The approaches to Gibraltar were especially perilous for U-boats because Allied traffic, patrol craft, minefields, and local detection conditions crowded the gateway. Allied control denied the Italian fleet a route into the Atlantic. The balanced Italian force of capital ships, cruisers, and destroyers posed a serious early-war threat. Germany's surface fleet, badly depleted of destroyers, could not present the same coherent force.
Notable Point · 55:59-57:36
Gibraltar and the 8th Submarine Flotilla
Gibraltar was both a submarine base and a guarded gateway intended to confine Italian naval power to the Mediterranean.