The Battle of the Atlantic: The environmental front of World War II

Abstract

This article examines the potential environmental impact in one specific theatre of World War II during a specific time frame. The study begins with an examination of the major oil spills that occurred after the 1960s to place them in a relationship with the cumulative effects of smaller spills, which best describe the numerous individual spills during 1942. It provides historical detail into the German offensive against North American shipping to establish a general scale of the resulting oil spills. Finally, it will describe the environmental impacts and assess current efforts to mitigate risks of continued oil exposure from shipwrecks in sensitive marine ecosystems. This establishes the theoretical framework to answer, at least in part, the question of whether a rapid succession of small spills would cause as much damage as large spills.