A grandmother hopes her crystal clear memories of the Battle of the Atlantic will help highlight the importance of the 70th anniversary of the fight against Hitler’s U-Boats.

Keighley-born Joan Long was 19 when she joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1944 and her first posting was to Northern Ireland three days after VE Day on May 8, 1945.

The Battle of the Atlantic has been declared officially won in 1943 when German “Wolf-Packs” of submarines, which preyed on convoy ships, were crippled by the bombing of their bases and increased success by British Navy destroyers.

The then Joan Feather arrived at HMS Shrike, a Fleet Air Arm station near Londonderry, just as things took a dramatic turn at the end of the European war.

“I’d just arrived there when our entire company was detailed to line the shore of Lough Foyle,” said Mrs Long, 88, of Shipley. “We didn’t have any idea what was going on, but then U-Boats began arriving escorted by our ships. There were 52 of them in total, it was an incredible sight.

“This month marks the 70th anniversary of what was, in my opinion, the most important battle of the war – the Battle of the Atlantic.

“Everyone knows about the Battle of Britain, but if it wasn’t for the courage of the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy in keeping supplies coming in from America and Canada, our country would have gone down. It was hell for the men serving in those ships, with the terrible cold and weather. The Atlantic is an incredibly cruel and dangerous ocean. If a ship was badly hit by a U-Boat torpedo, there was no hope of rescue as you would die within minutes of being in the water.”

Liverpool has been at the centre of Battle of the Atlantic anniversary commemorations which were continuing today.

Mrs Long, who has built up an impressive history of the conflict, said: “It is only afterwards that I’ve learned all about the importance of the convoys and of the role played by the Fleet Air Arm. Planes were literally catapulted from adapted merchant ships, ‘CAM’ ships, to try to counter the Germans’ long range Focke Wolf aircraft, which would harry the convoys and then send the ships’ positions to the U-boats.

“Those were terribly dangerous missions as the planes could not land back on the ships and would have to head for the nearest land or ditch in the sea.

“It really was a vital part of winning the war. It must always be remembered and those brave men never forgotten.”

Three months after being demobbed in 1947 she married Keighley man William Long, who had just returned from fighting the Japanese in Burma.They were married for 47 years until his death in 1994 aged 71. They had a son and daughter, grandchildren and now Mrs Long has become a great grandmother.