The Battle of the Atlantic

Seventy-one years ago this month marked a turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Slow Convoy 130 sailed from Halifax for Liverpool, escorted by ships of the Royal Canadian Navy. Up to that time, slow convoys had been easy pickings for U-boats of the Kriegsmarine, though less so with allied advances in equipment and technology.

A turnover of escort duty was duly made to a Mid-Ocean Escort Group, aided by long-range patrol aircraft. Three waves of German submarines were vectored onto SC 130, but every ship of the convoy made it safely across the Atlantic. German losses to aircraft and ships were at least three submarines with others damaged.

The month termed "Black May" by the German submariners was the pivotal point in World War II's longest-running battle.

HMCS Sackville, Canada's last surviving corvette, one of the many small ships of the RCN and RN that were a major force in the Battle of the Atlantic. Sackville is on display in Halifax and is a crucial piece in a major planned Battle of the Atlantic museum.

HMCS Chicoutimi--Preparing For Action

Royal Canadian Navy submarine personnel must be breathing a sigh of relief as HMCS Chicoutimi completed a camber dive. (RCN photo at left via the Ottawa Citizen.)

The camber dive, which took place recently at Ogden Point in Victoria, is a major step toward getting the boat to operational condition.
It has been a long process. Originally built as one of the last Royal Navy conventional diesel-electric submarines, Chicoutimi started out life as HMS Upholder, the name vessel of the class.

Britain's Ministry of Defence had other plans, however, and tied up the Upholders in favour of going to an all-nuclear submarine force. After years of dithering, the Canadian government purchased the four boats of the class. Only one of them, HMCS Victoria, is currently operational.

In my next blog I'll look at Chicoutimi's hard-luck timeline.

And speaking of timelines, five months from now my cold war submarine thriller, Terror on the Alert, will hit the stands.