Convoy SC 118 | |||||||
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Part of Battle of the Atlantic | |||||||
![]() USS Schenck (DD-159) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
CAPT H C C Forsyth RNR CDR Proudfoot RN | Admiral Karl Dönitz | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
64 freighters 5 destroyers 2 cutters 4 corvettes | 20 submarines | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
8 freighters sunk (51,592GRT) 445 killed/drowned |
3 submarines sunk 101 killed/drowned 45 captured |
Convoy SC-118 was the 118th of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool.[1] The ships departed New York City on 24 January 1943[2] and were met by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group B-2 consisting of V class destroyers Vanessa and Vimy, the USCG Treasury Class Cutter Bibb, the Town class destroyer Beverley, Flower class corvettes Campanula, Mignonette, Abelia and Lobelia, and the convoy rescue ship Toward.[3]
Background
As western Atlantic coastal convoys brought an end to the second happy time, Admiral Karl Dönitz, the Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU) or commander in chief of U-Boats, shifted focus to the mid-Atlantic to avoid aircraft patrols. Although convoy routing was less predictable in the mid-ocean, Dönitz anticipated that the increased numbers of U-boats being produced would be able to effectively search for convoys with the advantage of intelligence gained through B-Dienst decryption of British Naval Cypher Number 3.[4] However, only 20 percent of the 180 trans-Atlantic convoys sailing from the end of July 1942 until the end of April 1943 lost ships to U-boat attack.[5]
On 2 February U-456 sank three ships from convoy HX 224. A survivor of one of the sunken ships was picked up by U-632 and told his rescuers a slower convoy was following behind HX-224.[6]
Battle
A careless merchant seaman of convoy SC-118 accidentally fired a pyrotechnic snowflake projector aboard SS Annik in the pre-dawn darkness of 4 February.[6] U-187 observed the snowflake display, reported sighting the convoy, and was promptly sunk by Beverly and Vimy after Bibb and Toward triangulated her location from the sighting report, using High-Frequency radio Direction-Finder (HF/DF or Huff-Duff).[3] The destroyers rescued 44 of the submarine's crew.[7] The Polish freighter Zagloba was torpedoed on the unprotected side of the convoy by U-262 and U-413 torpedoed the straggling American freighter West Portal.[3]
On 5 February the convoy escort was reinforced by the USCG Treasury Class Cutter Ingham and the Wickes class destroyers Babbitt and Schenck from Iceland.[3] The reinforced escort damaged U-262 and U-267.[8]
In the pre-dawn hours of 7 February, U-boat Ace Kapitänleutnant Siegfried von Forstner's U-402 torpedoed the British freighter Afrika, Norwegian tanker Daghild, Greek freighter Kalliopi, American tanker Robert E. Hopkins, American cargo liner Henry R. Mallory, and Convoy rescue ship Toward.[9]
Henry R. Mallory was capable of 14 knots but had been straggling well astern of the convoy for several days and was not zig-zagging in that exposed position.[10] Mallory would normally have been assigned to one of the faster HX convoys, but there had been no Iceland section of the preceding convoy HX-224.[10] No commands came from the bridge after Mallory was torpedoed, no flares were sent up, no radio distress message was sent out, and no orders were given to abandon ship.[11] There were heavy casualties from Mallory's crew of 77, 34 Navy gunners, and the 136 American soldiers, 172 American sailors, and 72 American Marines she was transporting to Iceland.[12]
U-614 sank the straggling British freighter Harmala[9] while Lobelia sank U-609.[3]
B-17 Flying Fortress J of No. 220 Squadron RAF sank U-614 on 7 February.[3] U-402 sank British freighter Newton Ash that night. On 9 February Kapitänleutnant von Forstner was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for ships sunk by U-402 from this convoy and from Convoy SC-107 on the previous patrol. SC-118 reached Liverpool without further loss on 12 February.[2]
Ships in convoy
Name[13] | Flag[13] | Dead[9] | Tonnage (GRT)[13] | Cargo[9] | Notes[13] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme (1916) | 6,878 | Petrol & oil | |||
Adamas (1918) | ![]() |
0 | 4,144 | Steel & lumber | Sank 8 Feb after collision with Samuel Huntington |
African Prince (1939) | 8,031 | Bauxite and ammunition | carried convoy commodore Capt H C C Forsyth RD RNR | ||
Afrika (1920) | 23 | 8,597 | 4,000 tons steel & 7,000 tons general cargo | Sunk by U-402 7 Feb | |
Ann Skakel (1920) | 4,949 | General cargo | Veteran of convoy SC 107; Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | ||
Annik (1940) | 1,333 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | ||
Arizpa (1920) | 0 | 5,437 | Stores | ||
Athelprince (1926) | 8,782 | Diesel & naptha | Convoy vice commodore was ship's master | ||
Baron Haig (1926) | 3,391 | Sugar | |||
Baron Ramsey (1929) | 3,650 | iron ore | Veteran of convoy SC 42 | ||
Bestik (1920) | 2,684 | Steel & lumber | |||
Blairdevon (1925) | 3,282 | Steel & lumber | |||
Celtic Star (1918) | 5,575 | refrigerated & general cargo | |||
Cetus (1920) | 2,614 | Sugar | Veteran of convoy HX 84; survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | ||
City of Khios (1925) | 5,574 | Sugar | |||
Daghild (1927) | 0 | 9,272 | 13,000 tons Diesel | Veteran of convoy ON 127; sunk by U-402, U-614 & U-608 | |
Dallington Court (1929) | 6,889 | Wheat | Survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | ||
Danae II (1936) | 2,660 | Bauxite | Veteran of convoy HX 84 | ||
Danby (1937) | 4,281 | linseed & grain | |||
Daylight (1931) | 9,180 | General cargo | Escort oiler; Detached to Iceland 9 Feb; survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | ||
Deido (1928) | 3,894 | Petrol | |||
Dettifoss (1930) | ![]() |
1,564 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
Dordrecht (1928) | 4,402 | Palm oil | returned to Halifax | ||
Empire Gareth (1942) | 2,847 | Bauxite | |||
Empire Liberty (1941) | 7,157 | General cargo | |||
Glarona (1928) | 9,912 | fuel oil & Diesel | |||
Gogra (1919) | 5,190 | General cargo | |||
Gold Shell (1931) | 8,208 | Petrol | |||
Grey County (1918) | 3 | 5,194 | General cargo | ||
Gulf of Mexico (1917) | 7,807 | Oil & petrol | |||
H M Flagler (1918) | ![]() |
8,208 | Furnace fuel oil | Escort oiler | |
Harmala (1935) | 53 | 5,730 | 8,500 tons iron ore | Straggled and sunk by U-614 7 Feb | |
Helder (1920) | 3,629 | General cargo | |||
Henry Mallory (1916) | 272 | 6,063 | 383 passengers & general cargo | Veteran of convoy ON 154; sunk by U-402 7 Feb | |
Ioannis Frangos (1912) | ![]() |
3,442 | Grain | ||
Julius Thomsen (1927) | ![]() |
1,151 | Detached to Greenland | ||
Kalliopi (1910) | ![]() |
4 | 4,965 | 6,500 tons steel & lumber | Sunk by U-402 7 Feb |
King Stephen (1928) | 5,274 | Grain | |||
Kiruna (1921) | ![]() |
5,484 | General cargo | Veteran of convoy HX 79 and convoy ON 154 | |
Lagarfoss (1904) | ![]() |
1,211 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb; survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | |
Makedonia (1942) | ![]() |
7,044 | Flour | ||
Mana (1920) | ![]() |
3,283 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
Maud (1930) | 3,189 | Sugar | |||
New York City (1917) | 2,710 | General cargo | Veteran of convoy SC 107 | ||
Newton Ash (1925) | 32 | 4,625 | 6,500 tons grain, mail & military stores | Sunk by U-402 7 Feb | |
Norbryn (1922) | 5,087 | Tea & rubber | |||
Permian (1931) | ![]() |
8,890 | Survived this convoy and convoy SC 122 | ||
Petter II (1922) | 7,417 | Gas oil | |||
Polyktor (1914) | ![]() |
4,077 | Grain | Sunk by U-266 | |
Radmanso (1914) | ![]() |
4,280 | Sulphur | ||
Radport (1925) | 5,355 | General cargo | |||
Redgate (1929) | 4,323 | General cargo | |||
Robert E. Hopkins (1921) | 0 | 6,625 | 8,500 tons furnace fuel oil | Escort oiler; sunk by U-402 7 Feb | |
Samuel Huntington (1942) | 7,181 | General cargo | Liberty ship | ||
Sheaf Holme (1929) | 4,814 | Potash & general cargo | Survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | ||
Sommerstad (1926) | 5,923 | Lubricating oil | |||
Stad Arnhem (1920) | 3,819 | Phosphates | |||
Tilemachos (1911) | ![]() |
3,658 | Grain | ||
Toward (1923) | 58 | 1,571 | Rescue ship; sunk by U-402 7 Feb | ||
Vacuum (1920) | 7,020 | Petrol | |||
West Portal (1920) | 5,376 | Stores | Straggled and sunk by U-413 4 Feb | ||
William Penn (1921) | 8,447 | Petrol | |||
Yemassee (1922) | ![]() |
2,001 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
Zagloba (1938) | ![]() |
2,864 | Ammunition & general cargo | Sunk by U-262 4 Feb |
Notes
- ↑ Hague 2000 p.133
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hague 2000 p.135
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.191
- ↑ Tarrant p.108
- ↑ Hague pp.132, 137-138, 161-162, 164, 181
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Waters December 1966 p.96
- ↑ Waters December 1966 p.97
- ↑ Waters December 1966 p.98
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Hague 2000 p.137
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Waters December 1966 p.102
- ↑ Waters December 1966 p.103
- ↑ Morison 1975 p.336
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 "SC convoys". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
References
- Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-019-3.
- Milner, Marc (1985). North Atlantic Run. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-450-0.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1975). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I The Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943. Little, Brown and Company.
- Rohwer, J. and Hummelchen, G. (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
- Tarrant, V.E. (1989). The U-Boat Offensive 1914-1945. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-520-X.
- Waters, John M. Jr., CAPT USCG (December 1966). "Stay Tough". United States Naval Institute Proceedings.
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