The Royal Navy and Anti-Submarine Warfare, 1917-49 (Naval Policy and History)

241 Pages·2006·3.46 MB·English

by  Malcolm Llewellyn-jones

17.7mm
BLACK 3015 spine
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Warfare, 1917–49
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CASS SERIES: NAVAL POLICY AND HISTORY v
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Series Editor: Geoffrey Till a
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Until 1944 U-boats operated as submersible torpedo craft which relied heavily on the t
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surface for movement and charging their batteries. This pattern was repeated in S
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World War II until Allied anti-submarine countermeasures had forced the Germans to b
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modify their existing U-boats with the schnorkel. Countermeasures also pushed
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along the development of high-speed U-boats capable of continuously submerged r
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operations. n
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These improved submarines became the benchmark of the post-war Russian
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submarine challenge. Royal Navy doctrine was developed by professional anti- r
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submarine officers, and was based on the well-tried combination of defensive and a
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offensive anti-submarine measures that had stood the test of time since 1917, e
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notwithstanding considerable technological change. 1
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This consistent and holistic view of anti-submarine warfare has not been understood 7
–
by most of the subsequent historians of these anti-submarine campaigns, and this
4
book provides an essential and new insight into how Cold War (and indeed modern) 9
anti-submarine warfare has been conducted.
Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones served in the Royal Navy for 26 years, mainly in the Fleet
Air Arm. After retiring from the Navy he completed an MA and a PhD in War Studies at M
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King’s College, London. He is a historian in the Naval Historical Branch, MoD. L
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MILITARY HISTORY / BRITISH HISTORY / STRATEGIC STUDIES L MALCOLM LLEWELLYN-JONES
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Cover image: HMS Cossackfires her Squid, IWM A.33268. Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.
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www.routledge.com/strategicstudies
Printed in Great Britain
The Royal Navy and Anti-Submarine
Warfare, 1917–49
Until 1944 U-boats operated as submersible torpedo craft which relied heavily on
the surface for movement and charging their batteries. This pattern was repeated
in World War II until Allied anti-submarine countermeasures had forced the
Germans to modify their existing U-boats with the schnorkel. Countermeasures
also pushed along the development of high-speed U-boats capable of continuously
submerged operations.
These improved submarines became the benchmark of the post-war Russian
submarine challenge. Royal Navy doctrine was developed by professional anti-
submarine officers, and was based on the well-tried combination of defensive and
offensive anti-submarine measures that had stood the test of time since 1917,
notwithstanding considerable technological change.
This consistent and holistic view of anti-submarine warfare has not been
understood by most of the subsequent historians of these anti-submarine campaigns,
and this book provides an essential and new insight into how Cold War (and indeed
modern) anti-submarine warfare is conducted.
Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones served in the Royal Navy for 26 years, mainly in the
Fleet Air Arm. After retiring form the Navy he completed an MA and a PhD in
War Studies at King’s College, London. He is a historian in the Naval Historical
Branch, MoD.
Cass series: Naval policy and history
Series Editor: Geoffrey Till
This series consists primarily of original manuscripts by research scholars in the general
area of naval policy and history, without national or chronological limitations. It will
from time to time also include collections of important articles as well as reprints of
classic works.
1 Austro-Hungarian Naval Policy, 10 Naval Policy and Strategy in the
1904–1914 Mediterranean Sea
Milan N. Vego Past, present and future
Edited by John B. Hattendorf
2 Far-Flung Lines
Studies in imperial defence in 11 Stalin’s Ocean-going Fleet
honour of Donald Mackenzie Soviet naval strategy and
Schurman shipbuilding programmes 1935–1953
Edited by Keith Neilson and Greg Jürgen Rohwer and Mikhail S
Kennedy Monakov
3 Maritime Strategy and 12 Imperial Defence, 1868–1887
Continental Wars Donald Mackenzie Schurman: edited
Rear Admiral Raja Menon by John Beeler
4 The Royal Navy and German 13 Technology and Naval Combat in
Naval Disarmament 1942–1947 the Twentieth Century and
Chris Madsen Beyond
Edited by Phillips Payson O’Brien
5 Naval Strategy and 0perations in
Narrow Seas 14 The Royal Navy and Nuclear
Milan N. Vego Weapons
Richard Moore
6 The Pen and Ink Sailor
Charles Middleton and the King’s 15 The Royal Navy and The Capital
navy, 1778–1813 Ship in the Interwar Period
John E. Talbot An operational perspective
Joseph Moretz
7 The Italian Navy and Fascist
Expansionism 1935–1940 16 Chinese Grand Strategy and
Robert Mallett Maritime Power
Thomas M. Kane
8 The Merchant Marine and
International Affairs, 1850–1950 17 Britain’s Anti-submarine
Edited by Reg Kennedy Capability 1919–1939
George Franklin
9 Naval Strategy in Northeast Asia
Geo-strategic goals, policies and 18 Britain, France and the Naval
prospects Arms Trade in the Baltic,
Duk-Ki Kim 1919–1939
Grand strategy and failure
Donald Stoker
19 Naval Mutinies of the Twentieth 28 British Naval Strategy East of
Century Suez, 1900–2000
An international perspective Influences and actions
Edited by Christopher Bell and Edited by Greg Kennedy
Bruce Elleman
29 The Rise and Fall of the Soviet
20 The Road to Oran Navy in the Baltic, 1921–1940
Anglo–French naval relations, Gunnar Aselius
September 1939–July 1940
30 The Royal Navy, 1930–1990
David Brown
Innovation and defence
21 The Secret War against Sweden Edited by Richard Harding
US and British submarine
31 The Royal Navy and Maritime
deception and political control in
Power in the Twentieth Century
the 1980s
Edited by Ian Speller
Ola Tunander
32 Dreadnought Gunnery and the
22 Royal Navy Strategy in the Far
Battle of Jutland
East, 1919–1939
The question of fire control
Planning for a war against Japan
John Brooks
Andrew Field
33 Greek Naval Strategy and
23 Seapower
Policy, 1910–1919
A guide for the twenty-first
Zisis Fotakis
century
Geoffrey Till 34 Naval Blockades and Seapower
Strategies and counter-strategies,
24 Britain’s Economic Blockade of
1805–2005
Germany, 1914–1919
Edited by Bruce A. Elleman and
Eric W. Osborne
Sarah C. M. Paine
25 A Life of Admiral of the Fleet
35 The US Pacific Campaign in
Andrew Cunningham
World War II
A twentieth-century naval leader
From Pearl Harbor to
Michael Simpson
Guadalcanal
26 Navies in Northern Waters, William Bruce Johnson
1721–2000
36 Anti-Submarine Warfare in
Edited by Rolf Hobson and Tom
World War I
Kristiansen
British naval aviation and the
27 German Naval Strategy, defeat of the U-boats
1856–1888 John J. Abbatello
Firerunners to Tirpitz
37 The Royal Navy and Anti-
David Olivier
Submarine Warfare, 1917–49
Malcom Llewellyn-Jones

The Royal Navy and
Anti-Submarine Warfare
1917–49
Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones
First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2006 Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones
Typeset in Times by
HWA Text and Data Management, Tunbridge Wells
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0–415–38532–6
For my beloved Mother and Father

Contents ix
Contents
Preface xi
List of abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1 Echoes from the past, 1917–40 8
British anti-submarine warfare, 1917–40 8
Convoys and striking forces 12
Wartime experience 17
2 Mastering the submersible, 1939–43 25
U-boats and their tactics, 1939–43 25
Methods of detecting and attacking U-boats 28
Tactics on gaining contact 35
Beating the submersible 39
3 Elusive victory: countering the schnorkel, 1944–45 46
Introduction of the schnorkel and its effect on anti-submarine
operations 46
British tactical countermeasures 50
Tactics refined from experience 56
Coastal Command’s response 58
Results of the anti-schnorkel campaign 60
Prospects of the U-boat war 63
4 The dawn of modern anti-submarine warfare, 1944–46 68
The problem of the fast U-boat 68
HM submarine Seraph trials 69
Further assessment of the type XXI 75
Captain Roberts’ interrogation of German U-boat officers 78