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<title>First Happy Time</title>

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</style><div id="Atlantic_campaign7837" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><span style="line-height:1.6em"><a href="Battle_of_the_Atlantic" title="Battle of the Atlantic"><span class="wrap">Atlantic campaign</span></a></span></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="American_Theater_(World_War_II)" class="mw-redirect" title="American Theater (World War II)">Americas</a>

<ul><li><a href="United_States_home_front_during_World_War_II" title="United States home front during World War II">United States</a></li>

<li><a href="Battle_of_the_Caribbean" title="Battle of the Caribbean">Caribbean</a></li>

<li><a href="Battle_of_the_St._Lawrence" title="Battle of the St. Lawrence">St. Lawrence</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Northern_Barrage" title="Northern Barrage">Northern Barrage</a></li>

<li><a href="Blockade_of_Germany_(1939%E2%80%931945)" title="Blockade of Germany (1939–1945)">Blockade of Germany</a></li>

<li><a href="Military_history_of_Gibraltar_during_World_War_II" title="Military history of Gibraltar during World War II">Gibraltar</a><hr></li></ul>

</p>

<ul><li><a href="Battle_of_the_River_Plate" title="Battle of the River Plate">River Plate</a></li></ul>

</p>

<li><a href="Operation_Nordseetour" title="Operation Nordseetour"><i>Nordseetour</i></a></li>

</p>

<li><a href="Operation_Berlin_(Atlantic)" title="Operation Berlin (Atlantic)"><i>Berlin</i></a>

<li><a href="Action_of_4_April_1941" title="Action of 4 April 1941">4 April</a></li>

<li><a href="Operation_Rhein%C3%BCbung" title="Operation Rheinübung"><i>Rheinübung</i></a>

<ul><li><a href="Battle_of_the_Denmark_Strait" title="Battle of the Denmark Strait">Denmark Strait</a></li>

<li><a href="Last_battle_of_Bismarck" title="Last battle of Bismarck"><i>Bismarck</i></a></li></ul></li>

</p>

<ul><li><a href="Operation_Postmaster" title="Operation Postmaster"><i>Postmaster</i></a></li>

<li><a href="Second_Happy_Time" title="Second Happy Time">2nd Happy Time</a></li>

<li><a href="Torpedo_Alley" title="Torpedo Alley">Torpedo Alley</a></li>

<li><a href="Operation_Neuland" title="Operation Neuland"><i>Neuland</i></a></li>

<li><a href="Action_of_27_March_1942" title="Action of 27 March 1942">27 March</a></li>

<li><a href="SS_Connecticut_(1938)" title="SS Connecticut (1938)"><i>Connecticut</i></a></li>

<li><a href="Battle_of_Bell_Island" title="Battle of Bell Island">Bell Island</a></li>

<li><a href="Laconia_incident" title="Laconia incident"><i>Laconia</i></a></li>

<li><a href="Wolfpack_Eisb%C3%A4r" title="Wolfpack Eisbär"><i>Eisbär</i></a></li>

<li><a href="SS_Stephen_Hopkins#Action_of_27_September_1942" title="SS Stephen Hopkins">27 September</a></li>

</p>

<li><a href="Black_May_(1943)" class="mw-redirect" title="Black May (1943)">Black May</a>

<li><a href="Convoy_Faith" title="Convoy Faith">Faith</a></li>

<li><a href="Operation_Stonewall" title="Operation Stonewall"><i>Stonewall</i></a>

<ul><li><a href="Battle_of_the_Bay_of_Biscay" title="Battle of the Bay of Biscay">Bay of Biscay</a></li></ul></li></ul>

</p>

<li><a href="Action_of_26_April_1944" title="Action of 26 April 1944">26 April 1944</a></li>

<li><a href="German_submarine_U-505#Twelfth_patrol_and_capture" title="German submarine U-505">Capture of <i>U-505</i></a></li>

</p>

<ul><li><a href="Operation_Teardrop" title="Operation Teardrop"><i>Teardrop</i></a></li>

<li><a href="Battle_of_Point_Judith" title="Battle of Point Judith">Point Judith</a></li>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

<p>The early phase of the <a href="Battle_of_the_Atlantic" title="Battle of the Atlantic">Battle of the Atlantic</a> during which <a href="Kriegsmarine" title="Kriegsmarine">Kriegsmarine</a> <a href="U-boat" title="U-boat">U-boats</a> enjoyed significant success against <a href="Allies_of_World_War_II" title="Allies of World War II">Allied</a> warships and merchantmen was referred to by U-boat crews as <i>the Happy Time</i> (<a href="German_language" title="German language">German</a>: <i lang="de">Die glückliche Zeit</i>),<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and later the <b>First Happy Time</b>, after <a href="Second_Happy_Time" title="Second Happy Time">a second successful period</a> was encountered.

</p><p>It started in July 1940, almost immediately after the <a href="Fall_of_France" class="mw-redirect" title="Fall of France">Fall of France</a>, which brought the German U-boat fleet closer to the British shipping lanes in the Atlantic. From July 1940 to the end of October, 282 Allied ships were sunk off the north-west approaches to <a href="Ireland" title="Ireland">Ireland</a> for a loss of 1,489,795 <a href="Gross_register_tonnage" title="Gross register tonnage">GRT</a> of merchant shipping.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>The reason for this successful Axis period was the British lack of <a href="Radar" title="Radar">radar</a> and <a href="High-frequency_direction_finding" title="High-frequency direction finding">huff-duff</a>-equipped ships which meant that the U-boats were very hard to detect when they made nighttime surface attacks – <a href="ASDIC" class="mw-redirect" title="ASDIC">ASDIC</a> (<a href="Sonar" title="Sonar">sonar</a>) could only detect submerged U-boats.

</p><p>When it ended is a matter of interpretation, with some sources claiming October 1940<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and others extending it to April 1941,<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> after the Germans lost three prominent U-boat commanders: <a href="G%C3%BCnther_Prien" title="Günther Prien">Günther Prien</a>, <a href="Joachim_Schepke" title="Joachim Schepke">Joachim Schepke</a>, and <a href="Otto_Kretschmer" title="Otto Kretschmer">Otto Kretschmer</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<ul><li><a href="Operation_Berlin_(Atlantic)" title="Operation Berlin (Atlantic)">Operation Berlin</a></li>

<li><a href="Convoy_SC_7" title="Convoy SC 7">Convoy SC 7</a></li>

<li><a href="Convoy_HX_84" title="Convoy HX 84">Convoy HX 84</a></li>

<li><a href="Convoy_HX_106" title="Convoy HX 106">Convoy HX 106</a></li>

<li><a href="Convoy_HX_112" title="Convoy HX 112">Convoy HX 112</a></li>

<li><a href="Convoy_OB_293" title="Convoy OB 293">Convoy OB 293</a></li>

<li><a href="Second_Happy_Time" title="Second Happy Time">Second Happy Time</a></li></ul>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFPurnell2003" class="citation web cs1">Purnell, Tom (April 11, 2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071001045906/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/annemariepurnell/can3.html">"The "Happy Time""</a>. <i>"Canonesa", Convoy HX72 & U-100</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/annemariepurnell/can3.html">the original</a> on October 1, 2007<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">September 1,</span> 2007</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Blouet, Brian W. <i>Global Geostrategy: Mackinder and the Defence of the West</i>, p. 131</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Hughes, Terry; Costello, John. <i>The Battle of the Atlantic</i>, p. 88</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Macintyre, Donald G. F. W. <i>The Naval War Against Hitler</i>, p. 52</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMilner2008" class="citation web cs1">Milner, Marc (June 2008). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2008-06/battle-had-be-won">"The Battle That Had to Be Won"</a>. <i>Naval History Magazine</i>. <a href="United_States_Naval_Institute" title="United States Naval Institute">United States Naval Institute</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">9 March</span> 2017</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

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