Winston Churchill wrote, The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril. Had the convoy link between North America and Britain been broken, the course of World War II would have been different. As it was, there was a period during the winter of 1942-43 when the Germans came close to cutting the North Atlantic lifeline. In the first twenty days of March, 1943, the Germans sank ninety-seven Allied merchant ships twice the rate of replacement. During the same period seven U-boats were lost and fourteen put in service. No wonder Churchill was worried.
