Dockyard and Shipyard support for the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War
Naval Dockyards Society 29th Annual Conference at the University of Greenwich one Saturday March/April 2025
Sponsored by the Society for Nautical Research
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What logistical challenges were faced? What was the long-term impact?
Churchill named The Battle of the Atlantic (1939–45), the longest continuous military campaign in the Second World War. British, Canadian and US navies and air forces protected essential convoys, carrying the million tons of imported material Britain required each week to endure and fight.
From 1942, the Axis powers also countered the build-up of Allied supplies and equipment to invade Europe through U-boat attacks. Defeating the U-boat campaign was therefore vital. To combat this threat, merchant ships were grouped into convoys, as in previous global wars, escorted by warships and aircraft. The first Atlantic convoy sailed on 2 September 1939.
The Allies won a strategic victory, leading to success in North Africa, D-Day and ultimately the fall of Germany, but at a huge cost to both sides. Dockyards and shipyards on both sides of the Atlantic, including Halifax and Bermuda, played a key role in the Allied struggle for control of the North Atlantic.
Conference themes will include:
- Dockyards, shipyards, military and victualling facilities in Europe and North America supplying all the products needed to support the Allies in Europe
- Convoys to and from US and Russia
- Impact of German U-boat campaigns
- The Cold War North Atlantic power shift from the British Empire to the US
If your proposal is accepted – you will present in-person or online – we will pay UK/EU travel fare to the conference, your fee and lunch and contribute towards your accommodation, publish your paper and give you a copy of the journal. Your talk will be around 30 minutes, the printed paper 6–10K words, due 31 July 2025.
Send your title, a 300-word synopsis and a 100-word biography by 31 October 2024 or earlier to Roger Bendall, roger@rogerbendall.com and Dr Ann Coats avcoatsndschair@gmail.com
https://navaldockyards.org/conferences/ https://navaldockyards.org/
<span”>Image credits: 1. The Battle of the Atlantic, mid-March to December 1941, losses of British merchant ships (blue) and u-boats (red). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CC-BY-SA-4.0,3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 License: CC0 1.0; 2. An Allied convoy heads eastward across the Atlantic, bound for Casablanca, in November 1942. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/escort-carriers-battle-atlantic.html; 3. A boarding party from the U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Pillsbury (DE-133) working to secure a tow line to the bow of the captured German submarine U-505, 4 June 1944. Naval History and Heritage Command Collection, U.S. Navy photo 80-G-49172. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_U.S._Navy_boarding_party_working_to_secure_a_tow_line_to_the_bow_of_the_captured_German_submarine_U-505,_4_June_1944_(80-G-49172).jpg. License: CC0 1.0.
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