Indie keeps telling us how much shipping the allies lose in the Atlantic but he also keeps saying that not all of that is lost to Uboats, so I was wondering what else can cause the loss of ships on the high seas. Is it from accidents or are there air attacks on convoys outside of the Mediteranean? Or is it attributed to the cruiser-raiders like the Cormoran for example?
Thanks for any answers, and thanks for an awesome show TG team!
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Don’t forget mines. Those deadly mines. Some of them are still in the oceans today.
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Oh yes, of course! I wonder if/how many ships are being sunk by magnetic mines any more. It would be nice to have a little update on that, are the allies still degaussing their ships all the time, did the Americans upon entering the war have trouble with them, things like that!
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Closer to the British Isles, there were Luftwaffe FW-200 Condor aircraft who doubled in spotting convoys for the U-boats and also did some attacking on their own. Based in France or in Norway, they had a very long range (over 3,000 km/2,000 miles) and carried up to 1,000 Kg (2,200 lbs) in bomb load or could be used to lay mines.
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But those mines aren’t going to be able to blow up anything now right? Because of the advancement in technology or do they still manage to sink some ship unfortunate to pass over them.
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As the saying goes, “Accidents happen.”
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The Japanese also made attacks on merchant shipping in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but these were the minority of missions. Frequently, they waited for fleets that were never seen, supported inconsequential reconnaissance flights, or toted midget submarines about, all of which achieved rather less than was possible with so valuable a resource as the Japanese submarine fleet. Worse from a naval perspective, Japanese submarines were increasingly employed in running supplies to the starving garrisons of isolated islands in the Pacific theatre.
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I was under the impression that the FW-200 was a quasi strategic bomber, with it’s 4 engines! By that I mean, I imagine it would be supremely difficult to aim their bombs at moving targets at sea. Though they would surely be able drop some mines. I might be wrong of course!
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Like any weapon system it had its strengths and weaknesses … but until the Royal Navy developed adequate air cover for convoys, the FW-200 was a very valuable aircraft for the Kriegsmarine. In the Wikipedia page it says:
The Luftwaffe initially used the aircraft to support the Kriegsmarine, making great loops out across the North Sea and, following the fall of France, the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft was used for maritime patrols and reconnaissance, searching for Allied convoys and warships that could be reported for targeting by U-boats. The Fw 200 could also carry a 1,000-kilogram (2,200 lb) bomb load or naval mines to use against shipping, and it was claimed that from June 1940 to February 1941, they sank 331,122 tonnes (365,000 tons) of shipping despite a rather crude bombsight. The attacks were carried out at extremely low altitude in order to “bracket” the target ship with three bombs; this almost guaranteed a hit. Winston Churchill called the Fw 200 the “Scourge of the Atlantic” during the Battle of the Atlantic due to its contribution to the heavy Allied shipping losses.[7]
Following the debut of what would become the Luftwaffe’s primary seaborne maritime patrol aircraft, the rival trimotored BV 138C flying boat in March 1941; from mid-1941,[citation needed] Condor crews were instructed to stop attacking shipping and avoid all combat in order to preserve numbers. In August, the first Fw 200 was shot down by a CAM ship-launched Hawker Hurricane, and the arrival of the U.S.-built Grumman Martlet, operating from the Royal Navy’s new escort carriers, posed a serious threat. On 14 August 1942, an Fw 200C-3 was the first German aircraft to be destroyed by USAAF pilots, after it was attacked by a P-40C and a P-38F over Iceland.[8]
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yes, I meant to get back to you! I have since posting my last comment, made some inquiries myself, among other things I tried flying it in a flight simulator and while it isn’t very maneuvarable it’s definitely not as bad as I thought! It surely must have been a formidable weapon!
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Wonder if any of the merchandise “accidentally fell off the side of the ship”
AKA items that reappear on the underground black market such as tobacco, chocolate, and booze.
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