Published Resources Details Journal Article

Author
Milner, M.
Title
From Nelsonic to Newtonian: the development of anti-submarine warfare in the North Atlantic 1939-1945
In
The Mariner’s Mirror
Imprint
vol. 92, no. 4, November 2006, pp. 465-476
Description

Accession No.2055

Abstract

It is a conventional wisdom to think of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) as a problem of finding elusive targets in the depths of the ocean. Indeed, much of the language of ASW speaks of the whale hunting nature of the action. In the English language at least, submarines are invariably an 'it' not a she like other ships, and they are 'killed' like some primordial predator - an image appropriate to the submarine and one cultivated to enhance its psychological impact - rather than being 'sunk' like other ships. Indeed, the image of the great, dark mechanical beast lurking in the ocean ready to pull down the unwary mariner to a watery grave dominates the lore of submarines throughout modern history.

However, the greatest submarine campaign of history had little to do with finding submarines underwater. Rather, it was characterized by surface action. From the nature of deployments to tactics, technology, visual contact with the enemy and even the words used to describe the actions, ASW in the first four and a half years of the Second World War was something that the man on the street could understand. Fighting U-boats in particular smacked of action, of charging ships, gunnery duels and solid narratives with active verbs and the language of good literature. In short, the war against U-boats from 1939 to late 1943 was 'Nelsonic' in flavour, well in keeping with traditional accounts that dominate naval history and fiction.

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