British Admiral Who Won the Battle of Atlantic Honored

From the April 14, 2014, BBC News Northwest Wales "War hero Admiral Sir Max Horton is commemorated" by Neil Prior.

A plaque was unveiled in Anglesey for the man who developed the tactics used to defeat the German U-boats during the 1942-1944 Battle of the Atlantic.

Max Horton's family bought a hotel by the water in Rhosneigr in North Wales.  He joined the Royal Navy at age 15 in 1898 and by the age of 30 had a fleet of submarines and had earned the Distinguished Service Order with two bars.

Churchill turned to him when the Battle of the Atlantic appeared to be lost.  During the winter of 1942-1943, the German U-boats were sinking an average of four merchant ships a day and at one point Britain was within three weeks of running out of food.

Horton revolutionized tactics for convoy protection from strictly defending the ships to the offensive.  He took the battle to the U-boats.  In other words, they were now seeking out the submarines and destroying them.

This caused merchant ship losses to initially go up but losses to U-boats reached such levels that the Germans were forced to withdraw them from the North Atlantic.

A Man I Had Never Heard Of Before This.  --GreGen