The Defensive (UK--History of the Second World War) (original) (raw)

Chapter

Page

Editor's Preface

xiii

Author's Preface

xix

I

Maritime War and Maritime Strategy

1

II

Maritime War--The British Shore Organisation

15

III

The Development of Sea-Air Co-operation

29

IV

Allied and Enemy War Plans and Dispositions

41

V

Opening Moves in Home Waters 3rd September-31st December, 1939

63

VI

The Sea Approaches and Coastal Waters 3rd September-31st December, 1939

91

VII

Ocean Warfare 3rd September-31st December, 1939

111

VIII

The Sea Approaches and Coastal Waters 1st January-31st May, 1940

123

IX

The Home Fleet
1st January-9th April, 1940

147

X

The Norwegian Campaign
8th April-15th June, 1940

169

XI

The Control of the Narrow Seas
10th May-4th June, 1940

205

XII

The Withdrawal from Europe
5th-25th June, 1940

229

XIII

The Control of Home Waters
30th May-31st December, 1940

247

XIV

Ocean Warfare
1st January-31st December, 1940

269

XV

The African Campaigns
1 May-31st December, 1940

293

XVI

Coastal Warfare
1st June, 1940-31st March, 1941

321

XVII

The Campaign in the North-West Approaches
1st June, 1940-31st March, 1941

343

XVIII

Ocean Warfare
1st January-31st May, 1941

367

XIX

The Home Fleet
1st January-31st May, 1941

389

XX

The African Campaigns
1st January-31st May, 1941

419

XXI

The Battle of the Atlantic
1st April-31st December, 1941

451

XXII

Home Waters and the Arctic
1st June-31st December, 1941

483

XXIII

Coastal Warfare
1st April-31st December, 1941

497

XXIV

The African Campaigns
1st June-31st December, 1941

515

XXV

Ocean Warfare
1st June-31st December, 1941

541

XXVI

Disaster in the Pacific
December 1941

553

APPENDICES

Appendix A

The Board of Admiralty, September 1939-December 1941

573

Appendix B

Defensive Arming of Merchant Ships--the position on 1st March 1941

574

Appendix C

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines, Active and Reserve Strength, 1939-45

575

Appendix D

Particulars of principal British and Dominion warships in commission, preparing to commission or building in September 1939

577

Appendix E

Distribution of British and Dominion Naval Strength, September 1939

583

Appendix F

Summary of the principal warships built for the Royal Navy under the 1939, War Emergency, 1940 and 1941 Building Programmes

588

Appendix G

The German Navy and the outbreak of war

590

Appendix H

The Italian Navy, Strength and Dispositions, June 1940

593

Appendix J

The Principal British Mercantile Convoy Routes, 1939-41

598

Appendix K

German and Italian U-boats sunk, 1939-41, and analysis of cause of sinking

599

Appendix L

Operation DYNAMO. Summary of British and Allied ships employed, troops lifted and British ships lost or damaged

603

Appendix M

Enemy Surface Commerce Raiders, 19i39-41. Performance data and particulars of losses caused

604

Appendix N

German Supply Ships working with Raiders and U-boats, 1939-41

606

Appendix O

The Battle of the Atlantic Directive by the Minister of Defence, 6th March 1941

609

Appendix P

Chronological Summary of Moves by the United States Government affecting the War at Sea, 1939-41

612

Appendix Q

German U-boat strength, 1939-41

614

Appendix R

British, Allied and Neutral Merchant Ship Losses by cause and by theatres, 1939-41

615

Index

621

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

Number

Subject

Facing page

Naval Command Areas at Home, 1939, and Associated Maritime R.A.F. Commands

37

Naval Command Areas and Associated R.A.F. Commands, September 1939

43

The English Channel, Ushant to Texel

63

The Northern Passages to the Atlantic, North Norway to Greenland

65

The North Sea, including the coasts of the Low Countries and North Germany

71

Scapa Flow, showing defences as completed 1940-41

74

The Sortie of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, 21st-27th November, 1939, and the sinking of the Rawalpindi

83

The Western Approaches to the British Isles

91

The Principal Atlantic and Home Waters Mercantile Convoy Routes, September 1939-April 1941

93

British and German Declared Mine Areas, 1939-40

97

The Cruises of the Admiral Graf Spee and Deutschland, 1939

115

The Battle of the River Plate, 13th December 1939

118

The East Coast of Britain, including the Thames Estuary

127

The Norwegian Campaign, British and German Naval Movements, 7th-9th April, 1940

159

The Norwegian Campaign, British and German Naval Movements, 9th-13th April, 1940

171

The First Battle of Narvik, 10th April 1940

175

The Second Battle of Narvik, 13th April 1940

177

Norway, Vestfiord and Approaches

page 181

Central Norway, the Approaches to Trondheim

page 182

The Sortie of the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Hipper, 4th-13th June 1940

195

The Sea Routes used during the Evacuation from Dunkirk, 26th May to 4th June, 1940

page 220

The Bay of Biscay and the Approaches to Western France

233

The Central and South Atlantic Oceans

273

The Operations of Disguised German Raiders, January-December, 1940

279

The Cruises of the Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper, January-December 1940

287

The Mediterranean Theatre

293

26A.

Operation MENACE; British and French Movements, 7th-16h September, 1940

page 313

26B.

Operation MENACE; the Second Bombardment, noon to 3 p.m., 24th September 1940

page 318

The Cruises of the Admiral Scheer,Admiral Hipper, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, January-Mary 1941

369

The Straits of Gibraltar and the Approaches to the Mediterranean from the West

381

The Operations of Disguised German Raiders, January-May 1941

383

The pursuit of the Bismarck; the first phase, 23rd-24th May, 1941

397

H.M. Ships Hood and Prince of Wales in action with the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, 24th May 1941

page 403

The pursuit of the Bismarck; the second phase, 24th-26th May, 1941

409

The pursuit of the Bismarck; the final phase and final action, 27th May 1941

415

The Indian Ocean and Approaches to the Mediterranean from the East

426

Movements of British and Italian Fleets, 28th-29th March, 1941, leading to the Battle of Cape Matapan

429

The Eastern Mediterranean, showing the naval losses incurred in the Greece, Crete and Syrian Campaigns, 1941

436

The Western Atlantic and the Approaches to Newfoundland, Canada and the East Coast of the U.S.A.

453

The Principal Atlantic and Home Waters Convoy Routes, June 1940-December 1941

457

Typical Atlantic Convoy and Anti-Submarine Escorts, 1940-41

page 465

The Arctic Convoy Routes, 1941, and the Approaches to Murmansk and Archangel

485

The Interception of German Raider and U-boat Supply Ships, June-December 1941

page 543

The Operations of German Disguised Raiders, 1st June-31st December, 1941

545

The sinking of H.M. Ships Prince of Wales and Repulse, 10th December 1941

565

LIST OF TABLES

Table

Page

Royal Navy--Aircraft Carriers in Service, 1939

31

British Empire--Effective Naval Strength, 1939

50

French Fleet--General Disposition, 1939

51

Northern Patrol--Ships Intercepted, September 1939-January 1940

67

Allied Merchant Ship Losses, September-December 1939

106

Raider Hunting Groups, October 1939

114

Northern Patrol--Ships Intercepted, January-April 1940

149

Italian Merchant Shipping Losses, June-December 1940

307

German Air Attacks on Shipping and Losses within 40 miles of the coast or of an R.A.F. Airfield, November 1940-June 1941

332

The R.A.F.'s Air Minelaying Campaign, June 1940-March 1941

336

The Air Offensive against Enemy Shipping, April 1940-March 1941

339-340

Italian and German (Mediterranean) Merchant Shipping Losses, January-May 1941

439

Comparison of Losses to Independently-routed and Convoyed Ships, November 1940-May 1941

458

Royal Navy--Escort Vessel Strength, June 1941

464

The Air Offensive against Enemy Shipping, April-December 1941

507

German Air Attacks on Shipping and Losses within 40 miles of the coast or of an R..F. Airfield, April-December 1941

508

The R.A.F.'s Air Minelaying Campaign, April-December 1941

511

Comparative results obtained by Air Minelaying and by Direct Attack on Shipping at Sea, April 1940-December 1941

512

Stores and Men transported to and from Tobruk, April 1940-December 1941

520

Italian and German (Mediterranean) Merchant Shipping Losses, June-September 1941

528

Malta Convoys, 1941

531

Italian and German (Mediterranean) Merchant Shipping Losses, October-December 1941

537

Allied Shipping Sunk or Captured by Enemy Warships and Armed Merchant Raiders, 19490-41

541

The Interception of German Supply Ships, June 1941

544

German Warship and Armed Merchant Raiders, 1939-1941

550

Allied and Enemy Naval Forces in the Pacific, December 1941

560

ILLUSTRATIONS

Admiral of the Fleet Sir A. Dudley P.R. Pound

Frontispece

Facing page

The Reserve Fleet in Weymouth Bay, August 1939

16

Part of the Home Fleet off Invergordon, August 1939

17

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles M. Forbes

32

Admiral Sir John C. Tovey

32

Air Chief Marshal Sir F. W. Bowhill

33

Air chief Marshal Sir P. B. Joubert de la Ferté

33

H.M.S. Ark Royal off Rosyth, August 1939

72

'The Squadron Navigating Officer', by Sir Muirhead Bone

Following page 72

Naval Swordfish Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance Aircraft

Following page 72

H.M.S. Nelson in Loch Ewe, 1st October 1939

73

'Fleet Minesweepers at work in the Straits', by Leslie Cole

100

'A Minesweeper', by Charles Cundall

100

An East Coast Convoy, 1940

101

Typical British Escort Vessels in Service 1939-1941

128

'The Wardroom and Mess Deck of an S. Class Submarine', by Stephen Bone

129

'Eleven O'Clock in the Fo'c's'le', by Henry Lamb

129

'The Atlantic', by R. V. Pitchforth

144

'Ship's Boat at Sea', by Richard Eurich

144

Escort vessels on patrol, 1940

145

A destroyer in heavy weather, H.M.S. Kashmir, 1940

145

'The withdrawal from Dunkirk', by Richard Eurich

224

'Portsmouth Harbour after an Air Raid', by Richard Eurich

225

Vice-Admiral Sir James F. Somerville

240

'Force H' off Gibraltar

241

The German Supply Ship Altmark in Jossing Fiord, February 1940

288

The German heavy cruiser Hipper in dock at Brest, January 1941

289

The Admiral Scheer captures a tanker

289

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew B. Cunningham

304

H.M.S. Warspite, Mediterranean Fleet Flagship

305

'Air attack on a Channel Convoy', by Norman Wilkinson

336

'Falmouth Harbour, 1940', by John Platt

337

Atlantic Convoy at Sea on 10th June 1941

360

The Battle of the Atlantic, The Toll

Following page 360

The Destruction of a Focke-Wulf Kondor, July 1941

361

The Bismarck in Grimstad Fiord, 21st May 1941

400

The Bismarck, before sailing for the Atlantic

400

H.M.S. Norfolk shadowing the Bismarck, 24th May 1941

401

H.M.S. Suffolk in the Denmark Strait

401

The German battleship Bismarck

416

Oil track left by the Bismarck, 24th May 1941

417

The Bismarck on fire and sinking, 27th May 1941

417

Air depth-charge attack on a U-boat, December 1941

466

The Surrender of U.570 to a Hudson Aircraft, 27th August, 1941

467

U.570 in British service as H.M.S. Graph

467

Admiral Sir Percy L. H. Noble and Air Vice-Marshal J. M. Robb

472

Atlantic Convoy O.B.331 at sea, 10th June 1941

Following page 472

H.M.S. Keppel searching for a convoy south of Iceland, October 1941

473

The Operational Plot of the Western Approaches Command, 24th December 1941

480

H.M.S. Audacity (Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier) and H.M.S. Ariguani (Fighter Catapult Ship) at sea 1941

481

'Convoy to Russia', by Charles Pears

496

'Convoy entering Murmansk', by Norman Wilkinson

496

H.M.S. Prince of Wales with the Prime Minister on board passing through an Atlantic Convoy, August 1941

497

H.M.S. Ark Royal under bombing attack, November 1940

528

The Sinking of H.M.S. Ark Royal, 14th November 1941

529