Oslo, Norway. 28 May. Winston Churchill said “The only
thing that ever frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril”. Last Friday in Moscow’s Victory Park I had
the honour of an escorted visit to the Hall of Memory and Sorrow in which 2650
‘teardrops’ commemorate the 26.5 million Russian war dead. It was a truly moving experience. Here in Oslo in support of a NATO meeting I
am reminded of the enormity of the Allied effort to defeat Nazi Germany. This week sees not only the seventy-second
anniversary of the sinking of the German fast battleship Bismarck, but also the
seventieth anniversary of what the U-boat arm called “Black May” when over
forty U-boats were lost to new British tactics and technology. It is seen as the turning point in the Battle
of the Atlantic and for that reason marks the commemoration of what was the
longest campaign of World War Two.
The sheer scale of the
battle speaks for itself. It lasted the
entirety of the war from September 1939 to May 1945. Simply to stay in the war Britain had to
import one million tons of food and materials each week. Three thousand five hundred merchant ships
were lost with some thirty thousand sailors killed. The massive bulk of those lost were British
but there were also American, Canadian, Danes, Dutch, French, Norwegian and
host of other allies who suffered casualties.
One hundred and seventy-five allied warships were sunk but seven hundred
and eighty three U-boats were also sunk.
Indeed, ninety per cent of U-boat crews were killed. Only RAF Bomber
Command comes close to that casualty rate with some fifty per cent of crews
killed.
Nor was this simply a
sea war with the RAF, Royal Canadian Air Force and US Army Air Force playing a
critical role in the eventual victory. There
were over one hundred major convoy battles and over one thousand single ship
engagements. Attacks came not just from
under the waves but also from German air and surface raiders. Moreover, the convoys did not simply sail between
North America and Britain. In what
Churchill described as the “worst journey in the world” one of the decisive
campaigns was the successful re-supplying of the Soviet Union by convoys from
Britain to Murmansk in the Soviet high north.
Whilst not immediately
obvious to Russians the Battle of the Atlantic was critical not simply to
Britain’s survival but that of the Soviet Union. The Murmansk convoys suffered terribly from
air, sea and U-boat attacks launched from bases here in occupied Norway. Critically, on 26 December, 1943 the British
battleship HMS Duke of York cornered and sank the German battle-cruiser
Scharnhorst. The Battle of North Cape
was one of the last battleship-to-battleship duals in which air power played no
meaningful role. As a sign of things to
come it was the first occasion when radar-controlled gunnery was used. In the Arctic twilight HMS Duke of York
completely surprised the Scharnhorst with her massive fourteen inch guns
straddling and hitting the German ship with her very first salvo.
Ultimately, the battle
was an exercise in British sea power which still has lessons for today. Specifically, why Britain must retain a
powerful navy able to reach those parts most other navies cannot. Ninety-five per cent of all British trade
goes by sea and with sea-lines of communication (SLOC) ever more important to
global trade keeping sea-lanes open is a vital British interest.
There is another
reason. The Royal Navy remains a
‘strategic brand’ one of those iconic services the history of which makes it
far more than any old navy. If the Royal
Navy is weak, as it is dangerously close to being today, then not only
Britain’s defence but British influence is at risk. This is something all too apparent to me when
I visit Washington, Moscow, Beijing or indeed Paris or Berlin. National wealth stands ultimately on national
influence. It is something too many
British politicians fail to understand.
Even more worrying too many of those with responsibility for planning
Britain’s future military also fail to understand this basic power truism in what
is still a world driven by state power.
On Sunday the last
remaining veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic gathered in Liverpool
Cathedral for a service of remembrance.
The Port of Liverpool had been the hub of the Battle of the Atlantic. Although now few in number they remain stout
of heart. The role they played was to critical
in the winning of the war. We owe our
freedom to the thousands of Britons, Americans, Canadians and those of many
other proud lands who surrendered their lives to the chill depths of the
Atlantic during that terrible time.
Honour them.
Julian Lindley-French
