Encyclopedia > Timeline of the Second Battle of the Atlantic
1939
September September 3, 1939 - German submarine U.30 sinks the SS Athenia. This attack is interpreted by the United Kingdom as the start of unrestricted submarine warfare. However, in Germany it leads to stricter controls being issued by the Kriegsmarine. Germany at this point had 39 of its 58 U-boats at sea, but this was far less than the 300 which Admiral Karl Dönitz, chief of German submarine forces, considered to be necessary before the opening of war.
September 14, 1939 Unrestricted submarine warfare is a kind of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchant ships without warning. ...
The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ...
U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ...
Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz. ...
- U.39 attacks the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, but fails to cause any damage. The aircraft carrier's escorts force U.39 to the surface with depth charges and the crew are taken prisoner.
September 15, 1939 HMS Ark Royal (91), was the third ship of the Royal Navy to be named in honor of the flagship of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada. ...
Jump to: navigation, search An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ...
- The first British trans-Atlantic convoy sets sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
September 17, 1939 Jump to: navigation, search Please read first: This article is about the Nova Scotia community. ...
- U.29 sinks the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.
September 20, 1939 Jump to: navigation, search The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ...
Several ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Courageous or Courageux (the French spelling). ...
- U.27 is sunk with depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Fortune and HMS Forester.
September 26, 1939 Unterseeboot 27 (U-27) has been the designation of two submarines of the German Navy. ...
- German media reports the sinking of the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. However, this report is false: many such reports would be made during the war.
September 30, 1939 HMS Ark Royal (R07) in Greenwich dock, London This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
- German pocket battleship Graf Spee sinks the first merchant ship of its cruise. Total sinkings for its sortie will total nine vessels totalling 50,000 tons before it becomes embroiled in the Battle of the River Plate.
The Graf Spee (not to be confused with the much more famous warship Admiral Graf Spee) was a German Mackensen class battle cruiser that was never finished. ...
The Battle of the River Plate (December 13, 1939 ) was the first major naval battle of World War II. The German pocket battleship (heavy cruiser) Admiral Graf Spee which had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September was engaged by three Royal Navy cruisers, HMS Exeter...
October October 14, 1939 - U.47, under Captain-Lieutenant Gunther Prien, raids the British naval base at Scapa Flow, sinking the HMS Royal Oak at anchor.
October 16, 1939 Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien (January 16, 1908 - March 7, 1941) was one of the three outstanding U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat commander to win the Knights Cross. ...
Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ...
Seven (or eleven, depending on how one counts) vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Royal Oak. ...
- Germany begins employing magnetic mines. These cause significant losses to Allied shipping.
November November 21, 1939 - British aircraft carrier HMS Belfast hits a German mine, and is seriously damaged while operating in the Firth of Forth.
November 23, 1939 Belfast at her London berth in 2004. ...
The Firth of Forth from Calton Hill The Forth Bridges cross the Firth The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotlands River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh, and East Lothian to...
- A German magnetic mine is recovered successfully by the Allies, leading to the development of effective counter-measures. The German battlecruiser Scharnhorst sinks the British armed merchant vessel Rawalpindi. The Scharnhorst and its accompanying Gniesenau are forced to abandon their sortie and return to port.
Scharnhorst was a 31,500 tonne Gneisenau class battlecruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, named the Prussian general and army reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst and to commemorate the World War I armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst. ...
Rawalpindi is a city near Islamabad, Pakistan. ...
Gneisenau was a 31,100 ton Gneisenau class battlecruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, named to commemorate the World War I armored cruiser SMS Gneisenau, which was in turn named after the Prussian general August von Gneisenau. ...
1940
February February 14, 1940 - The United Kingdom announces armaments will be carried by all merchant vessels. Germany responds by announcing that all vessels will be considered warships.
March March 16, 1940 - A German air raid at Scapa Flow damages a cruiser and causes the first civilian casualties in Britain of the war.
Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. ...
Month-by-month summaries
1939 - September: Allied shipping losses total 53 vessels. 41 vessels totalling 153,800 tons are lost to submarines. German losses are two submarines.
- October: Allied shipping losses total 196,000 tons. German losses are five submarines.
- November: Allied shipping losses to submarines are 21 vessels totalling 51,600 tons. More than 100,000 tons are lost to German mines.
- December: Allied shipping losses are 73 vessels totaling 189,900 tons. 25 are sunk by submarines. The Germans lose one submarine.
Total Allied losses to mines during 1939 are 79 vessels totalling 262,700 tons.
1940 - January: Allied losses are 73 vessels totaling 214,500 tons, of which 40 vessels totaling 111,200 tons are sunk by submarines. Germany has 38 operational submarines to begin the year.
- February: Allied losses are 226,900 tons, of which 45 vessels totaling 169,500 tons are lost to submarines.
- March: Allied losses are 45 vessels, of which 23 are lost to submarines. Germany loses three submarines.
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