Presentation

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END OF THE ATLANTIC GAP

In May 1943, a lot of VLR (Very Long Range) B24 aircrafts were introduced from Great Britain, USA and Canada. From now on, there were no more safe areas for the german submarines in the Atlantic ...

In this fictive campaign, several allied convoys and a lot of air activity. Starting from a french harbour of the atlantic coast, you will have to sail throw the dangerous Bay of Biscay before reaching the high sea.

Good Luck !

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The Gap

Up to 1941 there had been a significant gap in the centre of the Atlantic where no aircraft could reach and escorts had to return to base for refuelling in most cases. Then Britain occupied Iceland and the gap shrank a little. Later the Americans were to join the British in Iceland. The Canadian Navy stretched its cover eastwards and the Royal Navy westwards, until, in May 1941, the two Navies met. In July 1941 the first westbound convoy joined the first eastbound convoy receiving full protection right across the Atlantic. The U boat “happy time” was coming to an end. The only blight on this was that the “air gap” had yet to be closed. Infighting between the Coastal Command and Bomber Command meant that planes with the ranges to cover this gap were kept for bombing raids over Germany. We had to await the arrival of the American long range Liberator before we could close the gap. In September of the same year, the US Navy took responsibility to escort convoys in the Western Atlantic that contained US shipping. Two destroyers were sunk by U boat as an inevitable consequence, the Kearney and the Reuben James. It should be noted that these were actually nearer the UK than the United States at the time. The arrival of radar on board the escorts added another factor in the favour of the Allies along with the introduction of star shell and snowflake flares to illuminate U boats.

Source : http://www.39-45war.com/atlantic.html



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After the "2nd happy time" (from January 1 to July 31 of 1942) off the coast of the US, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, the eastern coast of the USA was no longer a safe area in which the subs could operate. The u-boats were back at the mid-Atlantic in the period just before the convoy system, aided by VLR aircrafts, began to take its toll. The black spots on the map correspond to merchant ships sunk by u-boats, and the blue zones indicate areas of poor to zero air cover.



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And here a very good link : https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RN-II/UK-RN-II-14.html
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The situation on 1st May 1943


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22 ATLANTIC CONVOYS IN MAY 1943


HX (New York --> Liverpool) : HX.236, HX.237, HX.238, HX.239, HX.240, HX.241

SC (NYC-Halifax --> UK) : SC.128, SC.129, SC.130, SC.131, SC.132

ON (Liverpool --> Canada-USA) : ON.179, ON.180, ON.181, ON.182, ON.183, ON.184, ON.186

ONS (Liverpool --> Halifax) : ONS.5, ONS.6, ONS.7, ONS.8
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Some interesting reading about operations in the Atlantic in May 1943 : https://op-alberich.forumgaming.fr/t17-litterature-about-wolfpacks-post-here
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