At the outset of World War II the British Navy outnumbered the German Navy surface force 10 to 1. The German Navy did launch new battle cruisers and battleships like the Graf Spee and the Bismarck to at least close the gap in heavy naval guns and use these new ships as surface raiders. In fact the furst major naval encounter of the war was between the Graf Spee and British ships Exeter, Ajax and Achilles in the South Atlantic. In the North Atlantic the German Nay concentrated its efforts on attacking merchant ships which were the very life’s blood for survival of the British Isles. The convoy system – several merchant ships along with naval escorts – were created to combat the U-Boat menace. German U-boats ranged across the Atlantic, including off the East Coast of the United States and in the early years of the war sunk massive numbers of ships, both merchant ships and warships. From July to October they sank over 220 Allied ships. Eventually with better radar, the ability to tap into German codes and better doctrine, the Allied navies eventually pushed the U-boats back from the U.S., out of the south Atlantic and eventually destroyed so many that the battle for the North Atlantic was a complete victory of the Allies. How important was this theater of war? Churchill said ‘The battle of the Atlantic was the only thing that really frightened me.