U-boat commander Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz saw the entry of the US into the war as a golden opportunity to strike heavy blows in the tonnage war and Hitler ordered an assault on America on 12 December 1941. The United States had massive manufacturing capacity and a favorable geographical position from a defensive point of view: the port of New York, for example, was 3,000 miles to the west of the U-boat bases in Brittany. Roosevelt extended the ' Pan-American Security Zone' east almost as far as Iceland. The USN had already gained significant experience in countering U-boats in the Atlantic, particularly from April 1941 when President Franklin D. The US had the opportunity to learn about modern naval warfare by observing the conflicts in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, and through a close relationship with the United Kingdom. Where the other combatants on the Allied side had already lost thousands of trained sailors and airmen, and were experiencing shortages of ships and aircraft, the US was at full strength (save for its recent losses at Pearl Harbor). Upon Germany's declaration of war on the United States on 11 December 1941 just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US was, on paper at least, in a fortunate position. Because King also refused British offers to provide the US navy with their own ships, the belated institution of a convoy system was in large part due to a severe shortage of suitable escort vessels, without which convoys were seen as actually more vulnerable than lone ships. King, commander-in-chief of the United States Navy (USN). Historian Michael Gannon called it 'America's Second Pearl Harbor' and placed the blame for the nation's failure to respond quickly to the attacks on the inaction of Admiral Ernest J.

Although fewer than the losses during the 1917 campaign of the First World War, those of this period equaled roughly one quarter of all ships sunk by U-boats during the entire Second World War. This led to the loss of thousands of lives, mainly those of merchant mariners, against a loss of only 22 U-boats. During this period, Axis submarines sank 609 ships totaling 3.1 million tons. German submariners named it the 'Happy Time' or the 'Golden Time,' as defense measures were weak and disorganized, : p292 and the U-boats were able to inflict massive damage with little risk. The 'Second Happy Time' lasted from January 1942 to about August of that year and involved several German naval operations, including Operation Neuland. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, and as a result their navies could begin the 'Second Happy Time'. The first 'Happy Time' was in 1940–1941 in the North Atlantic and North Sea. The ' Second Happy Time' ( German: Zweite glückliche Zeit officially Operation Paukenschlag (' Operation Drumbeat'), and also known among German submarine commanders as the 'American Shooting Season' ) was a phase in the Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines attacked merchant shipping and Allied naval vessels along the east coast of North America.

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