Without a doubt this is possibly the single most important word in Royal Navy history. Trafalgar is a close second or maybe tied for the most important, but that is strictly my opinion. Ultra is sometime seen printed as ULTRA. To put it simply, Ultra was the breaking of the German codes. It was so secret that very few people knew it had been done. It was so secret that extraordinary steps were taken to protect it.

At times targets were allowed to be hit just to protect Ultra. One prime example of this was the German bombing of Coventry England. The RAF knew the attack was coming. They knew when and from where. But since the attack was so different from others it could not easily defend against it. So coventry was allowed to be bombed and then used as a propaganda object. OK, back to the Navy stuff.

Convoys supplying Africa were attacked with great success because of Ultra. To cover themselves scout planes flew needless missions just to be seen by the German and Italian ships. U-boats could be located by using Ultra. Escort ships could be shifted around to better protect a convoy that was in the path of a wolf pack. Some convoys could be totally shifted out of the way of a wolf pack. But to keep the secret, some were sent along knowing they would be attacked.

The secret was so important it had to be kept at all costs. Had Germany changed their codes U-boats and surface raiders could have a larger impact on Atlantic shipping. It was not until 1974 that the official word was given about the Ultra Secret, that’s how important it was.