Sea


Naval warfare was taken to new extremes during WWII – when 85,000 Allied seamen lost their lives.


The Battle of the Atlantic was a war of attrition. It was fought out between the Royal Navy - who were trying to protect supply convoys crossing the Atlantic - and the German Navy U-boats, who were doing everything in their power to sink them.


Supplies of food, oil and raw materials, like steel and cotton, from America and the British Empire were crucial for British survival. Britain was effectively under siege. The Royal Canadian Navy played an increasingly influential role in quieting German attacks.


In the aftermath of Pearl Harbour – where a large proportion of the US Navy was sunk – America’s naval might became a huge relief to the Allies.


However, the US Navy’s main preoccupation was settling the scores with Japan in the Pacific. Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the US Navy defeated a Japanese attack on the Midway Atoll, in the Pacific Ocean.


It was a major turning point in the Pacific theatre, with the Japanese losing four aircraft carriers.


Two years later, in October 1944, the US Navy finally routed the Japanese at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. It was the largest sea-air battle ever, with the Japanese Air Force employing ‘kamikaze’ tactics for the first time, out of sheer desperation.