There have been so many books written on this subject that I am not going to attempt to write yet another version. But during my research into this period of history, it became clear to me that although I knew that as an island Great Britain stood alone in her isolation, I had not fully realised just what an  important and vital role the convoy system had played in our eventual victory. The following extracts put this into words that leave no doubt as to the importance and significance of the events of these dark days in our nations history.

"The battle of the Atlantic was one of the most momentous ever fought in all the annals of war. Without victory there could be no Second front, no victory in North Africa nor the Mediterranean. The Atlantic battle was fought for three years in an ocean over 3,000 miles wide and stretched from the Arctic Sea in the north to south of the Equator. It proved the most prolonged and complex battle in the history of naval warfare, fought most of the time whilst Britain stood alone. Victory meant Britain would not starve; British industry would not wither for lack of raw materials; the RAF Bomber Command's offensive would not halt for want of oil. This was a desperate battle for survival, so desperate in fact that had the Allies lost the battle, the British nation would have been isolated and the Axis powers would have dominated the world." (1)
                 
"It was to the Atlantic that ships from the seven seas came, cargoes in their bellies, of value to hard-pressed England beyond any treasure horde of olden times. It was in the Atlantic, therefore that the enemy had the best chance to deliver a mortal blow. Every phase of the war against Germany was dominated by the necessity to bring our laden ships to port and our outgoing, empty ships away. It was from overseas that the majority of the weapons, munitions and raw materials had to come, with which to rearm ourselves. It can fairly be said that it was in the Atlantic that the Allies could have been most surely defeated. It was there,
instead, that the war was won." (2)
                             
As I am thinking mainly about the 'Flower Class' corvettes, I have included the following quote and statistics.
"It was fortunate that the 'Flowers' were so  sturdy, because they became the workhorses of an oceanic war for which they had not been intended"

U- boat sinkings in the North Atlantic by 'Flowers' =39

Typical numbers of 'Flowers' in service in the Atlantic:-
1941 - 47.    1942 - 110.    1943 - 108.     1944 - 117   1945 - 117 (3)

(1)  The Fourth Service by John Slader
(2)  The battle of the Atlantic by Macintyre
(3 ) Atlantic Escorts 1939-45 by David K. Brown