Charitable support

Mersey Maritime’s Nominated Charity: The International Memorial for the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1945

With its close and historic links to the city of Liverpool, Mersey Maritime is pleased to offer its long-term support for a UK charity, The Battle of the Atlantic Memorial (BOAM). The charity launched a campaign to build a permanent and international recognised memorial to one of the principal campaigns of World War Two in January 2018 at a press conference in Liverpool, attended by BOA veterans.

The concept is to provide an appropriate memorial of international significance that recognises the totality and importance of the battle and to commemorate the sacrifice and contribution of all the men and women of all nationalities who served supporting the Battle of the Atlantic (BOA) on land, at sea and in the air. Secondly, to recognise the important part played by Merseyside as the hub of the operation.

image-10-nostalgia-liverpool-wartime-hero-captain-johnny-walker-478738412

PQ-17 Arctic Convoy, June-July 1942. The covering forces of the PQ-17 Convoy (British and American ships) at anchor in the harbor at Hvalfjord, Iceland, May 1942.

Pictured is Gary Doyle formally a Royal Navy Commodore and now Group Harbour Master at Peel Ports has taken over the chairmanship of the Battle of the Atlantic Memorial (BOAM) from Mike Gretton Picture Jason Roberts Photography

The development of a supporting Heritage trail that links sites across the area physically and virtually and internationally to support what is seen as the key educational role of the memorial. This will also be achieved by working closely with the Western Approaches Museum and the Merseyside Maritime Museum. With further enhancement, the aim is to possibly develop an academic centre where institutions, researchers and interested parties can visit to access information and learn more about the Battle.

Background

THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC WAS THE DOMINATING FACTOR ALL THROUGH THE WAR. NEVER FOR ONE MOMENT COULD WE FORGET THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENING ELSEWHERE, ON LAND AT SEA OR IN THE AIR, DEPENDED ULTIMATELY ON ITS OUTCOME.—WINSTON CHURCHILL

The name “Battle of the Atlantic” was coined by Winston Churchill in February 1941. It has been called the “longest, largest, and most complex” naval battle in history. The campaign started immediately after the European war began, during the so-called “Phoney War“, and lasted six years, until the German Surrender in May 1945. It involved thousands of ships in more than 100 convoy battles and perhaps 1,000 single-ship encounters, in a theatre covering thousands of square miles of ocean. The situation changed constantly, with one side or the other gaining advantage, as participating countries surrendered, joined, and even changed sides in the war, and as new weapons, tactics, counter-measures, and equipment were developed by both sides. The Allies gradually gained the upper hand, overcoming German surface raiders by the end of 1942 and defeating the U-boats by mid-1943, though losses due to U-boats continued until war’s end.

Permanent memorial campaign

The Battle of the Atlantic was the most important campaign of World War II as, without success, other campaigns would have not been possible, particularly the landings in Europe in June 1944. It was the longest continuous campaign of the war, lasting from the declaration of war in 1939 until Victory in Europe in May 1945.

The toll was high on all sides: more than 3,500 merchant ships were sunk; over 36,000 merchant seamen and 36,200 allied naval personnel lost their lives; and 70% of German submariners did not return to their home bases.

Despite its significance, the Battle of the Atlantic does not have an overall memorial in the United Kingdom unlike other major campaigns of World War 2. Thus, a project has been set up to create an appropriate memorial and fill that gap.

Mersey Maritime support for the campaign

Each year, at its annual Mersey Maritime Industry Awards event, Mersey Maritime designates a charity of choice to receive the proceeds of donations given by attendees on the evening. In 2020 this was shared jointly between The Battle of the Atlantic Memorial and the Jubilee Sailing Trust. Mersey Maritime have now decided to make its relationship with the BOAM charity a more long term venture and is delighted to do so for this year and beyond.

How to donate

To donate directly in support of the charity online, click here Donate

For other ways to donate, visit: https://battleoftheatlantic.org/how-to-donate/

For more information about the battle and the charity

Visit the charity website for extensive information about the events it aims to commemorate and work it is engaged with: https://battleoftheatlantic.org/

Testimonials

Mersey Maritime has brought the community together tremendously well.

Colin Kershaw, Brookes Bell

As a founding member, Hill Dickinson is proud to support Mersey Maritime. Mersey Maritime creates and facilitates business opportunities for both its members and the wider maritime and business communities through regular networking events, lobbying and industry awards while addressing the skills gap in the maritime sector by integrating local academic resources with businesses to ensure focused training and development. Mersey Maritime has achieved so much since its inception in 2003 and continues to strive with members to ensure Merseyside’s place as the leading maritime hub.

Colin Lavelle, Legal Director, Hill Dickinson LLP

Mersey Maritime is unique, there’s nothing else like it!

Phil James, Weightmans LLP

Mersey Maritime provides excellent networking opportunities, allowing people to meet people, and they do exceptionally well on training and skills. My only criticism is that companies want more!

James Douglas, ContainerPort

Royal HaskoningDHV is a global engineering and project design consultancy with 6500 staff working in 150 companies, but we’ve been something of a sleeping giant in Liverpool. We’re proud to be sponsors of Mersey Maritime. It enables us to be fully engaged in the cluster, with a place at the table and positioned as first choice company for new business opportunities within our areas of expertise.

Jamie Gray, Associate Director, Royal HaskoningDHV

As a fledgling business with big aspirations for success, joining Mersey Maritime has been absolutely the right move for us. It’s meant we haven’t had to start from scratch, knocking on doors and trying to get access to the right people. Through Mersey Maritime, we’ve attended business events like Face-2-Face and have already been able to meet everyone who’s anyone in this region. It’s the best investment we have made this year!

John Bean, Managing Director, Geo Data Systems

Mersey Maritime is doing so much for the community and its succession planning for business is vitally important. It’s great to see Liverpool coming back as a global player – all power to your elbow!

Simon Reynish, Chairman, CILT North West

I come out of Mersey Maritime’s meetings with a bit of a buzz. Lots of people with the same energy and we can see what’s ahead and we want to be ready for it, be a part of it.

Tom Coyle, Managing Director, DT Engineering Limited

Back in 2008, the average age profile of the workforce at Cammell Laird was 47; so we recognised the need to address a potential skills gap up ahead. As a result of close collaboration with Mersey Maritime we‘ve committed to a long-term training programme that has seen our apprentice numbers rise from zero to more than 100. It’s put us in a much stronger position. We’re in better shape to plan for growth, we’re fulfilling a commitment to provide jobs for young people in this region and we’re revitalising the way we run our business.

John Syvret, CEO, Cammell Laird Group

JOIN MERSEY MARITIME TODAY

Mersey Maritime is one of Europe’s most successful maritime cluster organisations, representing the interests of over 1700 Maritime, Logistics and Energy businesses on Merseyside and beyond.

JOIN TODAY