The Submarine Blitzkrieg (German U-Boats & Japanese I-Boats) Against North America & the US Response

The Submarine Blitzkrieg (German U-Boats & Japanese I-Boats) Against North America & the US Response
What's Going on With Shipping?
January 2, 2022
This paper was presented to the American Merchant Marine Veteran's Annual Convention in Baltimore, Maryland on September 22, 2001 by Sal Mercogliano, Chair of the Department of History, Criminal Justice and Political Science at Campbell University.
This presentation, addressed the first six months of the Second World War, following US entry, when Japanese I-Boats and German U-Boats launched dual offensive against the American coasts. The paper deals with the background to these attacks, including the experience of the United States during the First World War, efforts to prepare the nation for the Second World War, and the creation of organizations, such as the Maritime Commission, the War Shipping Administration and the US Maritime Service. It also discusses the essential role the American merchant marine - both its international trading fleet and its domestic coastal fleet - played in supplying and maintaining the supply line to Europe, Hawaii and Australia.
If you enjoyed the video, check out others in the American Merchant Marine playlist on this channel:
• American Merchant Marine

[@reedmartin6614]

Great subject and channel Sal! My father joined the US Merchant Marine on Dec 8th, 1941 at age 18. Became 1st mate on Liberty ships. He had nothing good to say about the Navy throughout his 88yr life. After the war he stayed with freight and founded a trucking business , now in its 3rd generation. When the subject would come up, I'd ask him to name a single Navy person who had been as wildly successful as he in business ?... and it continues on...

[@reedmartin6614]

Interesting point in your presentation about troop carriers....my father spoke of carrying troops on the tween decks of his Liberty.....also, on one crossing holds were completely full so they had 4 steam locomotives lashed down as deck cargo....said stability was a much, much bigger concern on that crossing than enemy subs lol!!

[@danwiggins5580]

Sal, a great presentation! I get more interested in the Merchant Marines every time I hear your KZbin channel. Number 21 in the world, its obvious that our political leaders have clearly forgotten, or never heard, the history of WW1 and WW2. They, along with the US Navy, need to get the message of just how important our leadership in the maritime world and shipping is.

[@clayz1]

Nice job. Merchant Marine sailors always spoke proudly of it, of being in it. All I could think about when reading accounts is of the poor unlucky guys who had their ships blown out from under them. What a frightening job that had to be. They could use a lot more credit.

[@fag311061]

Straight to the point. Excellence Speech and analysis. Work for 30 years now in Maritime Commission. Started as a research project for a German Naval Historian about the Navy Auxiliaries in WWII. It was so impressive, that I starting my works thru the three Building Programs. Shipbuilding, Operational History, Pictures whee my focus up to 2018. In January 2018 I started to compile the movements, for each individual vessel build by the Commission. Starting with the Liberties, I have just passed the 1000 Yard Line last week. Digging out fragments of history, is so exiting.

[@etexsly2502]

What an excellent talk! Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@morgotha42]

I had no idea that the Merchant Marines even existed before I found your channel. I find it shocking that until this year I had no Idea the Merchant Marines even existed and I am 47 years old! I have asked the people I know if they heard of Merchant Marines they had not heard of it either! So now they do know thanks to your channel!

[@davidvik1451]

My father a Mate on the ATS tug Robert Gray, witnessed the torpedoing of a transport off Cape Flatery, Washington in 1942. The dates, and description of events by my father lead me to believe it was the Fort Camosun. Even if the Japenese submarine effort on the west coast did not result in significant losses, it did as an old friend said," All they had to do is stick their head up and go Grrrrrrr!!, to tie up a lot of personnel and material assets that would not be fighting them elsewhere." Good stuff Have a Good New Year David Vik

[@indylovelace]

Sal, an amazing presentation. Thank you for sharing this with the world!

[@terracottaneemtree6697]

I missed this live, darn.

[@QuizmasterLaw]

Greyhound, tactically accurate, but anachronistic; no convoy battles in Feb. 42, drumbeat still ongoing Awesome lecture! I learned things.

[@stephenknutson1343]

Wow, who knew? I even knew some old salt merchant mariners that were in WW2, and they did not even talk about this. Thanks for the information.

[@johnbeaulieu2404]

One part of US Merchant Shipping that I never see talked about is American ships delivering Lend Lease equipment to the Russians at Vladivostok. Sailing alone right past Hokkaido through the La Pérouse Strait into the Sea of Japan. The Japanese never attack those ships for fear of having the Russians declare war on them. The Japanese feared the Russian Army after what happened at Khalkhyn Gol.

[@wgowshipping]

One quarter of the Lend-Lease travelled this route out of Seattle. You are exactly correct that it was insane that the Japanese never stopped the free flow of these ships of the Soviet Far East merchant fleet.

[@larrylawson5172]

Marvelous! I would love to take a course of classes from you. It would be fascinating! I hope the MM academies will listen to your suggestion that the teach required courses in MM history. I hope that many people in WDC will listen to your educational talks. The problem is the expense that would be involved in developing a #10 MM. We have discussed before that even saying that we have a #21 rank in shipping is hiding the truth. We get there because of Great Lakes ships, ferries and yachts and other pleasure craft. Not tankers or container ships or bulkers or roro ships or LNG vessels. There is a 1000 mile journey to get from #21 to #10. A 10,000 mile journey to get to #5. It can be done but grab your wallet. During WWII I had an uncle that was eventually a Boiler Mate 1st class. He joined in 1939. Went to the Army (MP) in 1942 and returned to the MM in 1944/45. He was in the bottom of the ship. A very important job. But those were the guys that did not get out if there was a problem. He was very fortunate.

[@susanlister753]

Very enjoyable. My father and his friend Dave (both ex Merchant Service) villified Admiral King and may still from their graves. FYI The convoy system is a relic of the Napolionic wars and certainly was not promoted by the USN until quite late in the war. Admiral King was widely quoted as refusing to implement a convoy system because it was A "British" thing to do, and this rankled his famous Anglophobia. Dads friend Dave spent the whole war in tankers between Aruba and Halifax. Dad moved from a coaster to a Norwegian flagged freighter from New York to Trincomalee.

[@dougowen9873]

Sal: This presentation really hit close to home for me and my family. My Dad, who passed away about 10 years ago was in the 41st infantry division and was transported, as you describe to the South Pacific, on merchant vessels and ended up in New Guinea, met Macarthur briefly at one point and named his son after the General (that would be me). Anyway he always spoke very highly of the private ships that, as you point out, delivered the troops to the South Pacific in those early days of WW2. (although he did occasionally talk about the fact that farm boys like him spent quite a few hours heaving into large garbage cans on the voyage. LOL. Farm boys from the midwest were not used to that rolling deck on the high seas. Thanks again for mentioning a very important part of my family history.

[@wgowshipping]

Doug. I am really glad you wrote this. My larger work is looking at this in more detail. Do you know what ship your dad was on? By the way, everyone gets seasick. It is just a matter of experience.

[@dougowen9873]

@@wgowshipping Sal, thanks for the kind reply and I wish I had picked my dad's brain while he was alive about which ship he was on but alas, that information died with him. You have given me a golden opportunity to do some research on that point. Hopefully I will be able to get back to you with some more detailed information on that point. You are right about the seasickness being a matter of experience. By the time the war was over and my dad was back in Portland, Oregon he went ocean fishing on a neighbor's small power boat off of the Astoria bar and never had a problem. The one time I went with him when I was about 14 i fed the fishes quite a bit on that trip but later got over the mal de mer.

[@CarlGustav-gv2lk]

A good book: HX 72: First Convoy to Die (written from the Canadian perspective).

[@PlanetFrosty]

Excellent presentation and detailed as usual with great logical understanding of maritime components. Now the next innovation in shipping, the breakdown box carrier for localized delivery to Mom & Pop or smaller markets from smaller manufacturers. The idea came from “Wolf Packs” though probably a bad name. I have drawings already and logistics data plan and idea on idea on building new and using current container ships. Continuous data, and a thought through what you’ve been saying. I’m calling a friend VP at Oracle and another at SAP and talking to them on common interface open source shipping language. China is in deep financial trouble and now is the time pivot and be ready if the CCP falls because this could also improve other global geopolitical circumstances in the long run. We’ll see...

[@johnbrossack3791]

Well done. I have read several different, fragmented, articles on what the Germans called the "Happy Times" and they tended to state that the USN was caught flat-footed in early 1942. It would be interesting to see a more balanced presentation of the when/where/how/why of what actually happened in the the Battle of the Atlantic, from early 1942 to essentially the end of the war in May 1945. As has been said by many historians, 'the victor writes history.'. Since WWII ended nearly 80 years ago, maybe it's time for another look. Thanks again, great presentation.

[@davidgellatly1975]

P.S. The Merchant Marine did get some good PR from Hollywood with the movies "Action in North Atlantic" with Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey and the "Long Voyage Home" one of John Wayne's lesser known but best performances.

[@wgowshipping]

I have been thinking about doing a review of these movies and posting it.

[@petergold1758]

Maine Maritime used to have a merchant marine history course for all 4th class ( freshmen ). It was taught by my advisor Dean "Bucko" Mayhew.

[@wgowshipping]

This should be required at all maritime academies.

[@petergold1758]

@@wgowshipping I'm working on it for the Honorverse Merchant Fleet Academy. Your videos are posted on the group FB page.

[@rogerneves7898]

Nice pic, that is the Bedford Basin of Halifax, NS, Canada, Harbor during WWII.

[@wgowshipping]

Exactly!

[@davidgellatly1975]

Actually the convoy system originated in the 17th Century during the Anglo-Dutch trade wars, when both parties routinely convoyed their shipping to protect them from attack by both enemy fleets and privateers (essentially legalized pirates). Convoys were used by the British throughout the "Second Hundred Years War" to protect their shipping from French, Spanish and American attacks. The real mystery of the First World War is the failure of the British to institute convoys at the outbreak of the second round of unlimited submarine warfare. It was essentially a case of reinventing the wheel. The battle of the Atlantic was really won in November of 1942 when US shipping production began to outstrip the U-boat sinkings thus negating the whole premise of Doenitz's U-boat campaign - the tonnage war which he intended to win the war by sinking allied shipping faster than it could be replaced ultimately starving out the allies due to the lack of shipping.

[@wgowshipping]

The convoy system actually pre-dates even that, going back to the Ancient period of the Romans for example. The key was not only US shipbuilding production of merchant ships, but the implementation of world-wide convoys and not giving the German U-boats any real undefended targets, except for ships largely sailing alone.

[@lwilton]

While you didn't mention it, I assume you also have a copy of _Beans, Bullets, and Black Oil_, The Story of Fleet Logistics Afloat in the Pacific During World War II, by Rear Adm. Worrall Reed Carter USN. While most of this is about the Navy doing it's own support and shipping, there is considerable mention of the part the merchant marine plays in keeping the fleet sailing in the Pacific.

[@wgowshipping]

I do.

[@ko9446]

It’s pretty cool to walk the beach in Ventura California and see the concrete bases the military has guns attached to. From what I’m told it was to combat the Japanese ships

[@arvadawelder]

You forgot the coast guard.

[@wgowshipping]

I never forget the Coast Guard, but there is only so much that I can mention in a presentation.

[@PlanetFrosty]

What this points out is it’s always the foot soldier, the merchant marine, the mom and pop the bears the brunt of foolish policy. I’m sick of it and all of my work is in fact design to mitigate that uneven situation. All of my work started with rural telecom and helping them have advanced services and bring more to this underserved populations. So this is where it all began and my own work bringing internet to rural populations before there was a World Wide Web and so on. This is the backbone of America, but we don’t realize. More invention comes from farmers than you realize in electronics and engineering than you think as they are on the boards of cooperatives and participate in education at universities. The merchant marine is no less inventive and the backbone of America.

[@youreckonso]

Just what would happen if all ships stopped sailing now? I imagine we as a country would need to start producing again certain things, and otherwise air transports would be needed, and if forced would achieve independence from China. Just how bad would this be? I mean really addressing this idea might even mean lack of computer parts, and may even mean fewer computers no? Just how bad would that be?

[@wgowshipping]

It would be catastrophic. Just look at food, bulk ore and fuel.

[@youreckonso]

@@wgowshipping It would kind of force us to use our own fuel supplies I reckon

[@youreckonso]

Instead of stills for alcohol there would be stills for oil in the backwoods mayhap

[@NJTCO1]

It is easy to blame Admiral King. Then you don't have to take into account the fact that the US Navy was so short of destroyers and corvettes in late 1941 that his only choice was to decide which ships would be left unprotected - the ones going across the North Atlantic to Britain, the ones supplying the Pacific, or the ones doing the coastal shipping here in the U.S. Dragging out the quotation about "convoys being a British idea" is always convenient, even though no one can ever find an actual source for the remark other than the British themselves. What made King permanently unpopular was his insistence of holding back enough forces to support the war in the Pacific when Churchill thought he had persuaded Roosevelt to commit everything to the war against Germany.

[@wgowshipping]

I think King was in a very complex situation and he was forced to make decisions. I believed that Andrews failed more than King to organize along the Eastern Frontier. When you look at the West coast, it is much different in the level of convoys and protection. King's priority to the Atlantic Fleet (Ingersoll) was to protect the Lend Lease and troop convoys and that is where his resources went

[@NJTCO1]

@@wgowshipping Amen

[@1516Taylor]

Revelation 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 18 and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

[@mikeskywatcher6763]

it's the JU z