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My dad was a crew chief on a PBY Catalina flying patrols over the Atlantic in the USN. He said after mid 1943 they would see U boats but by the time they flew over them they were already submerged. During a long patrol and when the seas were calm they would land on the ocean and sleep on the wing for a few hours. One night they woke up and heard German voices. Needless to say they started the plane and took off as fast as they could. Turns out one of the crew on the PBY could speak German and was playing a prank.

My Uncle was a Captan in the British Merchant Navy, he was torpedoed four times. Lived to tell the tale. Many did not.

Hedgehog did not fire depth charges, it was a spigot mortar system firing bombs with contact fuses. These would only explode on contact and could not be depth set.

Wow!  My father was Navy pilot in WW2 who sank a U-boat while he was on the USS Bogue. I was quite surprised and pleased to see the Bogue mentioned in this video.

Good summary of all of the technologies brought together by the Allies to defeat the U-boat menace. It was a total package of tools and people, both ship borne and land based that made this happen. Our grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts and great uncles were truly the greatest generation and deserve our eternal gratitude from whichever side of the Atlantic we live. Thanks for your efforts to put this together.

Seems that you skipped what the Canadian Navy did during those days. Corvettes and Frigettes were on constant patrol in all weather.

The breaking of the German codes was the most important aspect of anti submarine warfare.  The destruction of submarines had always been a minor issue as compared to detecting their location.  In January 1943 a British bomber carrying an H2S short wavelength radar system was shot down.  German analysts were shocked that not only did such technology exist but that it must be in full production for it to be now ‘standard’ equipment.  They reasoned that it was therefore likely that the allies had much more advanced equipment in their inventory and if this ‘advanced equipment’ was in use on maritime air patrols then German submarines would be detectable at ‘great range’ and would therefore be vulnerable.  The coordinated effort against the submarines fleets consisted of first determining their general location by decrypting messages.  Aircraft were then sent to these general locations (there was lag between messages being sent and the time it took to decrypt them) and by use of their airborne radar the exact positions were determined.  If the submarines were on the surface they were bombed.  If the submarines escaped by diving, navy destroyers would be directed to the immediate area and would use radar and sonar to sweep for submarines.  Once detected they would be attacked with ‘Hedgehog’ mortar depth charges.  Of the chain consisting of location, detection, targeting and destruction the first was most critical and this was brought about by decryption of German signals.

The real difference was the change from standard depth charges to the Hedgehog.   As crews got better at using the new tech the success rate drastically climbed.

You lose 13 vessels and it’s a victory.  Harsh times.

I read the memoirs of a U-Boat captain who put to sea late in the war. He said he was compelled to crash dive three tines a day by Allied aircraft. And this was while patrolling off of South Africa!

I just found your channel today. I was so happy to hear a real voice, not AI or robotic voice over. Very informative.  I am impressed.

My dad was on Walker RN and his ship, with a book and pictures, after the war was published.

I would point out one thing - Hedgehogs did not launch depth charges.  Depth charges used time or depth sensing fuzes, explosives launched from the Hedgehog were contact fuzed.  There in fact was an earlier version of the Hedgehog that used depth sensing fuzing, but it wasn't successful.

My Dad flew B-17s out of Great Britain over occupied Europe from November 1943 until May 1944. They flew their own bomber across the Atlantic, but every bit of aviation gasoline they used on their missions, every replacement part to repair the aircraft, every bomb they dropped, every 50 caliber round they fired in defense, every drop of lubricating oil and other vital fluid, it all arrived by ship, with very few exceptions.

One notable exception was the medicinal whiskey served after the mission. Mostly it was American bourbon, which of course arrived by ship, but every once in a while they served Scotch whiskey. Dad had a fellow crew member who didn't drink, and Dad traded with this guy. During the missions they carried a small package of food called a Red Cross box, it was a sandwich, some other food, and a great big cookie. Dad would give away his cookie to his fellow crew member, and in trade he got an extra two ounces of medicinal whiskey after the mission.

The other exception was during breakfast before a mission. The powdered eggs (which of course arrived by ship) were pretty awful, especially for a kid who spent his summers on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, with fresh hen's eggs every morning. But they had to eat, in spite of pre-mission jitters and pretty awful food, because the calories were vital for flying up to ten hours at 30 below zero in the unpressurized, barely heated bomber.

Dad had made friends with a nearby farmer, who had a very attractive daughter. Dad would trade his American cigarettes (guess how those got across the Atlantic) to the farmer for fresh eggs.

When he was going through the serving line at the mess hall, he would reach in his jacket pocket and pull out two fresh eggs, hand them to the cook, and ask him to fry them up. His squadron mates would ask "Where the #%!& did you get those eggs?" That secret remained highly classified for the duration of his missions.

RIP Colonel (then Lieutenant) Richard Mallon, 401st Bomb Group, 615th Bomb Squadron, Eighth Air Force. September 1921-October 2012. My hero.

At the end of WW2, Canada had the third largest Navy on our watery planet!
The Royal Canadian Navy's MAJOR contributions to the Allied victory were protecting conyoys on the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, as well as conducting and refining antisubmarine warfare techniques.
Our Pacific fleet was a great deal smaller and served primarily in an offshore patrol role from Washington state, through BC to the Gulf of Alaska, as well as in northern US and  Canadian coastal waters, to the top of the Alaskan panhandle!
   🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🚢  🔱  🚢 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦

The Huff Duff didn’t only improve detection of submarines. It also didn’t appear on German radar when the sub was detected. With the old system the German crew would know when they were spotted but with Huff Duff the attacking aircraft could surprise the sub without giving it a chance to evade

My father served in the British Merchant Navy 1939-1946 mainly on the North Atlantic Convoys but did serve on other Convoys.
He was picked up 3 times after sub or aircraft attack. He always said he was lucky and that many were not.

Thank God there's NO A I in making this video! Subscribed, so more content please

Somewhere in this video should have been mentioned one of the most critical disadvantages the Uniate had. All uboats of the era were diesel and battery powered. The diesel engine had to operate on or very near the surface and the ships had to spend long periods on the surface to recharge batteries that were used while submerged. Probably one of the biggest factors that prevented the German uboats from pressing attacks was they could not remain on the surface long in contested waters after the development of technology that could locate and track them along with the improved capability to hunt down these contacts, which equated into the heavy losses. There is a reason the US Navy is called the silent service. Avoiding detection while simultaneously identifying an enemy contact and close on it by stealth is still the primary strategy of submarine warfare.