You would have thought that the experience of the First World War would have taught the

German Navy that U-boats were its most effective weapon. But it didn't, and they would have to

learn that lesson all over again. Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 38, the Battle of the Atlantic.

Today I want to talk about naval battles in the first year or so of the war between Germany and Britain.

I've described a few of these to you already along the way,

but today I want to look at the German Navy and its conflicts with the British Royal Navy in a more

focused way. We're going to cover the period from the beginning of the war through the first part of

1941.

If you think back to the last war,

you'll remember that Britain and Germany were in a naval race in the years leading up to that war,

with Germany expending a lot of effort

to build a fleet of dreadnought battleships

capable of challenging the Royal Navy,

at least in the waters of the North Sea,

and Britain expending a lot of effort to build enough dreadnought battleships

to maintain the Royal Navy's lead over the German Navy.

You'll also remember that when war came, the German Navy's impact on it was minimal.

The only branch of the Navy that really made a difference was the U-boat fleet.

After the war, most of the German Navy's best ships were interned at the British port of Scapa Flow,

where, after months of waiting, the Germans chose to scuttle them rather than allow the allies

to take control of them.

The Treaty of Versailles restricted the German Navy to a total of 15,000 sailors, of whom only

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