TimeLine of the Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1942

• September 3rd ,1939 the sinking of the ocean liner Athenia by U-boat 30 started the battle
• October UK/ Gibraltar convoy OG1, three U-boats attacked and sunk three of the twenty-seven of the convoy
• November The RAF coastal command continued to patrol for U-Boats, but Lacked effective anti-submarine explosives
• May of 1940 Germany attacked France , British royal marines land from two cruisers at Reykjavik, Iceland, More troops followed to set up air and sea bases that soon became vital to Britain's defence of the Atlantic supply route.
• June 1940 Germany move hundreds of miles closer to the Atlantic convoy routes due to the loss of Norway.
• July 1940 Allied convoys were forced to re-route their path through the northwestern approaches to the British isles
• august 1940 - Long Range Focker Wulf Kondor Bombers started patrols off the coast of Ireland, led by Admiral Doenitz
• October 1940 U.S destroyers go into service with the U.K for permanent escorts, RAF coastal command and Western Approaches Command improve steadily.
• November 1940 fifteen merchant ships sunk including seven U-boats from the SC11
• January 1941 Bad weather in January through February left Germany with only 22 operational Uboats out of the 90 that were in commission
• February 1941 Admiral Sir Percy Noble takes over as commander and chief
• March 1941 The U.S lend lease bill is passe which led Britain and the allies to be able to receive american arms. On march 6th, Winston Churchill issued merchant ships to be armed with anti-aircraft guns as first priority.
• June 1941 the Royal Navy captured U-Boat 100 and captured Enigma material and tracked down to where supply ships were positioning to support the Bismark and other raiders and the U-boats. within the next twenty days six tankers and three other ships were sunk/ captured. this led Germany to only get supplies form boats called "Milchcows" which were not ready until 1942 .
• October,1941- U.S and Royal Canadian navies becomes established to the North Atlantic. U.S naval Air Force and Army Air Force now adding more efforts to the RAF and RCAF by escorting and patrolling from Newfoundland and Iceland.
• November 1941- considerable drops to German U-boats in the North Atlantic thus increasing the number of escorts by the help of the U.S navy. Escort carrier Audacity was also proving her worth by the number of planes carried. Hitlers orders then sent large numbers of U-boats to the Mediterranean sea. these were needed to shore up the Italian and help to try and secure the supply lines to the axis armies in North Africa.
• January 1942 -2/3 of Uboat spread out across the Atlantic Admiral Doenitz ordered to be at least 10-12 Uboats at each position at one time. German operation Paukenschlag (Drumroll) is launched towards the coasts of America.
• February 1942- Operation Paukenschlag gets extended down to the Caribbean and towards oil ports
• March 1942 - U.S lost 40+ ships many of valuable tankers
• May 1942- Mexico declares war on the Axis powers, Germany's U-Boat power increases to 100 operational subs with 200 decommissioned
• November 1942- The Anti-Uboat committee was formed under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, Winston Churchill
• December 1942- Uboat "triton" code was broken

A picture of a U-Boat