SEPTEMBER 1939
In
1939 ....
..... the
heart of the Royal Navy was its
centuries old traditions and 200,000
officers and men including the Royal
Marines and Reserves. At the very top
as professional head was the First Sea
Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley
Pound.
Royal
Navy Warship Strength
The Royal
Navy, still the largest in the world
in September 1939, included:
15
Battleships & battlecruisers, of
which only two were post-World War
1. Five 'King George V' class
battleships were building.
7
Aircraft carriers. One was new and
five of the planned six fleet
carriers were under construction.
There were no escort carriers.
66
Cruisers, mainly post-World War 1
with some older ships converted for
AA duties. Including
cruiser-minelayers, 23 new ones had
been laid down.
184
Destroyers of all types. Over half
were modern, with 15 of the old 'V'
and 'W' classes modified as escorts.
Under construction or on order were
32 fleet destroyers and 20 escort
types of the 'Hunt' class.
60
Submarines, mainly modern with nine
building.
45 escort
and patrol vessels with nine
building, and the first 56 'Flower'
class corvettes on order to add to
the converted 'V' and 'W's' and
'Hunts'. However, there were few
fast, long-endurance convoy escorts.
Commonwealth
Navies
Included in
the Royal Navy totals were:
Royal
Australian Navy - six cruisers, five
destroyers and two sloops;
Royal
Canadian Navy - six destroyers;
Royal
Indian Navy - six escort and patrol
vessels;
Royal New
Zealand Navy, until October 1941 the
New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy
- two cruisers and two sloops.
Strengths
and Weaknesses
The Fleet was
reasonably well-equipped to fight
conventional surface actions with
effective guns, torpedoes and fire
control, but in a maritime war that
would soon revolve around the battle
with the U-boat, the exercise of air
power, and eventually the ability to
land large armies on hostile shores, the
picture was far from good.
ASDIC, the
RN's answer to the submarine, had
limited range and was of little use
against surfaced U-boats, and the
stern-dropped or mortar-fired depth
charge was
the
only reasonably lethal anti-submarine
weapon available. The Fleet Air Arm
(FAA) recently returned to full
control of the Navy, was equipped with
obsolescent aircraft, and in the face
of heavy air attack the Fleet had few,
modern anti-aircraft guns.
Co-operation with the RAF was
limited
although three Area Combined
Headquarters had been established in
Britain. Coastal Command, the RAF's
maritime wing, had only short range
aircraft, mainly for reconnaissance.
And there was little combined
operations capability.
On the
technical side, early air warning
radars were fitted to a small number
of ships. The introduction by the
Germans of magnetic mines found the
Royal Navy only equipped to sweep
moored contact mines. Finally, the
German Navy's B-Service could read the
Navy's operational and convoy codes.
Primary
Maritime Tasks
These were
based on the assumption Britain and
France were actively allied against the
European Axis powers of Germany and
Italy. The Royal Navy would be
responsible for the North Sea and most
of the Atlantic, although the French
would contribute some forces. In the
Mediterranean, defence would be shared
between both Navies, but as it happened,
Benito Mussolini's claimed ownership of
the Mediterranean - his 'Mare Nostrum' -
did not have to be disputed for another
nine months.
Threats
to and Responses by the Royal Navies
- September 1939
|
OBJECTIVE
1 - Defence of trade
routes, and convoy organisation
and escort, especially to and
from Britain.
|
|
-
Until May 1940 the main threat was
from U-Boats operating in the
North Sea and South Western
Approaches. For a few months two
pocket battleships posed a danger
in the broader reaches of the
Atlantic.
-
The first overseas convoys left
Britain via the South Western
Approaches. From the Thames they
sailed through the English Channel
(OA) and from Liverpool through
the Irish Sea (OB). Later in
September, convoys left Freetown,
Sierra Leone (SL), Halifax, Nova
Scotia (HX) and Gibraltar (HG) for
the UK.
-
In the North Atlantic
anti-submarine escorts were
provided from Britain out to 200
miles west of Ireland (15W) and to
the middle of the Bay of Biscay.
For a few hundred miles from
Halifax, cover was given by
Canadian warships. The same degree
of protection was given to ships
sailing from other overseas
assembly ports.
-
Cruisers and (shortly) armed
merchant cruisers sometimes took
over as ocean escorts.
Particularly fast or slow ships
from British, Canadian and other
assembly ports sailed
independently, as did the many
hundreds of vessels scattered
across the rest of the oceans.
Almost throughout the war it was
the independently-routed ships and
the convoy stragglers that
suffered most from the mainly
German warships, raiders, aircraft
and above all submarines that
sought to break the Allied supply
lines.
|
|
OBJECTIVE
2 - Detection and
destruction of surface raiders
and U-boats.
|
|
-
Patrols were carried out by RAF
Coastal Command in the North Sea,
and by Home Fleet submarines off
southwest Norway and the German
North Sea bases. RAF Bomber
Command prepared to attack German
warships in their bases.
-
Fleet aircraft carriers were
employed on anti-U-boat sweeps in
the Western Approaches.
|
|
OBJECTIVE
3 - Maritime
blockade of Germany and
contraband control.
|
|
-
As German merchant ships tried
to reach home or neutral
ports, units of the Home Fleet
sortied into the North Sea and
waters between Scotland,
Norway and Iceland. The
Northern Patrol of old
cruisers, followed later by
armed merchant cruisers had
the unenviable task of
covering the area between the
Shetlands and Iceland. In
addition, British and French
warships patrolled
the
North and South Atlantic.
-
Closer to Germany the first
mines were laid by Royal Navy
destroyers in the approaches
to Germany's North Sea bases.
|
|
OBJECTIVE
4 - Defence of own coasts.
|
|
-
Right through until May 1940
U-boats operated around the coasts
of Britain and in the North Sea.
Scotland's Moray Firth was often a
focus for their activities. They
attacked with both torpedoes and
magnetic mines. Mines were also
laid by surface ships and
aircraft.
-
British East Coast convoys (FN/FS)
commenced between the Thames
Estuary and the Firth of Forth in
Scotland. Southend-on-Sea, the
Thames peacetime seaside resort,
saw over 2,000 convoys arrive and
depart in the course of the war.
-
Defensive mine laying began with
an anti-U-boat barrier in the
English Channel across the Straits
of Dover, followed by an East
Coast barrier to protect coastal
convoy routes.
|
|
OBJECTIVE
5 - Escort troops to France and
between Britain, the Dominions
and other areas under Allied
control.
|
|
-
An immediate start was made
transporting the British
Expeditionary Force (BEF) to
France. By the end of 1939 the
first Canadian troops had arrived
in Britain, and by early 1940
Australian, Indian and New Zealand
forces were on their way to Egypt
and the Middle East. Troop convoys
were always heavily escorted, and
the Commonwealth Navies played an
important part in protecting the
men as they left their home
shores. Australian and New Zealand
cruisers were particularly active
in the Indian Ocean.
|
Belligerent
Warship Strengths in European Waters
& Atlantic Ocean
| Warship
type |
Royal
Navy
Home waters (a)
& Atlantic (b)
|
French
Navy
Atlantic and Channel
|
German
Navy
European waters
+ Atlantic Station
|
| Battleships
|
9
|
2
|
3
+ 2(c)
|
| Carriers
|
4
|
1
|
-
|
| Cruisers
|
35
|
3
|
7
|
| Destroyers
|
95
|
20
|
22
|
| Submarines
|
25
|
-
|
41(d)
+ 16
|
|
Totals
|
168
|
26
|
73
+ 18
|
| � |
plus
escorts
|
-
|
plus
torpedo boats
|
Notes:
-
Royal Navy was a mix of World War 1,
modernised and recently completed
ships. The French warships allocated
to the Atlantic and the German were
mainly modern.
(a)
Home Fleet commanded by Adm Sir
Charles Forbes with 7 capital ships, 2
carriers and 16 cruisers based at
Scapa Flow and Rosyth; Channel Force
with 2 battleships, 2 carriers and 3
cruisers; Humber Force with 2
cruisers; and various destroyer
flotillas.
(b)
North Atlantic Command based at
Gibraltar with 2 cruisers and 9
destroyers; America and West Indies
Command at Bermuda with 4 cruisers;
and South Atlantic at Freetown with 8
cruisers and 4 destroyers.
(c)
Pocket battleships "Admiral Graf
Spee" in the South and "Deutschland"
in the North Atlantic.
(d)
Included U-boats on patrol in the
North Sea and British coastal waters.
�
AUGUST
1945
Main Wartime Developments
As the war
progressed, the Royal and Dominion
Navies expanded rapidly with large
construction programmes, particularly
escort carriers, destroyers, corvettes,
frigates, submarines, landing ships and
craft.
By
mid-1944, 800,000 officers and men and
73,000 WRNS were
in
uniform.
Vastly
improved radars and anti-submarine
weapons had
been introduced, and the tactics to
use them effectively, honed to a fine
pitch.
Ship-borne
and land-based aircraft became vital
in the life and death struggle against
the U-boat, the only concern Prime
Minister Winston Churchill retained
throughout six years of war.
Huge
combined operations landings took
place with air superiority usually
assured.
Although
not defeated, magnetic, then acoustic
and finally pressure mines were
kept under control.
Perhaps of
greatest single significance, the
'Ultra' operation against the German
Enigma codes allowed the Allies to
penetrate to the very heart of German
and Axis planning and operations.
In
short, in a war that started with
Polish cavalry and ended with the
Anglo-US atomic bomb, the Royal and
Commonwealth Navies faced new and
continuing threats and learnt to deal
with them technically, operationally
and above all, successfully.
But there was a price to be paid:
British
Naval Casualties, not
including RAF and Army personnel killed
in related circumstances - Coastal
Command, Defensively-Equipped Merchant
Ships (DEMS) etc
Royal
Navy
- 50,758 killed, 820 missing, 14,663
wounded
Women's
Royal
Naval Service -
102 killed, 22 wounded
Merchant
Navy
- 30,248 lost through enemy action
and
in
ships:
ROYAL NAVY LOSSES
Totals
- by Year - by Theatre - by Enemy
Click
her for details of major warship
losses
also
for all Royal Navy ships lost
TOTAL STRENGTH AND LOSSES
ROYAL
NAVY
Warship types |
Strength
as
of Sept 1939
|
Commissioned
to
Aug 1945
|
TOTAL
IN SERVICE
|
TOTAL
LOSSES
|
| Capital
ships
|
15
|
5
|
20
|
5
|
| Carriers
|
7
|
58
|
65
|
10
|
| Cruisers
|
66
|
35
|
101
|
34
|
| Destroyers
|
184
|
277
|
461
|
153
|
| Submarines
|
60
|
178
|
238
|
76
|
|
TOTALS
|
332
|
553
|
885
|
278
|
LOSSES BY YEAR - including not
repaired
ROYAL
NAVY
Warship types |
1939
|
1940
|
1941
|
1942
|
1943
|
1944
|
1945
|
Totals
|
| Capital
ships
|
1
|
-
|
4
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
5
|
| Carriers
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
10
|
|
Cruisers
|
-
|
3
-
|
11
(1 RAN)
|
13
(2 RAN)
|
4
-
|
3
-
|
-
|
34
(3 RAN)
|
| Destroyers
|
3
-
-
|
37
-
(2 RCN)
|
22
(1 RAN)
-
|
51
(3 RAN)
(2 RCN)
|
18
-
(1 RCN)
|
20
-
(2 RCN)
|
2
-
-
|
153
(4 RAN)
(7 RCN)
|
| Submarines
|
1
|
24
|
11
|
19
|
13
|
5
|
3
|
76
|
|
TOTALS
|
6
|
65
|
50
|
86
|
36
|
29
|
6
|
278
|
�
LOSSES
BY THEATRE
ROYAL
NAVY
Warship types |
Atlantic
|
Europe
|
Mediterranean
|
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
|
| Capital
ships
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
| Carriers
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
|
Cruisers
|
4
|
4
|
20
|
6
(3 RAN)
|
| Destroyers
|
23
(5 RCN)
|
53
(2 RCN)
|
67
(2 RAN)
|
10
(2 RAN)
|
| Submarines
|
3
|
23
|
45
|
5
|
|
TOTALS
|
35
|
84
|
135
|
24
|
LOSS BY ENEMY
ROYAL
NAVY
Warship types |
German
|
Italian
|
Japanese
|
French
|
Other
(a)
|
Unknown
|
Total
|
| Capital
ships
|
3
|
-
|
2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
5
|
| Carriers
|
8
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
10
|
| Cruisers
|
20
|
6
|
5
|
-
|
3
|
-
|
34
|
| Destroyers
|
114
|
15
|
8
|
1
(b)
|
15
|
-
|
153
|
| Submarines
(c)
|
24
|
37
|
4
|
-
|
6
|
5
|
76
|
|
TOTALS
|
169
|
58
|
20
|
1
|
25
|
5
|
278
|
NOTES:
(a)
Includes accidental explosion and
fire, collision with Royal Navy or
Allied ships, deliberately expended,
and marine loss from grounding or
weather
(b) French
shore batteries
(c)
Submarines "presumed" or "possibly"
lost due to various causes have been
allocated to the Axis power most
likely to have been responsible
�
SUMMARY OF AXIS NAVY LOSSES
�German
Navy - Italian Navy - Japanese Navy
GERMAN NAVY - ALL MAJOR WARSHIPS -
Totals and (Due to Royal Navy)
| GERMAN
NAVY |
1939
|
1940
|
1941
|
1942
|
1943
|
1944
|
1945
|
Total
|
|
Capital
ships
|
1
(RN)
|
-
|
1
(RN)
|
-
|
1
(RN)
|
1
|
3
(a)
|
7
(3 RN)
|
| Cruisers
|
-
|
3
(2 RN)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
3
(a)
|
6
(2 RN)
|
| Raiders
|
-
|
-
|
3
(RN)
|
3
(1 RN)
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
7
(4 RN)
|
| Destroyers
(b)
|
-
|
12
(RN)
|
-
|
4
(3 RN)
|
2
(1 RN)
|
7
(2 RN)
|
2
|
27
(18 RN)
|
| Submarines
|
9
(RN)
|
22
(17 RN)
|
35
(28 RN)
|
86
(34 RN)
|
237
(61 RN)
|
242
(85 RN)
|
149
(41 RN)
|
780
(275 RN)
|
|
TOTALS
|
10
(RN)
|
37
(31 RN)
|
39
(32 RN)
|
93
(38 RN)
|
241
(63 RN)
|
250
(87 RN)
|
157
(41 RN)
|
827
(302 RN)
|
�
ITALIAN
NAVY - to 8th September 1943
Totals and (Due to Royal Navy)
|
Warship
types |
1939
|
1940
|
1941
|
1942
|
1943
|
Total
|
| Battleships
|
N/A
�
|
1
(RN)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
(RN)
|
| Cruisers
|
N/A
�
|
1
(RN)
|
6
(RN)
|
3
(2 RN)
|
2
|
12
(9 RN)
|
| Destroyers(a)
|
N/A
|
8
(RN)
|
14
(10 RN)
|
8
(4 RN)
|
13
(6 RN)
|
43
(28 RN)
|
| Submarines
|
N/A
�
|
20
(12 RN)
|
18
(14 RN)
|
22
(17 RN)
|
25
(13 RN)
|
85
(56 RN)
|
|
TOTALS
|
N/A
|
30
(22 RN)
|
38
(30 RN)
|
33
(23 RN)
|
40
(19 RN)
|
141
(94 RN)
|
�
JAPANESE
NAVY
Totals and (Due to Royal Navy)
|
Warship
types |
1939
|
1940
|
1941
|
1942
|
1943
|
1944
|
1945
|
Total
|
| Battleships
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
-
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
11
|
| Carriers
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
-
|
6
|
1
|
12
|
2
|
21
|
| Cruisers
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
-
|
6
|
2
|
24
(1 RN)
|
9
(3 RN)
|
41
(4 RN)
|
| Destroyers
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
4
|
18
|
34
|
61
|
18
|
135
|
| Submarines
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
3
|
16
(2.5 RN)
|
28
(2.5 RN)
|
53
(3 RN)
|
27
|
127
(8 RN)
|
|
TOTALS
|
n/a
|
n/a
�
|
7
|
48
(2.5 RN)
|
66
(2.5 RN)
|
154
(4 RN)
|
60
(3 RN)
|
335
(12 RN)
|
NOTE:
Of 12 submarines sunk by RN: Royal
Navy - 4, Australian - 2, Indian - 0.5,
New Zealand - 1.5��
|
