How Did Technology Affect The Battle Of The Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic, beginning in 1939, was the longest military campaign of World War II. It began with the British declaration of war against Germany that year, and ended with the German surrender in May 1945. Six years of intense battle brought upon massive destruction; However, it also brought upon new tactical resources, such as sonar and radar technology. The technology improved throughout the war, and ultimately played a major role in Germany’s surrender in 1945. The radar and sonar technologies allowed the Allied forces to take a dominant position in the Battle of the Atlantic, and ultimately resulted in the German surrender in 1945.

In the beginning of the war, U-boat operations dominated the Atlantic, and ultimately kept
Sonar, also referred to as ASDIC, was responsible for the anti-submarine campaign throughout the Battle of the Atlantic. ASDIC accurately plotted the location of the German targets, but was susceptible to error when travelling at speeds above 15 knots. The initial goal of the technology was to have the ability to spot a potential attacker who reached within 1,000 yards of allied ships. If this were to happen, an escort ship would then travel out towards the ship, and try to attack it in a diamond fashion. The “diamond pattern” was used to try and contain a ship within the explosions. The ASDIC system took time to perfect, and ultimately was not always successful with their attacks. Overall, the technology proved to be a valuable asset to the Allies in order to contain the
The receiver intercepted the British ASV radars, and allowed the u-boats to detect potential attacks. The Metox was not perfect, as it did often warn of ships that were at a safe distance away, which prevented them from recharging batteries or reaching their destination quickly. In addition, the Metox also provided the u-boat commanders information about whether they were they had been spotted. With the pulsating frequencies, they were able to sense whether they had been detected, enabling them to respond accordingly to a potential Allied attack. Shortly after, the Germans responded with their own Enigma code, which was utilized to encrypt messages between the u-boats and German headquarters. This new code kept the locations of the u-boats hidden, which stopped the British from applying their radar technology. For nearly a year, the British were unable to decipher the code; However, the Royal Navy was able to recover Enigma keys from the destroyed U-110, and eventually break the code. With this information, the Germans were once again able to locate locations of u-boats and convoys, which allowed them to continue to disrupt the German u-boat