15th JOSDC – SSC

WORLD WAR II- Naval aspects(From Breakout to 1941)

 By:

 Surg Lt Khalid

Surg Lt Mujeeb-ur-RahmanS/Lt Mubbashir Hassan

S/Lt Abdul Wahid

The Naval warfare of the World War II consists of the following battles:

 1. Battle of Gdańsk Bay Surg Lt Khalid2. Battle of Atlantic3. Battle of the River Plate S/Lt A. Wahid4. Battle of Taranto 5. Battle of Calabria S/Lt Mubashir6. Battle of Denmark Strait Surg Lt Mujeeb7. Attack on Pearl Harbor

Scheme of Presentation

Battle of Gdańsk Bay Battle of Atlantic

By:Surg Lt Khalid

Events of the World War II starting on 1 September 1939 :

Defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig

Battle of Westerplatte - German battleship vs. the Polish fortified ammunition depot

Battle of the Gdańsk (Danzig) Bay – German aircraft against Polish vessels

Battle of Gdańsk Bay

Gdańsk Bay

Also called Bay of

Gdańsk

OR

Danzig Bay

Located at south east of

Baltic Sea, and north

Sieges of Danzig (Gdańsk) took place several times in the history of Danzig. The most notable are:

Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdańsk) in 1308

Siege of Danzig (1577) by king Stefan Batory

Siege of Danzig (1626-1629) Battle of Oliva 1627 Siege of Danzig (1655–1660) Siege of Danzig (1734) Siege of Danzig (1807) Siege of Danzig (1812)

•Part of Invasion of Poland by Germany

•Started on Sept 1, 1939

•At Gdansk Bay, Baltic Sea

•Result: Indecisive

•One of the biggest and the first naval battle of Word War II

•Also one of the first battles in which naval units fought mostly against air forces

THE BATTLE

Polish navy was already prepared as there was threat from Soviet Union

But, as Germany apparently became more aggressive then polish navy moved most of their vessels and submarines to execute certain operations, aimed at disrupting the German Naval movement in the area of Gdnask Bay

Operation Peking

Operation Worek

Operation Rurka

Operation Peking

The Operation Peking was an operation in which three destroyers of the Polish Navy were evacuated to the United Kingdom to assist the British Royal Navy in the event of a war with Nazi Germany.

The plan was successful and allowed the ships to avoid certain destruction in the German invasion.

Polish destroyers during Peking Plan

Operation Worek

An operation of the Polish Navy in the first days of World War II.

Five Polish submarines formed a screen in order to prevent German naval forces from carrying out landings on the Polish coast.

ORP_Orzel, one of the submarine of Operation worek

Operation Rurka

All the remaining surface vessels were to be dispatched from the naval base to lay a naval mine barrier to prevent any enemy ship from entering the area.

The German attack on flotilla of these vessels marked the start of the battle of Gdask

The attack was carried out by a group of 33 German warplanes, mostly Junkers Ju 87B Stuka dive bombers.

The air raid was mostly unsuccessful initially but it became successful on 2nd consecutive attack.

GERMAN ‘JUNKERS JU 87’ (DIVE BOMBERS)

POLISH NAVAL CONTACT MINE

Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945)

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of World War II running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945

It was at its height from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943

Why did the Germany planned to start the

Atlantic War?

As an island nation, the United Kingdom was highly dependent on imported goods. Britain required more than a million tons of imported material per week in order to be able to survive and fight.

Such an enormous amount of material was transferred to Britain by merchant ships, from America and some other countries.

These merchant ships were proceeding in convoys to resist any atack by German Uboats.

The convoys of merchant ships, coming mainly from North America and the South Atlantic and going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces

A convoy of Allied Forces

The Germans realised this: ‘Britain’s ability to maintain her supply

lines is the decisive factor for the outcome of the war’

Admiral Raeder, Chief of German Naval Staff

Hence Germany decided to attack convoys.

The Battle of the Atlantic pitted U-boats and other warships of the German Navy against Allied convoys

Economic warfare OR Tonnage War

Uboat

Allied tanker torpedoed in Atlantic Ocean by German submarine.

A torpoedo hitted merchant ship

The attacks on convoys was devastating and continued successfully till 1943

The worst period was from the beginning of 1942 to March 1943 when 7 million tons of merchant shipping was sunk.

"The Battle of the Atlantic was the only thing that really frightened me" - Winston Churchill (PM of Britain).

'The Happy Time' (June 1940 – February 1941)

This was very successful time for Germany as :

They occupied Norway in April 1940,

They conquered France in June

Italy entered into the war as a strong ally of Germany

The acquisition of France was very beneficial for Germany in their Atlantic war as they could use easily approachable French dockyards.

This also enabled them to easily extend operations to central and western Atlantic

From August 1940, a flotilla of 27 Italian submarines started operation to attack Allied shipping in the Atlantic

These Italian submarines that operated in the Atlantic sank 109 ships of 593,864 tons

Field of battle widens (June 1941 – December 1941)

Canada and USA grew their activity in Atlantic ocean

The Canadian Royal Navy took the responsibility of the safe passage of convoys on western part of Atlantic

By 1941 the United States was taking an increasing part in the war, despite its nominal neutrality

In April US extended the Pan-American Security Zone east almost as far as Iceland

With the support of Canadian and US navy, Britain became successful to built a stronger escort for the convoys

Battle of the River Plate

December 1939, HMS Achilles as seen from HMS Ajax during the Battle of the River Plate

Date : 13 December 1939

Location : Off the River Plate estuary,

South Atlantic

Result : Allied victory

1 heavy cruiser 2 light cruisers

Belligerents

  Germany  United Kingdom New Zealand

Commanders and leaders

Hans Langsdorff Henry Harwood

Strength

1 pocket battleship

Casualties and losses

1 pocket battleship scuttled 36 dead 60 wounded

•1 heavy cruiser heavily damaged•2 light cruisers damaged•72 dead (Achilles 4, Ajax 7, Exeter 61)•28 wounded

Admiral Graf Spee in flames after being scuttled in the River Plate Estuary off Montevideo, Uruguay.

The Battle of the River Plate was the first naval battle in the Second World War

. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September 1939.

hunting groups sent by the British Admiralty comprising three Royal Navy (RN) cruisers, HMS Exeter, Ajax and Achilles

Battle of Taranto

Taranto naval base in the 1930s

Date : 12 November 1940

Location : Taranto, Italy

Result : Decisive British Victory

Belligerents  United Kingdom  Italy

Commanders and leaders

Lumley Lyster Inigo Campioni

Strength21 torpedo bombers1 aircraft carrier2 heavy cruisers2 light cruisers5 destroyers

6 battleships9 heavy cruisers7 light cruisers13 destroyers

Casualties and losses

2 killed2 captured2 aircraft shot down

59 killed600 wounded1 battleship destroyed2 battleships damaged2 aircraft destroyed

•The naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War.

• The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, •The attack struck the battle fleet of the Regia Marina at anchor in the harbor of Taranto utilizing aerial torpedoes.

•. The devastation wreaked by the British carrier-launched aircraft on the large Italian warships was the beginning of the rise of the power of naval aviation, over the big guns of battleships.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Taranto_map-en.svg

Battle of Calabria

Italian battleship Giulio Cesare firing during the battle

Date : 9 July 1940

Location : Near Calabria, Italy

Result : Indecisive

Belligerents United Kingdom  Italy  Australia  

Commanders and leaders

Andrew Cunningham Inigo Campioni

Strength

1 aircraft carrier3 battleships5 light cruisers16 destroyers

2 battleships6 heavy cruisers8 light cruisers16 destroyers

Casualties and losses

1 light cruiser damaged2 destroyers damaged

1 battleship damaged1 heavy cruiser damaged1 destroyer damaged

The Battle of Calabria, known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo

was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in World War II.

It was fought between the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) and the British Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.

Battle of Denmark Strait

Attack on Pearl Harborby

Surg Lt Mujeeb-ur-Rahman

Date 24 May 1941

Location Denmark Strait

Result German victory

The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a Second World War naval battle between ships of the Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine, fought on 24 May 1941.

The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Hood fought the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, both of which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to destroy Allied merchant shipping.

On 18 May 1941, the battleship Bismarck was ready, for her first voyage against enemy shipping, "Operation Rheinübung".

She was accompanied by Prinz Eugen, a new heavy cruiser also on her maiden mission.

Großadmiral Günther Lütjens, the German fleet commander, intended to break out into the Atlantic through the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland and attack Allied convoy traffic in the North Atlantic.

Denmark Strait

Earlier raids by German capital ships such as the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had done enough damage to cause the British to use some of their older battleships such as the Revenge class as convoy escorts.

Although old and slow, these ships were well armed with 15 in (380 mm) guns, more powerful than the guns of the German heavy cruisers and pocket battleships.

Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, though, could risk attacking a convoy escorted by one of these battleships.

Bismarck could engage and attempt to destroy the escorting battleship, leaving the lighter Prinz Eugen to chase down and sink the fleeing merchant ships.

The next morning the German ships were intercepted in the Strait between Iceland and Greenland by a force of British ships.

These were the battleship Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Hood and a screen of six destroyers, under the command of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland on Hood.

Casualties and losses

1 battleship damaged1 battle cruiser sunk

1 battleship damaged1,428 dead9 wounded

Attack on Pearl Harbour

Date December 7, 1941

Location Primarily Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, United States

Result Japanese major tactical victory United States declares war on the Empire of Japan

Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declare war on

the United States.

BACKGROUND

US Sanctions on petroleum products such as palm oil as well as steel, rubber, copper & scrap metal

The western powers froze its financial assets in America

Japanese realized Surprise attack at pearl harbour would be useful

79

GREAT EAST ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE

BRITAIN, FRANCE & NETHERLANDS must be forced out from far east

Asia is the territory of asiatic

80

sumatra

Borneo

81

GEOGRAPHY OF BATTLE

Hawaiian Chain lies 3300 miles South East of Japan and 2200 miles South West of America.

Pearl Harbour is an inlet to OAHU, Hawaii, 10 km west of Honolulu

Very difficult to attack pearl Harbour without being detected by US or merchant ships.

82

2200 MILES

3300 MILES

83

Japanese Attack Force

06 Aircraft Carriers Carrying 355 Aircrafts

02 Battleships and 02 Heavy Cruisers 01 Light Cruiser and 11 Destroyers 08 Oil Tankers for Refueling of Ships 12 ‘I’ Type Submarines 05 Midget Submarines

84

85

ATTACK FORCE

U.S. Forces at Pearl Harbour

Surveillance Radar placed at Opana Aircraft Carriers (Not present during

attack) Battle ships, Destroyers, Cruisers, Oil

Tankers, Mine Layer Fighter Aircraft ground based 50 Bombers Patrol a/c on Reccee b/w Midway & Wak

cont.. 86

U.S. Forces at Pearl Harbour

15 Submarines on war patrol 50,000 US Army Soldiers Coast Defence Guns Fixed Anti – Aircraft Weapons Artillery Pieces 20 Oil Storage Tanks Repair and maintenance facilities etc

87

TORA TORA TORA

At 0754, thisMessage wasPassed that Surprise has Been achievedAnd U.S. Fleet Has been Caught unaware

88

89

US airfield under attack notice all the planes lined up in neat rows

Easy targets for the Japanese fighters

90

USS ARIZONA

A bomb blows up her ammunition and she is totally destroyed

In her lie the majority of casualties from the attack

9191

92

JAPANESE LOSSES

Fighter planes 09 Dive bombers 15 Torpedo bombers 05 Submarines 06 Personnel (PILOTS) 100

93

AMERICAN LOSSES

SUNK HEAVILY DAMAGED LIGHTLY DAMAGED

4 Battleships

4 Battleships 1 Battleships

1 Cruiser 2 Cruisers -

1 Mine layer

1 Seaplane tender

-

2 Tankers 2 Destroyers -

94

AIRCRAFTS 10 SHOT DOWN 250 DESTROYED ON GROUND

PERSONNEL 2335 KILLED1143 WOUNDED

94

THANKS

QUESTIONS