Emergence and Complexity in the Battle of the Atlantic

Eric Reed

The Battle of the Atlantic during WW II is often remembered as the classic contest between submarine and surface ship and, in many respects, as the maritime history of World War I repeated. Missed in this superficial assessment is the remarkable growth of complexity on many levels. Through the lens of complexity, the featureless ocean becomes a rugged landscape, and the belligerent forces resemble Boolean networks that become more complex and effective with each interaction.

The history in the Battle of the Atlantic acquires new meaning when viewed as the interaction between co-evolving, computational devices. Each tactical formation, such as a convoy or a wolfpack, becomes the emergent property of local interactions of more basic units. When opposed to each other, these military structures were the solution proposed to the problem presented by its opposite. New organizations facilitated new tactics, which look much like algorithms.

The urge to survive an increasingly capable adversary stimulated innovation by making pre-existing organizations less rigid in concept and practice. Previously disparate elements, such as land, sea, and air forces, were allowed to self-organize into large scale socio-technological systems. New *local* functions, such as long range communications, radar, and forward firing depth charges, encouraged new formations, which made more complex behaviors (tactics and strategies) accessible. These conferred advantages on a higher level; *global* in the language of complexity, perhaps *strategic* in the military lexicon. Thus, the record of the Battle of the Atlantic is one in which emergent characteristics present new, more intractable problems for a co-evolving enemy.