| Battle of the Caribbean | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II, Battle of the Atlantic | |||||||
 The Antilles, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
Allies: United States United Kingdom Canada Netherlands Free France[1] Cuba Panama Venezuela Mexico Colombia Peruother allies |
Axis: Germany Italy Vichy France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ernest J. King Jesse Oldendorf Sir Percy Noble Sir Max K. Horton Isaías Medina Angarita Francisco de Menocal Roldán |
 Erich Raeder Karl Dönitz Romolo Polacchini | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 400 merchant ships sunk | 17 submarines[2] | ||||||
The Battle of the Caribbean refers to a naval campaign waged during World War II that was part of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1941 to 1945.[3] German U-boats and Italian submarines attempted to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other material. They sank shipping in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and attacked coastal targets in the Antilles. Improved Allied anti-submarine warfare eventually drove the Axis submarines out of the Caribbean region.
- ^ The United States Coast Artillery Command on Aruba and Curaçao in World War II The Coast Defense Study Group Journal, Volume 11, Issue 2.
- ^ "The U-Boat War In The Caribbean: Opportunities Lost".
- ^ One U.S. naval source gives different dates for the battle. See Smith, Commander C. Alphonso, U.S. Naval Reserve, "Battle of the Caribbean", Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, Vol. 80/9/619, September 1954: "The Battle of the Caribbean lasted nine and a half months—from February 16, 1942, to November 30, 1942."