"The Battle Of The Atlantic was the only thing that ever frightened me."
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The stakes were the survival of North America, the combatants were the British, Canadian and German naval forces and the battleground was the Atlantic Ocean. All these factors make up the longest and arguably most important battle in World War two: The Battle of The Atlantic. Canadas primary role in the battle of the Atlantic was escorting supply ships to the allied lines, and while this sounds boring, the frequent attacks from German U-boats made it anything but. |
Most historians agree that the battle began on September 3rd, 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany. As soon as Germany received word they immediately started attacking British merchant ships. At the start of this battle Canada only had 6 sea going warships and 3500 personnel to their name. These ships and men were immediately called upon to assist Britain. Fortunately, Canada expanded their navy, and in the early 1940’s Canada started the construction of 92 small warships. These crafts, while modest at best, where equipped with depth charges to ferret out German U-boats and minesweepers to avoid explosions. These new vessels were quickly sent out into the middle of the fray. The pressure on Canada was mounting. Canada, while producing ships at an acceptable rate, had only former merchants to pilot them. As the battle dragged on Canadian senior officers felt that their crews and their vessels were being tested beyond their strength, but still they pressed on. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbour the Germans launched an assault on the coast that destroyed 70 allied ships and took the lives of countless sailors. These attacks had the positive effect of pulling the Canadians away from the open ocean back to the coast to try to repel the ferocious Germans. The Germans had developed a new snorkelling technology for their submarines which enabled them to stay submerged for week at a time. This made them extremely hard to find and even harder to destroy. Fortunately the tide turned in favour of the Allies on land, and as the Germans tried to close in on the coast they found they had already lost.
There were many trying battles fought in World War Two, but the Battle Of The Atlantic while not the most bloody, was the most gruelling. But this battle was pivotal for the Allied victory. By the end of the battle the Canadian forces had safely escorted 165 million tons of supplies to the front lines of the allied forces. More than 4,000 Canadian lives were claimed by this battle, but without their sacrifice the chances of an allied victory would have been slim at best.
THe life of Larry francis costello
Larry Francis Costello was a sailor on what he describes as, "One of the happiest ships he ever sailed on." His position on the ship was the bosun or a quartermaster, the officer in charge of the ammunition on board the ship as well as the responsibilities of the other crew members. During times of battle Costello's position was at the depth charge throwers, these depth charges were used to ferret out German U-boats before they did any real damage to the ships. Costello survived the war and left the navy in 1946 but ended up rejoining and sailed with the navy until 1963.
References
"The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle of the Atlantic." The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
"The Battle of the Atlantic." WarMuseum.ca. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
"Black May (1943)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
"The Memory Project." Larry Francis Costello. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
"The Battle of the Atlantic." WarMuseum.ca. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
"Black May (1943)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
"The Memory Project." Larry Francis Costello. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.