Lads, another one short and to the point: Was the introduction of the escort carrier the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic? Before this, the gaping hole in the middle of the Atlantic was swallowing merchant tonnage faster than it could be replaced, and even though Blighty had good technological support in ASDIC and early versions of radar, both airborne and shipborne, the Wolfpacks were gaining the upper hand against the RN's undermanned escort force, as no matter the presence of the 50 four-stackers, most convoys were still sailing with only 3 or 4 ships for defence. Even deploying a big part of the Home Fleet to cover the Western Approaches wasn't the solution in the dark days of early '41.
There were a number of factors, probably the most significant was the breaking of the Enigma, first the three rotor, then the four rotor version. Also much better training and organisation of the convoy escort groups. The escort carriers were but a part of the solution; as were the Merchant Aircraft Carriers, which also 'plugged' the Black Hole air gap. Roy
Churchill stated that the one thing that really worried him was the U Boat menace. When the use of a new airfield built on the A zones became operational it meant that Long range Liberators and Catalinas could close the gaping central Atlantic gap. The escorts carriers helped greatly as the CAM ships lost their planes after catapulting them. Quite a complicated question but during the early phase of the Battle of the Atlantic it was indeed a terrible time until later when overlapping solutions including radar and Leigh lights etc, not to mention intelligence gathering, Meant that U-Boats were becoming the hunted. Regards Tom
These are instructive. Whatever the combination of factors, it all came together in 1943. I would assume that the "various causes" would include marine mines.
CAM's... A desperate measure or an efficient solution? I mean, a nice surprise for the first Kondor to show up, but, what about those that were to appear afterwards, 300 miles to the east?
