Background
When war broke out between Germany and the United States on December 11, 1941, the U.S. was in a fortunate position. Where the other combatants had already lost thousands of trained sailors and airmen, and were experiencing shortages of ships and aircraft, the U.S. was at full strength. The U.S. had the opportunity to learn about modern naval warfare by observing the conflicts in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, and through a close relationship with the United Kingdom. The U.S. Navy had already gained significant experience countering U-boats in the Atlantic, particularly from April 1941 when President Roosevelt extended the "Pan-American Security Zone" east almost as far as Iceland. The United States had massive manufacturing capacity, including certainly the largest and possibly the most advanced electrical engineering in the world. Finally, the U.S. had a favourable geographical position from a defensive point of view: the port of New York, for example, was 3,000 miles to the west of the U-boat bases in Brittany.
U-boat commander Dönitz saw the entry of the U.S. into the war as a golden opportunity to strike heavy blows in the tonnage war. The standard Type VII U-boat had insufficient range to patrol off the coast of North America, so the only weapons Dönitz had on hand were the larger Type IX boats. These were less maneuverable and slower to submerge, making them much more vulnerable than the Type VIIs, and few in number.
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