The Elements of Convoy Defence in Submarine Warfare

From John Winton’s ‘Convoy The Defence of Sea Trade 1890 – 1990

‘Appleyard (Commander Rollo Appleyard RNVR) published his conclusions in June 1918, in a treatise called ‘The Elements of Convoy Defence in Submarine Warfare’, with two supplements, an ‘Escort Supplement’ and an ‘Evasion Supplement’.’

This was a study that looked at the lessons learned from convoy escort during WW1 and had established how escorts and the convoy should react to an attack, that large convoys were better than small convoys etc

However, it was considered confidential and very few had a chance to read it

‘Finally, in 1939, they were declared obsolete and ordered to be destroyed, although copies do still survive in libraries’


So basically, what it took Operational Research until autumn 1942 to relearn had to a certain extent already been established.

As to why it was considered obsolete, its been suggested on other boards that this was due to overconfidence in ASDIC. Whether anyone tried to see if any copies had survived the destruction order or if anyone could remember anything, the events of the Battle of the Atlantic suggest no.


My question is, what if the books had been declared 'something that MUST be read', how would you expect the Battle of the Atlantic to go?
 
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Undoubtedly a whole lot better from the Allied point of view. Strangely enough the same happened with tactics for aerial combat. If you read Johnny Johnson's Full Circle you will see that the WW1 tactics that the RAF discarded under Trenchard had to be re learnt when they encountered the Luftwaffe.
 
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