On 7 February 1941, Combined Operations moved to Derby House at Exchange Flags because German aircraft and U-boats were attacking ships travelling in from the continent. The department became known as Western Approaches Command as it monitored Western Approaches, the rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of the British Isles. Liverpool subsequently became an important strategic position in the Second World War.
About Western Approaches
From Plymouth to Liverpool
With the outbreak of war in 1939, the Royal Navy acquired the newly built Derby House in Exchange Buildings, Liverpool and work began on a new Top Secret headquarters, including a 2-storey underground bunker. With walls and ceilings of thick, reinforced concrete, the headquarters covered an area of roughly 55,000 square feet and had a staff of nearly 1,000 Royal Navy and RAF personnel, 80% of them women.
In February 1941, Western Approaches Command moved from Plymouth to its new home in the heart of Liverpool under the command of Admiral Sir Percy Noble and continued to operate from there until August 1945 when the command was no longer required and was disbanded. Derby House became the combined headquarters for the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force in their efforts to protect the vital supply convoys and to defeat the German U-boats (submarines).
The City of Liverpool
In the Second World War, Liverpool was Britain’s main convoy port and helped to maintain Britain’s relationship with the United States and Canada – a lifeline which was crucial for Britain’s survival and the ultimate Allied victory.
During the course of the war, over 1,000 convoys arrived on the Mersey. Many warships and merchant ships were repaired and built on the Merseyside, and thousands of ordinary Liverpool people were involved in the war effort.
The first German bombs landed in Merseyside on 9 August 1940 at Prenton, Birkenhead. In the following sixteen months, German bombs killed 2,716 people in Liverpool, 442 people in Birkenhead, 409 people in Bootle and 332 people in Wallasey.
Operations
The primary aim of Western Approaches Command was ‘the safe and timely arrival of the convoys’ and it worked tirelessly against the threat from German U-boats, aircraft and surface warships as well as the harsh sea and weather conditions of the North Atlantic, to achieve that.
At the heart of the headquarters was the two storey Operations Room, dominated by a large wall map showing positions of ships, aircraft and U-boats across the vast expanse of the North Atlantic. It was here that every movement was plotted, decisions made and orders prepared to defend the convoys and attack the U-boats.
The Staff
Throughout its time in Liverpool, Western Approaches Command was staffed largely by the women of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, affectionately known as Wrens, and the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, or Waafs. These women were often no more than girls, between the ages of 18 and 21, who had either volunteered to help the war effort and ‘do their bit’ or had been specifically recruited because of their mathematical or analytical abilities. Their jobs included plotting in the main Operations Room, decoding incoming signals, acting as radio and teleprinter operators and even training naval officers in anti-submarine warfare.
Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU)
The Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU) was created in January 1942 to develop and disseminate new tactics to counter German submarine attacks on trans-Atlantic convoys. It was led by Captain Gilbert Roberts and was principally staffed by officers and ratings from the Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens). Their primary tool for studying U-boat attacks and developing countermeasures was wargames. After the U-boat threat to merchant shipping was defeated, WATU continued to develop anti-submarine tactics for later stages of the war, including Operation Overlord and the Pacific War. WATU trained naval officers in its tactics by hosting week-long training courses in which the students played wargames. WATU formally ceased operations at the end of July 1945.
The End and Post War
In May 1945, the last ship was sunk in the Atlantic and with the surrender of Germany the Battle of the Atlantic was over. The Headquarters remained in operation though until August when the surrender of Japan brought the Second World War to an end.
A service of thanksgiving was held at Liverpool Cathedral and the men and women on Western Approaches Command were either demobbed and returned to civilian life or to new roles within the services.
The bunker was mothballed and eventually fell into disuse and disrepair until it was reopened as a museum in 1993.
The Bunker Today
Today, the wartime bunker has been restored to exactly how it used to be and is open to the public as a memorial to those who died to save Britain and the rest of Europe. Visitors can take a step back into history to the original building where the battle was fought and won.
