How did england manage to survive the battle of the atlantic?
– London requested Ottawa to withdraw the Canadian Escort Groups from the Atlantic convoys, and reassigned them to the UK/Gibraltar route, where air cover could be provided. Elements of the RCN Group were integrated into the formation of the new hunter/killer naval units. This decision changed the face of the Atlantic convoy system and the course of the war at sea, but it had come at a heavy cost of men and ships. The year 1942 proved to be the darkest period in the war at sea, with 1,664 merchant ships sunk, and shipping tonnage losses of 7,790,697 tons. Of these, the U-boats sank 5,471,222 tons of allied shipping (1,006 ships) in the Atlantic alone. According to an article by Robert Fisher (“The Impact of German Technology on the Royal Canadian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic, 1942-43” in The Northern Mariner, October 1997) the atrocious weather experienced in the fall and winter of 1942 often rendered the RCN’s radar useless and adversely affected asdic conditions. In addition, t
