First Happy Time
Period of naval battles of the Second World War
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Atlantic campaign
- Americas
- Northern Barrage
- Blockade of Germany
- Gibraltar
1939
1940
- HX 47
- HX 49
- 1st Happy Time
- HX 65
- SC 2
- HX 72
- SC 7
- HX 79
- HX 84
- Nordseetour
- HX 90
1941
- SC 19
- SC 20
- Berlin
- HX 106
- HG 53
- OB 293
- HX 112
- 4 April
- OB 318
- HX 126
- Rheinübung
- Denmark Strait
- Bismarck
- HX 133
- OG 69
- OG 71
- SC 42
- HG 73
- SC 48
- HX 156
- HG 76
1942
- Postmaster
- 2nd Happy Time
- Torpedo Alley
- SC 67
- Neuland
- ON 67
- 27 March
- OG 82
- ON 92
- 6 June
- HG 84
- SL 78
- QS 15
- ON 113
- ON 115
- SC 94
- ON 122
- Bell Island
- QS 33
- ON 127
- Laconia
- SQ 36
- SC 100
- SG 6/LN 6
- SC 104
- HX 212
- SL 125
- SC 107
- ON 144
- ON 153
- ON 154
1943
- TM 1
- SG 19
- SC 118
- ON 166
- UC 1
- SC 121
- HX 228
- UGS 6
- HX 229/SC 122
- HX 231
- Black May
- Faith
- ONS 18/ON 202
- SC 143
- ONS 20/ON 206
- Sept-Îles
- ON 207
- SL 138/MKS 28
- SL 139/MKS 30
- SL 140/MKS 31
- Stonewall
1944
- Lyme Bay
- 26 April 1944
- Capture of U-505
- HX 300
- WEP 3
- BX 141
1945
- Teardrop
- Point Judith
- 5–6 May 1945
- 7–8 May 1945
The early phase of the Battle of the Atlantic during which German Navy U-boats enjoyed significant success against the British Royal Navy and its Allies was referred to by U-boat crews as "the Happy Time" ("Die Glückliche Zeit"),[1] and later the First Happy Time, after a second successful period was encountered.
It started in July 1940, almost immediately after the Fall of France, which brought the German U-boat fleet closer to the British shipping lanes in the Atlantic. From July 1940 to the end of October, 282 Allied ships were sunk off the north-west approaches to Ireland for a loss of 1,489,795 tons of merchant shipping.[2]
The reason for this successful Axis period was the British lack of radar and huff-duff equipped ships which meant that the U-boats were very hard to detect when they made nighttime surface attacks – ASDIC (sonar) could only detect submerged U-boats.
When it ended is a matter of interpretation, with some sources claiming October 1940[3] and others extending it to April 1941,[4] after the Germans lost three prominent U-boat commanders: Günther Prien, Joachim Schepke and Otto Kretschmer.[5]
See also
- Operation Berlin
- Convoy SC 7
- Convoy HX 84
- Convoy HX 106
- Convoy HX 112
- Convoy OB 293
- Second Happy Time
References
- ^ Purnell, Tom (April 11, 2003). "The "Happy Time"". "Canonesa", Convoy HX72 & U-100. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved September 1, 2007.
- ^ Blouet, Brian W. Global Geostrategy: Mackinder and the Defence of the West, p. 131
- ^ Hughes, Terry; Costello, John. The Battle of the Atlantic, p. 88
- ^ Macintyre, Donald G. F. W. The Naval War Against Hitler, p. 52
- ^ Milner, Marc (June 2008). "The Battle That Had to Be Won". Naval History Magazine. United States Naval Institute. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
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