The Battle Against the U-Boat in the American Theater: December 7, 1941-September 2, 1945

• Main Author: Warnock, A. T.
• Other Authors: AIR FORCE HISTORY SUPPORT OFFICE BOLLING AFB DC
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1994
• Subjects: Military Aircraft Operations; Humanities and History; Undersea and Antisubmarine Warfare; *MILITARY HISTORY; *UNITED STATES; *NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; *ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE; *ARMY AVIATION; *ANTISUBMARINE AIRCRAFT; *SECOND WORLD WAR; AIR FORCE; COASTAL REGIONS; MILITARY FORCES(FOREIGN); ARMY OPERATIONS; SUBMARINES; LITTORAL ZONES; AIR POWER; SHIPPING; GERMANY(EAST AND WEST); MEXICO GULF; PATROL AIRCRAFT; CARIBBEAN SEA; NEWFOUNDLAND(PROVINCE); *ARMY AIR FORCE; *BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC; U BOATS; A-29 AIRCRAFT; B-24 AIRCRAFT; B-17 AIRCRAFT; B-18 AIRCRAFT; B-25 AIRCRAFT; EAST COAST; WEST COAST; Newfoundland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA433272; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA433272

In 1942, the Allied powers faced the most serious challenge to their control of the seas encountered in the Second World War: the menace of the U-boat. Fast, well-armed, and long-ranged, Hitler's submarines attacked shipping zones throughout the North Atlantic, often within sight of America's coastal towns and cities. Eventually, the combination of intelligence, land, and sea-based air power, and surface vessel operations from both North American and British bases ended this threat, making possible the Allied build-up for the invasion of Europe in 1944. This booklet, by A. Timothy Warnock of the Air Force Historical Research Agency, is one of a series tracing selected Army Air Forces activities in the Second World War. It describes the Army Air Forces' contribution to the Battle of the Atlantic from the American Theater. A subsequent booklet will examine the campaign in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Flying radar-equipped, long-range patrol planes, Army Air Force airmen demonstrated the value of land-based air power against naval threats. This success has been reaffirmed consistently since the Second World War, from Vietnam and crises such as the Mayaguez incident to operations in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The Harpoon-armed B-52s of our present-day global Air Force are the heirs of a sea-control tradition dating to the Army Air Force's A-29s and B-24s of the Second World War.