Q&A ยท 2:01:13-2:03:19

Mass-produced drone escorts against U-boats

Dozens of hypothetical drone escorts around each convoy would allow simultaneous attacks on U-boats in three-ship teams.

Question

How would mass-produced uncrewed escorts change the Battle of the Atlantic?

Short answer

Mass production would remove the escort shortage: 48 drone escorts around a convoy could form sixteen three-ship submarine-hunting teams.

Notes

Early Battle of the Atlantic tactics often needed two or three escorts to attack one submarine with ASDIC and depth charges. Escort scarcity therefore limited how many contacts a convoy could engage. In the hypothetical mass-production scenario, four dozen drone escorts could operate alongside crewed ships controlling them. Forty-eight escorts would form sixteen three-ship teams, allowing sixteen submarines to be attacked at once. Such numbers are expected to inflict rapid U-boat losses.