Lloyd, Peter, MacKay, Niall orcid.org/0000-0003-3279-4717 and Price, Christopher (2025) The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack:U-boat tactics in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Northern Mariner. pp. 29-56. ISSN: 1183-112X
Abstract
In winter 1942-43 unique circumstances gave Germany’s U-boats the possibility of temporary victory in the North Atlantic. At the same time, Royal Navy operational research (OR) considered the possible German adoption of developed stand-off salvo tactics (“browning”), better suited to attacking large, dense convoys than Germany’s existing “ace” tactics of individual commanders infiltrating convoys. We test and verify the RN studies with a simulation, confirming that such tactics would have greatly increased U-boat success. While not denying ultimate Allied victory, “browning” would have increased sinkings, threatened the viability of large convoys, and possibly averted the May 1943 rout, at a critical juncture for Allied strategic decision-making. German lack of OR, Nazi heroic culture and Doenitz’s methods all contributed to the absence of the feared tactical evolution.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Authors/Creators: |
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| Dates: |
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| Institution: | The University of York |
| Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Mathematics (York) |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Sep 2024 08:10 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Nov 2025 13:00 |
| Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.25071/2561-5467.1348 |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Identification Number: | 10.25071/2561-5467.1348 |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:216803 |
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Description: The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack: U-boat Tactics in the Battle of the Atlantic
Licence: CC-BY-NC 2.5

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