The Grey Fuzz Buddy Essays - Jackets, Letterman, Coat, Free Essays

The Grey Fuzz Buddy Essays - Jackets, Letterman, Coat, Free Essays The Grey Fuzz Buddy McKean English101 September 10, 2014 The Grey Fuzz Buddy Every year at Mingus Union High School, all of the sports teams receive their own personalized team t-shirts or jackets. My freshman year playing tennis for Mingus, I received mine. My tennis jacket is the color grey- the grey of a storm cloud soon before it rains. Its as if the rain drops, which seep into the jacket, extract the spectrum from the sky and transfer it to the very fabrics draped across my upper body. Theres bold, eggshell white letters printed Mingus across the chest. Then, theres the image of a woman hitting a tennis ball silhouetted by those letters in a shade darker than that of the sky surrounding a full moon, presently before midnight. In that same proud white font is my own last name printed between the shoulder blades claiming the ownership of the jacket to me. In smaller, dainty white letters is printed with the very tacky, yet comical phrase, you only live once, but you can serve twice just peeking out above the waistline. There is a kangaroo pocket surroundin g the belly, and then a very large, cozy hood hanging from the base of the neck. A jackets purpose is to keep the body warm, but this jacket has done much more than that; this jacket has been a symbol of my high school experience, my father, and my friendships; a symbol which I will hold with me all my life. As students at Mingus Union High School have walked the halls on their first day for what feels to be an infinite number of years, a rite of passage, my time came on August 4th, 2011. I was among the freshman class of 2015 joining the high school world for the first time. Something that Mingus offers that my grade school didnt is tennis. Which, tennis might be, to most people that live in Arizona, a little bit of a foreign concept. But my father played occasionally with me, as his father did with him. It was never an avid sport of mine, until the day I tried out. That became the first day of my teenage years that I made my father really proud. Trying out for tennis was the day I took a chance on something new, and I succeeded in my endeavors. By the end of freshman year, my dad watched with other proud parents as I walked over to my coach and received my first team jacket. In my closet, there is one item that sticks out, the item that I wear the most; this makes my closet the most important closet in the world. My closet is special, because there is a key here. There is a key to my special item, which is hung with care and left waiting for my arrival as I wait for it. My jacket would have no importance to me, though, if it was just left in the closet. If this jacket did not journey with me, and venture onto great distances. If it was left at home on chilly, bare nights while I was exposed to the cool dark abyss on my journeys. My warm cloak follows me, shields me, wherever I go, and wherever I end up. A symbol of where I have been, or where I have come from, and what I have accomplished. Worn just as plain as the expression on my face to show my pride and pleasure in all I do. In one trip I took to see my beloved brother, I had left my dear jacket with him as I traveled home. It was by no means intentional, because, of course, I went without that jacket until my senior year in high school. Eventually, the faithful had found its way back to me, all the way from Florida, in my last winter at Mingus. As I opened the box that the jacket had finally been shipped in, a smell wafted through the air; through my hair, between all my senses. This box had brought back Florida. My jacket had taken a tight hug of my brothers cologne and it had brought it back just for me. For my senses to

Study Guide for the Medieval Morality Play Everyman

Study Guide for the Medieval Morality Play 'Everyman' Written in England during the 1400s, The Summoning of Everyman (commonly known as Everyman) is a Christian morality play. No one knows who wrote the play. Historians have noted that monks and priests often wrote these types of dramas. Basic Plot God decides that Everyman (a character who represents an average, everyday human) has become too obsessed with wealth and material possessions. Therefore, Everyman must be taught a lesson in piety. And who better to teach a life lesson than a character named Death? Man Is Unkind God’s chief complaint is that humans are ignorantly leading sinful lives, unaware that Jesus died for their sins. Everyman has been living for his own pleasure, forgetting about the importance of charity and the potential threat of eternal hellfire. Upon God’s bidding, Death summons Everyman to take a pilgrimage to the Almighty. When Everyman realizes that the Grim Reaper has called upon him to face God and give a reckoning of his life, he tries to bribe Death to â€Å"defer this matter till another day.† The bargaining doesn’t work. Everyman must go before God, never to return to Earth again. Death does say that the hapless hero can take along anyone or anything that may benefit him during this spiritual trial. Friends and Family Are Fickle After Death leaves Everyman to prepare for his day of reckoning (the moment in which God judges him), Everyman approaches a character named Fellowship, a supporting role that represents Everyman’s friends. At first, Fellowship is full of bravado. When Fellowship learns that Everyman is in trouble, he promises to stay with him until the problem is resolved. However, as soon as Everyman reveals that Death has summoned him to stand before God, Fellowship ditches the poor guy. Kindred and Cousin, two characters that represent family relationships, make similar promises. Kindred declares, â€Å"in wealth and woe we will with you hold, for over his kin a man may be bold.† But once Kindred and Cousin realize Everyman’s destination, they back out. One of the funniest moments in the play is when Cousin refuses to go because he has a cramp in his toe. The overall message of the play’s first half is that relatives and friends (as reliable as they may seem) pale in comparison to the steadfast companionship of God. Goods vs. Good Deeds After getting rejected by fellow humans, Everyman turns his hopes to inanimate objects. He talks to a character named â€Å"Goods,† a role which represents Everyman’s material possessions and wealth. Everyman pleads for Goods to assist him in his hour of need, but they offer no comfort. In fact, the Goods chide Everyman, suggesting that he should have admired material objects moderately ​and that he should have given some of his goods to the poor. Not wanting to visit God (and subsequently be sent to hell), Goods abandons Everyman.​​ Finally, Everyman meets a character who will genuinely care for his plight. Good-Deeds is a character who symbolizes the acts of charity and kindness performed by Everyman. However, when the audience first meets Good-Deeds, she is laying on the ground, severely weakened by Everyman’s many sins. Enter Knowledge and Confession Good-Deeds introduces Everyman to her sister, Knowledge. This is another friendly character who will provide good advice to the protagonist. Knowledge serves as an important guide for Everyman, instructing him to seek out another character: Confession. Everyman is led to Confession. Readers expecting to hear a bunch of scandalous â€Å"dirt† on the main character, expecting him to beg forgiveness, or hoping he will at least apologize for whatever sins he has committed will be surprised here. Instead, Everyman asks for his vices to be wiped clean. Confession says that with penance, Everyman’s spirit may become clean once more. What does penance mean? In this  play, it means that Everyman undergoes a severe and purifying form of physical punishment. After he suffers, Everyman is amazed to discover that Good-Deeds is now free and strong, ready to stand by his side during his moment of judgment. The Five-Wits After this purging of the soul, Everyman is ready to meet his maker. Good-Deeds and Knowledge tell Everyman to call upon â€Å"three persons of great might† and his Five-Wits (his senses) as counselors. Everyman calls forth the characters Discretion, Strength, Beauty, and Five-Wits. Combined, they represent the core of his physical human experience. Unlike the first half of the play when he begged for help from his friends and family, Everyman is now relying on himself. However, even though he receives some good advice from each entity, he realizes that they will not go the distance as he journeys closer to his meeting with God. Like previous characters, these entities promise to stay by his side. Yet, when Everyman decides that it is time for his body to physically die (perhaps as part of his penance), Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and the Five-Wits abandon him. Beauty is the first one to take a hike, disgusted by the idea of lying in a grave. The others follow suit, and Everyman is left alone with Good-Deeds and Knowledge once again. Everyman Departs Knowledge explains that he won’t be going into the â€Å"heavenly sphere† with Everyman, but will stay with him until he departs from his physical body. This seems to imply that the soul does not retain its Earthly knowledge. However, Good-Deeds (as promised) will journey with Everyman. At the end of the play, Everyman commends his soul to God. After his departure, an angel arrives to announce that Everyman’s soul has been taken from his body and presented before God. A final narrator enters to explain to the audience that all should heed the lessons of Everyman: that everything in life is fleeting, with the exception of acts of kindness and charity. Overall Theme As one might expect from a morality play, Everyman has a very clear moral, one that is delivered at the beginning, middle, and end of the play. The blatantly religious message is simple: Earthly comforts are fleeting. Only good deeds and God’s grace can provide salvation. The lessons of the play are delivered in the form of allegorical characters, each one representing a variety of abstract concepts such as good deeds, material possessions, and knowledge. Who Wrote Everyman? Many morality plays were a collaborative effort by clergymen and residents (often tradesmen and guild members) of an English town. Over the years, lines would be changed, added, and deleted. Therefore, Everyman is probably the result of multiple authors and decades of literary evolution. Historical Context When Everyman summons the Five-Wits, a fascinating  discussion about the importance of the priesthood follows. FIVE-WITS:For priesthood exceedeth all other thing;To us Holy Scripture they do teach,And converteth man from sin heaven to reach;God hath to them more power given,Than to any angel that is in heaven According to the Five-Wits, priests are more powerful than angels. This reflects the prevalent role of priests in medieval society. In most European villages, the clergy were the moral leaders. However, the character of Knowledge mentions that priests are not perfect, and some of them have committed egregious sins. The discussion concludes with a general endorsement of the church as the surest path to salvation.

Country Risk Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Country Risk - Case Study Example Currently, the company fails to reach an agreement with the Hong Kong government to fund a much-needed 301 acres of expansion and started to give employees the sack. HKDLD has been losing profits that leads to the present state of being. All creative and design works are halted leaving a "shell" of 10 member team after the stripping off the "imaginers" (Business Week, 2009). Walt Disney Company (WDC) may just walk away from the negotiation from the government to focus on the upcoming Disney Shanghai. Yet Disneyland is significantly a landmark and tourist attraction, the HK government can find no comfort zone in abandoning it or funding the business. The strategy is only to keep on improving it as a competitive edge over Disney Shanghai scheduled to open in 2014. This implies the need of constant influx of taxpayers' fund for HKDLD expansion to keep the economy on the road to recovery, even though the present spending hurts the country's expenditure with HKDLD's profit book in the red expectedly (NPR, 2009). The nature of the existence of the risks of this Private-Public Partnership (PPP) project occurs due to the complexity and uncertainty of the interaction of factors that includes financing, taxation, technical details, market conditions and changes over the duration of the project (Yin Shen, Platten, 2009). Hence for the HKDLD project, the risks affecting the project expansion are identified with their preventive measures. To achieve the value for money in PPP projects, risk are allocated between this pair of private and public sectors in partnership. The risks should be allocated accordingly with respect to the type of risk and the ability of either sector to mitigate them. Based on this principle the risks are outlined alongside the preventive measures by means of allocations of identified risks. During the start of the expansion, site acquisition risk is present in land acquisition and or during retaining or demolishing existing buildings. The HK government is responsible for ens uring the acquisition of the HKDLD site and protecting the site from any intrusion and all land uses in surrounding areas. The operational private partner is responsible for the operational process of site protection or demolition of existing buildings or facilities. In all construction, the risk associate with adverse underground conditions is taken care of by the private partner since they are in charge of site survey particularly on the underground conditions that deals with the stability of foundation and supply of utilities. Polluted land and surroundings is a risk borne by both sides by the right legal disposal of construction waste and enforcement of good house keeping. Land reclamation runs the risk of delay of construction and is allocated to the private partner for adhering to the project deadline Volatility of market changes is always present with factors such as the

Paper on hotel rwanda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paper on hotel rwanda - Essay Example Two peoples made up the greater portion of the population, the Hutus and the Tutsis. During the European rule the Tutsis were the privilege class, the Hutu were not. However, after the European influence departed, the region erupted in civil unrest. For 30 years the issues between the Tutsis and the Hutu escalated culminating in the Tutsi Massacres in 1994; approximately 1 million Tutsi and neutral Hutus were killed in only 100 days. A counter-offensive began that same year and a fragile government organization was managed in 1996. It might be hard to determine what is right and wrong in times like these. This horrible period of time is detailed in the film â€Å"Hotel Rwanda,† and that Paul Rosesabogina, the main character in the film, must survive. Paul works in the hotel where he is able to gain favor with influential guests and public figures. He is a Hutu, but he is not involved in the hate crimes being committed in the streets, his wife, Tatiana, is, in fact, Tutsi. As t he violence gets worse he begins taking in more and more refugees into the high class hotel, in hopes of protecting them and his family from the society crumbling around him and the violence right outside their doors. He wants the American Military to intervene, they will not. He wants the United Nations to step up; they were not quick to become involved. At one point he even attempts to blackmail the Hutu General when he cannot bribe him. In the end, Paul, his family, and the refuges find safety after crossing a Tutsi border.(Hotel Rwanda) In a time when ethics and morality may seem lost and ones internal compass might spin out of control given all of the factors present in the film, assigning a philosophical school of thought to Paul’s actions in Hotel Rwanda, given the only option between Utilitarianism and Deontology, is an interesting task. In order to approach that question it is important to clarify these two ethical perspectives. Utilitarianism, essentially, bases dec ision making on whatever is best for the majority group that causes the least amount of harm, which creates the means to universal happiness and least amount of pain; while the Deontological perspective focuses on one’s individual duties one owes to others.(McGill) One focuses on the greater good of the greater majority and the other focuses more on the individual. These ideologies could not be more different. While both have their strengths they, also, have their weaknesses. Utilitarianism worries of the potential negative consequences that could occur given any ethical decisions. Deontology bases the right and wrong upon the individual’s ability to make ethical decisions based upon a moral standard.(McGill) Strangely, some of Paul’s actions in Hotel Rwanda could be described using either school of thought, while others are completely divergent. Paul participates in â€Å"bribery† in order to gain favors. Many would say that this is unethical. However, f rom a Utilitarian perspective he is not unethical, he is only participating in behaviors that are common of the majority. Participating in majority practices is in essence maintaining â€Å"majority happiness.† From a Deontological perspective his â€Å"unethical’ bribery could be perceived as his ethical decision, or duty, to involve himself in the act in order to protect his family, and later the refugees. His individual duty he owes his family. When Paul switches from bribery to blackmail to get what he wants from the Hutu General,

the role change of Japans culture :: essays research papers

The Role Change of Japan’s Culture My experiences in Japan have been surreal in that the cultural behaviors are nearly an exact opposite to those with which I had grown up. The order of daily life is solely dependent on the roles and duties of each individual. When people begin to go against the regular flow of the excepted norms, great controversy is created. Japanese culture patterns follow a specific code that is rarely altered. When they are disturbed, there is panic caused by the insecurities of change. The identity of Japanese culture is collectivism. Japan's culture is dependent on the community of the people. The Japanese do not strive for individual success, but rather for group accomplishment. It is better for the group as a whole to be healthy than for one person to achieve higher status. The Japanese do not believe in leaving one person behind, they would rather slow the entire group down until that person can catch up. In addition, the person who is slowing the group down will feel shame because he has hurt his "family". For example, I volunteered in a Kindergarten in Shinagawa the last four months, and one day there was a little boy who was moving his chair into the group much more slowly than the other students. The other students sat quietly watching him. When he finally put his chair down and the teacher was ready to begin, the student did not have his materials ready and had to go back to the closet to get things. The teacher became agitated and went afte r the boy. She pointed to the clock and spoke to him sternly. Then she looked at the students and held him so they could all look at him as she reprimanded him. The child did not scream or cry for his mother as I expected. Instead he looked down as tears flowed down his cheeks. The other students went back to looking at the teacher’s chair and she returned and did the lesson without the boy. The boy continued to stand still until the group finished and then he rejoined them. I had seen the students hitting each other and misbehaving many times, but I never saw a student get punished by a teacher until this day. This boy, at four years old, was feeling Haji (shame). He had hurt the group by cutting their time short.

Hyphenated Americans and the Hardships of the American Indians Essay

Many Americans recognize themselves with a hyphenated designation. They call themselves Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Jewish-American, Cuban-Americans, native-Americans and many other. They considered themselves immigrants -people who moved to the United States to seek legal permanent residency and stable sources pf livelihood. Indeed, it is said that the United States has always been a nation of refugees and immigrants, with the exception of the natives living here before the Spanish, French, Viking, Dutch and English explorers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Native Americans (Indian American) who lived on the North America peninsula for at least 16,000 years had a very diverse collision on American history and racial relations. It is noticeable that during the independent periods, a long series of conflicts between Indian tribes erupted for almost 2000 years. These include wars, massacres, imposition of treaties and forced displacement done by the immigrants in their native soil. History books documented the first racial discrimination: Hernando De Soto burned a number of Indian villages in 1540, with the consent of the Spanish Crown. In early 1700’s, the English massacred nearly 800 Choctaws. Afterwhich, the idea of Indian exclusion became popular. Choctaw elders described the incident in 1849: â€Å"We have our homes torn down and destroyed, our fences demoralized, cattle was slaughtered into our fields and we ourselves have been plagued, chained, confined and personally abused, until by such management of our some best people have died,† (William, 1988). In this view, some ideological expansionist justification included stereotyped views of all Native Americans as â€Å"merciless Indian savages,† despite triumphant efforts of American radicals to eradicate discrimination. The most popular attempt happened with the so called California Gold Rush, when thousands of Native Americans died in the gold mines of California and Arizona. Under this rule, Indians were subjected to de facto slavery. Thus, in 1850, the state of California entered the Union as a free state (including the issue of slavery); slavery was formally practiced in 1863 when the California Legislature ratified special laws on slavery. Former President George Washington believed that Native Americans were equals of the ‘modern’ American but recognize the fact that their societies were less technologically advanced. This led to the formulation of a set of policies designed to modernize these societies. These included: a) giving punishment for those who violated Native American rights, b) presidential authority to give promote Indian development, c) promotion of business, d) improvement of Native American Society, e) objective impartiality toward Native Americans, and f) regulated buying of Native American lands. In this sense, Native Americans battle for their rights and giving them the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted US citizenship to all Native Americans, although prior to the passage of the law, almost two thirds of them are already a US citizen. The act partly stated: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all no citizen Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States: Provided, That the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Native American to tribal or other property. † Indian Citizen Act of 1924 Over time, as the immigration intensified, American Indians were gradually mixed into the prevailing society resulting to erosion of monolithic solidarity of ethnic cultures. But less evident was the immovable preservation of the unique characteristics of the dominantly flooded ethnicities. A civilizing pluralism steadily saturated the homogeneous principles that â€Å"natives† insisted were very important to the American distinctiveness. As ethnics detached, hyphenated societies reproduced. Thus, complexity in historical origins is evident in their ethnic closed society. For now, what is clear is that the Americans are still in making its way to accept this reality. In this sense, the remarkable ability of the Americans to fuse diversity into harmony is said to be an ever-changing mosaic of their culture.

Battle of the Atlantic in World War II

The Battle of the Atlantic was fought between September 1939 and May 1945 throughout the entirety of  World War II. Battle of the Atlantic Commanding Officers AlliesAdmiral Sir Percy Noble, RNAdmiral Sir Max Horton, RNAdmiral Royal E. Ingersoll, USNGermanGrand Admiral Erich RaederGrand Admiral Karl Doenitz Background With the British and French entrance into World War II on Sept. 3, 1939, the German Kriegsmarine moved to implement strategies similar to those used in World War I. Unable to challenge the Royal Navys capital ships, the Kriegsmarine began a campaign against Allied shipping to cut off British supply lines. Overseen by Admiral Raeder, German naval forces sought to employ a mix of surface raiders and U-boats. Though he favored the surface fleet, which would come to include the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, Raeder was challenged by his U-boat chief, then-Commodore Doenitz, regarding the use of submarines. Initially ordered to seek out British warships, Doenitzs U-boats had early success sinking the old battleship HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow and the carrier HMS Courageous off Ireland. Despite these victories, he vigorously advocated for using groups of U-boats, called wolf packs, to attack the Atlantic convoys that were resupplying Britain. Though the German surface raiders scored some early successes, they drew the attention of the Royal Navy, who sought to destroy them or keep them in port. Engagements such as the Battle of the River Plate and the Battle of the Denmark Strait saw the British respond to this threat. The Happy Time With the fall of France in June 1940, Doenitz gained new bases on the Bay of Biscay from which his U-boats could operate. Spreading into the Atlantic, the U-boats began attacking British convoys in wolf packs further directed by intelligence gleaned from breaking the  British Naval Cypher No.  3. Armed with the approximate location of an approaching convoy, they would deploy in a long line across its anticipated path. When a U-boat sighted the convoy, it would radio its location and coordination of the attack would commence. Once all of the U-boats were in position, the wolf pack would strike. Typically conducted at night, these assaults could involve up to six U-boats and forced the convoy escorts to deal with multiple threats from several directions. Through the remainder of 1940 and into 1941, U-boats enjoyed tremendous success and inflicted heavy losses on Allied shipping. As a result, it became known as Die Glà ¼ckliche Zeit (the happy time) among the U-boat crews. Claiming over 270 Allied vessels during this period, U-boat commanders such as  Otto Kretschmer, Gà ¼nther Prien, and Joachim Schepke became celebrities in Germany. Key battles in the second half of 1940 included convoys HX 72 (which lost 11 of 43 ships in the course of fighting), SC 7 (which lost 20 of 35), HX 79 (which lost 12 of 49), and HX 90 (which lost 11 of 41). These efforts were supported by Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft, which aided in finding and attacking Allied ships. Converted from long-range Lufthansa airliners, these aircraft flew from bases in Bordeaux, France and Stavanger, Norway to penetrate deep into the North Sea and Atlantic. Capable of carrying a 2,000-pound bomb load, Condors typically would strike at low altitude to bracket the target vessel with three bombs.  Focke-Wulf Fw 200 crews claimed to have sunk 331,122 tons of Allied shipping from June 1940 to February 1941. Though effective, Condors were seldom available in more than limited numbers, and the threat later posed by Allied escort carriers and other aircraft ultimately forced their withdrawal. Guarding the Convoys Though British destroyers and corvettes were equipped with ASDIC (sonar), the system was still unproven, unable to maintain contact with a target during an attack. The Royal Navy was also hampered by a lack of suitable escort vessels. This was eased in September 1940, when fifty obsolete destroyers were obtained from the U.S. via the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. In spring 1941, as British anti-submarine training improved and additional escort vessels reached the fleet, losses began to lessen and the Royal Navy sank U-boats at an increasing rate. To counter improvements in British operations, Doenitz pushed his wolf packs further west, forcing the Allies to provide escorts for the entire Atlantic crossing. While the Royal Canadian Navy covered convoys in the eastern Atlantic, it was aided by President Roosevelt, who extended the Pan-American Security Zone nearly to Iceland. Though neutral, the U.S. provided escorts within this region. Despite these improvements, U-boats continued to operate at will in the central Atlantic outside the range of Allied aircraft. This air gap posed issues until more advanced maritime patrol aircraft arrived. Operation Drumbeat Other elements that aided in stemming Allied losses were the capture of a German Enigma code machine and the installation of new high-frequency direction-finding equipment for tracking U-boats. With the U.S. entry into the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Doenitz dispatched U-boats to the American coast and Caribbean under the name Operation Drumbeat. Commencing operations in January 1942, the U-boats began enjoying a second happy time as they took advantage of unescorted U.S. merchant ships and Americas failure to implement a coastal blackout. Losses rising, the U.S. implemented a convoy system in May 1942. With convoys operating on the American coast, Doenitz withdrew his U-boats back to the mid-Atlantic that summer. Through the fall, losses mounted on both sides as the escorts and U-boats clashed. In November 1942, Admiral Horton became commander-in-chief of the Western Approaches Command. As additional escort vessels became available, he formed separate forces tasked with supporting convoy escorts. Not tied to defending a convoy, these forces could specifically hunt U-boats. The Tide Turns In the winter and early spring of 1943, the convoy battles continued with increasing ferocity. As Allied shipping losses mounted, the supply situation in Britain began to reach critical levels. Though losing U-boats in March, the German strategy of sinking ships faster than Allies could build them appeared to be succeeding. This ultimately proved to be a false dawn, as the tide rapidly turned in April and May. Allied losses dropped in April, yet the campaign pivoted to the defense of convoy ONS 5. Attacked by 30 U-boats, it lost 13 ships in exchange for six of Doenitzs subs. Two weeks later, convoy SC 130 repelled German attacks and sank five U-boats while taking no losses. The integration of several technologies that became available in the previous months—the Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, continued advances in reading German radio traffic, enhanced radar, and the Leigh Light—swiftly shifted Allied fortunes. The latter device allowed Allied aircraft to successfully attack surfaced U-boats at night. Other advances included the introduction of merchant aircraft carriers and long-range maritime variants of the B-24 Liberator. Combined with new escort carriers, these eliminated the air gap, and with wartime ship construction programs like Liberty ships, they rapidly gave Allies the upper hand. Dubbed Black May by Germans, May 1943 lost Doenitz 34 U-boats in the Atlantic in exchange for 34 Allied ships. Latter Stages of Battle Pulling back his forces during the summer, Doenitz worked to develop and create new tactics and equipment, including U-flak boats with enhanced anti-aircraft defenses, a variety of countermeasures, and new torpedoes. Returning to offense in September, U-boats enjoyed brief success before again taking heavy losses. As Allied airpower strengthened, U-boats came under attack in the Bay of Biscay as they left and returned to port. With his fleet shrinking, Doenitz turned to new U-boat designs like the revolutionary Type XXI. Designed to operate entirely submerged, the Type XXI was faster than any of its predecessors, and only four were completed by the end of the war. Aftermath The final actions of the Battle of the Atlantic took place on May 8, 1945, just before German surrender.  Allies lost around 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships in the fighting, along with roughly 72,000 sailors killed. German casualties numbered 783 U-boats and around 30,000 sailors (75% of the U-boat force). Victory in the Atlantic theater, one of WWIIs most important fronts, was critical to the Allied cause. Prime Minister Churchill later cited its importance: The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air depended ultimately on its outcome.