
This is a decent, balanced, and informative series. There are commentaries from participants, both British and German, but most of the time is taken up with contemporary newsreel footage accompanied by Sean Bean's narration. No mention of sonic torpedoes or catapult-launched Hurricanes or circling Condors, but it's a proper documentary all the same.
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- rmax304823
- Dec 29, 2016
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