Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II to defeat the Germans in 1945. The British Royal Navy repeated the blockade of Germany of World War II, and Germany repeated its attempt to blockade Britain by using U-boats. The German Navy also tried to use surface warships in the Atlantic Ocean, but lost them in various battles.

Battle of the Atlantic
Part of the Second World War
Officers on the bridge of an escorting British destroyer stand watch for enemy submarines, October 1941
Date September 3, 1939 – May 8, 1945 (5 years, 8 months and 5 days) Location Atlantic Ocean, Río de la Plata, North Sea, Irish Sea, Labrador Sea, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Outer Banks, Arctic Ocean Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  Canada  United States[lower-alpha 1]  Brazil[lower-alpha 2] Other participants: Norway  Free France Poland Cuba Netherlands Belgium  France[lower-alpha 3] Panama	Nazi Germany  Italy[lower-alpha 4]  Vichy France[lower-alpha 5]
Commanders and leaders
Dudley Pound Andrew Cunningham Martin Dunbar-Nasmith Percy Noble Max Horton Frederick Bowhill Philip de la Ferté John Slessor Leonard W. Murray Royal E. Ingersoll Jonas H. Ingram	Erich Raeder Karl Dönitz Günther Lütjens † Otto Schniewind Alfred Saalwächter Wilhelm Marschall Theodor Krancke Martin Harlinghausen Angelo Parona Romolo Polacchini
Casualties and losses
36,200 sailors killed 36,000 merchant seamen killed 3,500 merchant vessels 175 warships 741 RAF Coastal Command Aircraft lost in anti-submarine sorties	~30,000 U-boat sailors killed 783 submarines lost 47 other warships lost ~500 killed 17 submarines lost