From Baird Maritime
Despite the wake-up call provided by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, most Americans felt they were pretty well invincible as the country entered World War II.
This arrogance permitted America's ignorant and disastrous approach to its defence of its shipping along it eastern and southern coasts. You would think that their knowledge of Britain's major problems with German U-Boats would have alerted America to the likelihood of their own similar difficulties.
But, no, as this excellent book describes, it took more than six months before American forces started to take effective defensive action. In that time, using gunfire, torpedoes and mines, the U-Boats sank 226 Allied merchant ships in American waters.
Of course, when America eventually awakened to the threat, it began to retaliate very effectively. Combining their efforts with those of the British and Canadians, they helped turn the Battle of the Atlantic around within twelve months.
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