Evacuees and the causes for German naval attacks on civilian ships during World War II
Juno Beach Centre: The Battle of the Atlantic
Convoys: Danger comes from the East
The first convoy, HX-1, sails from Halifax on September 16th, 1939, and reaches Great Britain safely. Merchant ships are still relatively safe when they leave North American harbours as Germany has only 24 short-range U-boats, based in the North Sea. Their hunting grounds are mostly the waters surrounding the British Isles. Canadian escort ships accompany tankers and freighters up to a point off the coast of Newfoundland, where the Royal Navy takes over.
The situation will deteriorate, however, when German armies reach the shores of the Channel. In May 1940, an invasion of Great Britain becomes a definite possibility. During the summer of 1940, the Royal Navy must therefore redeploy its ships to protect British coasts and ensure the safe evacuation of troops across the Channel. As a result, it has to reduce the level of protection afforded to transatlantic convoys. With terrifying speed and efficiency, U-boats sink poorly defended merchant ships: while 200 ships were sunk during the first nine months of war, that number increased to 350 during the second half of 1940.