The Battle of the Atlantic

Transport Ship Unloading (Conrad Waters Collection)
Transport Ship Unloading
(Conrad Waters Collection)
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous campaign of the Second World War.

Nowhere else were British and Allied seamen exposed for so long to such great danger from the declaration of war in 1939 to the unconditional surrender of Germany in May 1945.

German U-Boat
German U-Boat (Merseyside Maritime Museum)
Some 100,000 merchant ships crossed the Atlantic to arrive safely at their destinations with food, clothing, and raw material for industry, weapons and fuel.

HMS Rochester on Convoy Duty (Conrad Waters Collection)
HMS Rochester on Convoy Duty
(Conrad Waters Collection)

However, the cost was high: over 2,000 ships were sunk, and many thousands of personnel from the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and other branches of the Armed Forces lost their lives. Not for nothing did Winston Churchill say, "The Battle of the Atlantic was the only battle that really frightened me."

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