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To: Homer_J_Simpson

Panel 8 has an article about the Britsh having sunk 74 ships in the Pacific. I find it interesting that although there is much coverage of U boat activity in the Atlantic, it appears that their are no British or Amercian submarines in the Atlantic. Even the day by day review post does not report any.

Was this purposeful or is it just not being reported?


11 posted on 03/16/2015 9:41:35 AM PDT by Steven Scharf
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To: Steven Scharf

IIRC, the allies were using mostly blimps, planes and destroyers to kill U-boats towards the end of the war. It wasn’t remotely efficient to use subs to hunt German U-boats.

Our subs were mostly in the Pacific strangling Japan’s raw material supply lifeline!


12 posted on 03/16/2015 1:02:04 PM PDT by Seizethecarp
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To: Steven Scharf
I don't know the answer for sure, but could venture a guess that U.S. subs in the Atlantic were scarce or nonexistent.

There was no German shipping in the Atlantic to attack. After the Bismarck was sunk German surface ships rarely left port. In those days subs were poor at anti-submarine warfare, so there was really no need for them.

On the other hand, we were trying to do to the Japanese what the Germans had done to Anglo-American shipping, only on a more successful basis. So, we sent as many subs to the Pacific as we could.

13 posted on 03/16/2015 1:14:45 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: Steven Scharf
it appears that their are no British or Amercian submarines in the Atlantic

What would they attack?

Earlier in the war, the Brits (and one Polish boat) operated in the North and Baltic seas. The British subs were also active in the Med against the Italians. The few German merchant ships in the Atlantic were those caught in neutral ports when the war broke out and they made a run for home.

Interesting brief overview of the disproportionate costs of submarine warfare here: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/history/wwii-campaigns.html

15 posted on 03/16/2015 4:50:36 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: Steven Scharf
it appears that their are no British or Amercian submarines in the Atlantic.

More than a few U-boats outbound and inbound from Saint Nazaire and La Rochelle were sent to the bottom by British subs laying in ambush.

16 posted on 03/16/2015 7:41:42 PM PDT by fso301
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