Newfoundland Escort Force

The Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF) was a Second World War naval command created on 20 May 1941 as part of the Allied convoy system in the Battle of the Atlantic. Created in response to the movement of German U-boats into the western Atlantic Ocean, the Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF) was instituted to cover the convoy escort gap that existed between the local convoy escort in Canada and the United Kingdom. The Royal Canadian Navy provided the majority of naval vessels to the NEF along with its commander Commodore Leonard W. Murray, with units from the British, Norwegian, Polish, French and Dutch navies also assigned. The NEF was reconstituted as part of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force in 1942.

The adoption of wolfpack and motor torpedo boat tactics solved two problems the U-boat fleet had against the convoy system the Allies had adopted. Locating the convoy and then setting up a concerted attack. The German adoption of these tactics forced the Allies to alter their own strategy by extending the range of the escorts into the Atlantic.

In early 1941, escorts based out of the United Kingdom escorted convoys to 22° west longitude at which point outbound convoys dispersed and inbound convoys were picked up by the escorts. To get around the escorts, the German submarines pushed further out into the Atlantic, setting up their attacks in areas where the close escort was provided by battleships, cruisers or submarines to ward off surface raiders.

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