1939
SEPTEMBER
1939
14th - After
an
unsuccessful attack on carrier "Ark Royal" off
the Hebrides, NW Scotland, German "U-39"
was
depth-charged
and sunk
by screening destroyers "Faulknor",
"Firedrake" and "Foxhound".
17th - Three
days
after the sinking of "U-39", fleet carrier
"COURAGEOUS"
was
sent to the
bottom to the southwest
of Ireland by "U-29" with heavy loss of life.
Carriers were withdrawn from anti-U-boat patrols
as it
became accepted that the best chance of sinking
U-boats
was to attract them to well-defended convoys
where the
escorts could hunt them down.
20th - After
sinking trawlers off the northern Hebrides,
German "U-27" was
located and
sunk by destroyers
"Fortune" and "Forester".

German Heavy
Warships
- Pocket battleship "Admiral Graf Spee" sank
her first ship in the Atlantic off Brazil on the
30th
September.
Axis Loss Summary - 2
German U-boats.
OCTOBER
1939
German Heavy
Warships
- Pocket battleship "Graf Spee" claimed four
more merchant ships in the South Atlantic before
heading
into the southern Indian Ocean. Seven Allied
hunting
groups were formed in the Atlantic and one in
the Indian
Ocean to search for her. In total the Royal and
French
Navies deployed three capital ships, four
aircraft
carriers and 16 cruisers. Meanwhile sister ship
"Deutschland", after accounting for two ships
in the North Atlantic was ordered home. She
reached
Germany in November and was renamed "Lutzow".
8th-24th - The
anti-U-boat
mine barrage in the Strait of Dover was
completed and accounted for three U-boats,
starting with "U-12" on the 8th."U-40" was
also mined
and sunk in the Strait of
Dover on the 13th. The third U-boat sunk
in the
Strait of Dover was "U-16" on the 24th. No more
attempts were made to
pass through the English Channel and U-boats
were forced
to sail around the north of Scotland to reach
the
Atlantic.
13th - Two
U-boats
attacking convoys to the southwest of Ireland
were sunk
by escorting destroyers. On the 13th, "U-42"
was sent to
the bottom by
"Imogen" and "llex" sailing with
Liverpool-out convoy OB17
14th - Next
day
"Icarus", "Inglefield",
"Intrepid" and "Ivanhoe" escorting
Kingston, Jamaica/UK convoy KJ3 accounted for
"U-45"
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German U-boats
NOVEMBER
1939
German Heavy
Warships
- Pocket battleship "Graf Spee" sank a small
tanker southwest of Madagascar and headed back
for the
South Atlantic. More Allied hunting groups were
formed.
23rd - Armed
merchant cruiser "RAWALPINDI" (Capt E. C
Kennedy) on Northern Patrol was
sunk by the 11in battlecruiser "Scharnhorst" as
she and sister ship "Gneisenau" tried to break
out into the Atlantic. After the action to the
southwest
of Iceland, they turned back and returned to
Germany
after avoiding searching ships of the British
Home Fleet.
29th - On
patrol to
the north of Scotland to support the earlier
attempted
breakout by German battlecruisers "Scharnhorst"
and "Gneisenau", "U-35"
was found
east of the Shetland Islands
and sunk by destroyers "Kashmir",
"Kingston" and "Icarus".
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German U-boat.
DECEMBER
1939
Canada - The
first
Canadian troop convoy TC1, sailed from Halifax,
Nova
Scotia for Britain, heavily escorted and
accompanied part
of the way by Canadian destroyers.
4th -
Returning
from the hunt for the German battle-cruisers
after the
sinking of "Rawalpindi" on the 23rd November,
battleship "Nelson"
was
damaged by a mine laid
by
"U-31" off Loch Ewe, northwest Scotland.

13th -
Battle of River Plate
- Now
back in the South Atlantic, “Graf
Spee” claimed three more victims to bring the
total
to nine ships of 50,000 tons, before heading for
the
South American shipping lanes off the River
Plate. Cdre
Harwood with Hunting Group G - 8in-gunned
cruisers
“Exeter” and “Cumberland” and 6in
light cruisers “Ajax” and New Zealand
“Achilles” - correctly anticipated her
destination. Unfortunately “Cumberland” was by
now in the Falklands. At 06.14 on the 13th,
150
miles east of the Plate Estuary, “Graf Spee”
(Capt Langsdorff) was reported to the northwest
of the
three cruisers [1].
Faced with “Graf Spee's" heavier armament, Cdre
Harwood decided to split his force in two and
try to
divide her main guns. “Exeter” closed to the
south [2] while
the two light cruisers
worked around to the north [3],
all firing as they manoeuvred. “Graf Spee”
concentrated her two 11in turrets on “Exeter”
which was badly hit [4].
By 06.50 all ships were heading
west
[5],
“Exeter” with only one turret in action and on
fire. She had to break off and headed south for
the
Falklands [6].
“Ajax” and
“Achilles” continued to harry the pocket
battleship from the north [7],
but at 07.25 "Ajax" lost her two after turrets
to an
11in hit [8].
“Achilles” already had splinter damage, but
still the German ship failed to press home her
advantage.
By 08.00, still with only superficial damage,
she headed
for the neutral Uruguayan port of Montevideo,
the
cruisers shadowing [9].
“GRAF
SPEE” entered
port at midnight. As other Allied hunting groups
headed
for the area, much diplomatic manoeuvring took
place to
hold her there. Finally, on the 17th,
Capt
Langsdorff edged his ship out into the estuary
where she
was scuttled and blown up. Only “Cumberland”
had arrived by this time. Langsdorff then
committed
suicide.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German pocket battleship
1940
JANUARY
1940
30th -
Attacking
Thames-out convoy 0A80 to the west of the
English
Channel, “U-55”
was
destroyed in a joint action by an
RAF Sunderland of No 228 Squadron, sloop
“Fowey“ and destroyer “Whitshed”.
This was the first successful air/sea attack
which would
not be repeated for another five months.
Axis Loss Summary - 1
German U-boat
FEBRUARY
1940
5th - “U-41”
sank one ship from Liverpool-out
convoy OB84 south of Ireland, but was then sent
to the
bottom by the lone escort, destroyer
“Antelope”.
23rd -
Destroyer
“Gurkha” on passage south of the Faeroe Islands
encountered “U-53” returning from patrol in the
Western
Approaches. The U-boat was sunk.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German U-boats.
MARCH
1940
German Raiders
-
Converted from a merchantman and heavily armed,
auxiliary
cruiser “Atlantis” sailed for the Indian Ocean
round the Cape of Good Hope. In 1941 she moved
into the
South Atlantic, and operations lasted for a
total of 20
months until her loss in November 1941. She was
the first
of nine active raiders, seven of which went out
in 1940.
Only one ever broke out for a second cruise.
Their
success was not so much due to their sinkings
and
captures - a creditable average of 15 ships of
90,000
tons for each raider, but the disruption they
caused in
every ocean. At a time when the Royal Navy was
short of
ships, convoys had to be organised and patrols
instituted
in many areas. In 1940 raiders accounted for 54
ships of
370,000 tons. The first German raider was not
caught
until May 1941 - 14 months later.
20th - Home
Fleet
battlecruisers to the north of the Shetlands
covered a
cruiser sweep into the Skagerrak. German U-boat
“U-44”
was
sighted and sunk by
escorting
destroyer “Fortune” .
Axis Loss Summary - 1
U-boat
APRIL
1940
German Raiders - “Orion”
sailed
for the Pacific and Indian Oceans around South
America's Cape Horn. She was out for 16 months
before
returning to France.
10th - “U-50”
on patrol off the Shetlands in
support of the Norwegian invasion, was sunk by
destroyer
“Hero”.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German U-boat.
MAY
1940
German Raiders -
“Widder” headed for central Atlantic operations
before returning to France six months later. On
her way
into the Indian Ocean, “Atlantis” laid mines
off South Africa.
JUNE 1940
German Raiders - Two
more
set sail. “Thor” made for the South
Atlantic and returned to Germany eleven months
later.
“Pinguin” left for the Indian Ocean around the
Cape of Good Hope, later operated in the
Antarctic and
was finally lost in May 1941. Meanwhile “Orion”
which set out in April 1940 was laying mines off
New
Zealand that accounted for the gold-bullion
carrying
liner “Niagara”.
6th - Three
armed
merchant cruisers on Northern Patrol were lost
to U-boats
in the waters between Ireland (R) and Iceland
(C) over
the next nine days, starting with “CARINTHIA” on
the 6th/7th to
“U-46”. 13th - “SCOTSTOUN”
was
torpedoed
three times
by “U-25” and sank north west of the Hebrides. 15th
- “ANDANIA”
was sunk by
German “U-A”, a
Turkish submarine building in Germany and taken
over
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German U-boats, dates and causes of loss
uncertain.
JULY
1940
1st -
Corvette
Gladiolus claimed the first success for the
'Flower'
class when with the support of an RAF
Sunderland, she
sank “U-26” southwest of Ireland.
5th -
Detached from
a UK outward-bound OB convoy to search for a
reported
U-boat, destroyer “WHIRLWIND”
was torpedoed
by “U-34” and
lost to the west of Land's End.
German Raiders - Only
11
months before Germany attacked Russia,
“Komet” sailed for the Pacific through the
North East Passage across the top of Siberia
with the aid
of Russian icebreakers. She operated in the
Pacific and
Indian Oceans until returning to Germany in
November
1941, the last of the first wave of surface
raiders to
leave Germany.
28th - Off the
coast of Brazil, German raider “Thor” badly
damaged armed merchant cruiser “Alcantara”
in a gun duel.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German U-boat.
AUGUST
1940
10th - Two
more
ex-liners recommissioned as armed merchant
cruisers of
the Northern Patrol were lost to U-boat attack
to the
north of Ireland. "TRANSYLVANIA"
was torpedoed
and sunk by
"U-56" on the 10th. The second was lost at the
end of the month.
20th -
Submarine
"Cachalot "on Bay of Biscay patrol sank the
returning "U-51" off Lorient, western France
24th- An
attack by
"U-37" on the first Slow Cape Breton/UK convoy
SC1 to the southeast of Greenland led to the
loss of a
merchantman and sloop "PENZANCE".
27th/28th -
The
second AMC of the Northern Patrol lost to the
north of
Ireland was "DUNVEGAN CASTLE" to "U-46" on the
night
of the 27th/28th.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German U-boat.
SEPTEMBER
1940
1st -
Cruiser "Fiji" was torpedoed by "U-32" out in
the
North Atlantic off Rockall as she escorted troop
transports for the Dakar, West
Africa expedition, Operation
"Menace". Her
place was taken by Australian heavy cruiser
"Australia".
6th -
Escorting
convoy OA205, corvette "GODETIA"
was rammed
and sunk by merchantman
"Marsa" north of Ireland, the first 'Flower'
class lost.
15th -
"U-48" attacked convoy SC3 northwest of Ireland
and sank sloop "DUNDEE". Both "Dundee" and
"Penzance", lost the previous month, were long
endurance ships used as anti-submarine (A/S)
ocean
escorts for the slow and vulnerable SC convoys.
OCTOBER
1940
22nd -
Canadian destroyer "MARGAREE" escorting
Liverpool-out convoy OL8, was
lost in collision with merchantman "Port Fairy"
to the west of Ireland. This was the last of the
short-lived fast OL's sailing from Liverpool.
30th -
Destroyers
"Harvester" and "Highlander" sank "U-32"
northwest of Ireland during a
convoy attack. Two days earlier, the U-boat had
finished
off the damaged 42,000-ton liner "Empress of
Britain".
German Surface
Warships
& Raiders - Pocket battleship "Admiral
Scheer" sailed from Germany for the Atlantic and
later Indian Oceans. She got back home in March
1941.
Meanwhile German raider "Widder" arrived in
France after six month's operations in the
central
Atlantic where she sank or captured 10 ships of
59,000
tons.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German U-boat.
NOVEMBER
1940
2nd -
Attacking a
convoy northwest of Ireland, "U-31"
was sunk
for the second and final time,
on this occasion by destroyer "Antelope" in
co-operation with shore-based aircraft of RAF
Coastal
Command. RAF Bomber Command first sank her in
March 1940.
3rd - Two
armed
merchant cruisers returning from patrol were
sunk west of
Ireland by Kretschmer's "U-99". The first was
"LAURENTIC" on the 3rd.
4th
- Next day,
"PATROCLUS"
was lost
west of Ireland to an attack by
"U-99". A third AMC was sunk next day.

Admiral
Scheer 1940 - Royal Navy
Single Ship Action
5th -
Loss of the "Jervis Bay"
- Halifax/UK
convoy HX84 with 37 ships
and its solitary escort, armed merchant cruiser
"Jervis Bay" (Capt Fegen) was attacked by the
11in-gunned pocket battleship "Admiral Scheer"
in mid-Atlantic. The convoy was ordered to
scatter as "JERVIS
BAY" headed for
the "Scheer", guns firing. The end was in no
doubt and she went down, but her sacrifice saved
all but
five of the merchant ships. Capt Edward Fegen RN
was
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. It was
in this action that tanker
"San Demetrio" was damaged by gunfire and
abandoned. Later re-boarded by a few of her
crew, they
got her into port in spite of the greatest
difficulties
and privations. "Admiral Scheer" headed for the
central and later the South Atlantic.
In separate North
Atlantic
operations, German submarine "U-104" and the
Italian "FAA DI
BRUNO" were
lost.
In both cases the circumstances were uncertain,
but
"U-104" was claimed by corvette
"Rhododendron" and the Italian by destroyer
"Havelock". "U-104" was the last
German U-boat lost until March although the
Italians had
casualties.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German and 1 Italian U-boats
DECEMBER
1940
German Raiders - "Kormoran"
was
the first of the second wave of raiders to leave
for
operations. She started in the central Atlantic
and later
moved to the Indian Ocean, where she was lost in
November
1941. Much further afield in the South West
Pacific,
"Komet" and "Orion" shared in the
sinking of five ships near the phosphate island
of Nauru.
Later in the month "Komet" shelled the
installations on Nauru.
1st - Armed
merchant cruiser "Carnarvon Castle"
was badly
damaged in action with raider
"Thor" off Brazil, the German ship's second and
equally successful fight with an AMC.
2nd - Cdr
Kretschmer and "U-99" claimed a third armed
merchant cruiser when "FORFAR"
was sent
to the bottom west of Ireland;
the others were "Laurentic" and
"Patroclus" a month earlier. At the same time
nearby convoy HX90 was attacked just before the
Western
Approaches escorts arrived. Eleven ships were
lost to the
U-boats.
15th - Italian
submarine "TARANTINI" returning from North
Atlantic patrol was
torpedoed and sunk by submarine "Thunderbolt"
in the Bay of Biscay.
German Heavy
Warships -
Earlier in the month the 8in heavy cruiser
"Admiral
Hipper" left Germany and passed into the
Atlantic
through the Denmark Strait. On Christmas Day the
25th
December, 700 miles to the west of Cape
Finisterre,
northwest Spain she encountered Middle East
troop convoy
WS5A, one of 'Winston's Specials', escorted by
cruisers.
They were accompanied by carrier "Furious"
ferrying aircraft to Takoradi in West Africa. In
an
exchange of gunfire the heavy cruiser "Berwick"
(below) and two merchantmen were slightly
damaged. "Hipper" retired and soon reached
Brest. She was the first of the Gerrnan big
ships to
reach the French Biscay ports. From there she
and her
companions posed a major threat to the Atlantic
convoy
routes right up until the Channel Dash of
February 1942.

Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
Italian U-boat
1941
JANUARY
1941
German Heavy
Warships
& Raiders - Pocket battleship "Admiral
Scheer" was hunting in the South Atlantic, while
battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and
"Gneisenau" in Germany and heavy cruiser
"Hipper" in Brest, France prepared to sail. At
the end of the month the two battlecruisers
headed out
into the Atlantic for two months operations
before
returning to Brest. Six of the original seven
raiders
were still at sea - "Orion" and
"Komet" in the Pacific, "Atlantis" at
the desolate island of Kerguelen in the southern
Indian
Ocean, "Kormoran" in the central and
"Thor" in the South Atlantic. Finally
"Pinguin" was in the Antarctic. All six moved
to different areas over the next few months.
Until June
1941, German warships sank 37 ships of 188,000
tons and
raiders 38 ships of 191,000 tons. Thereafter
neither type
inflicted many losses as worldwide convoys were
organised
and the raiders' supply ships sunk.
7th - Italian
submarine "NANI" attacked a convoy west of North
Channel and
was sunk by corvette "Anemone".
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
Italian U-boat.
FEBRUARY
1941
German Heavy
Warships -
At the beginning of the month, heavy cruiser
"Admiral Hipper" sailed from Brest. On the 12th,
far to the west of Gibraltar, she sank seven
ships from
slow unescorted convoy SLS64 bound for Britain
from
Sierra Leone. Returning to Brest, in March she
headed
back to Germany via the Denmark Strait and took
no
further part in independent commerce raiding. On
the
8th, battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and
"Gneisenau" sighted convoy HX106 escorted by
the lone battleship "Ramillies" south of
Greenland, but declined to attack in case of
possible
damage. Two weeks later, five unescorted ships
were sunk
east of Newfoundland, before they headed for the
Sierra
Leone routes. Meanwhile pocket battleship
"Admiral
Scheer" in the Indian Ocean operated
successfully
off Madagascar before preparing to return to
Germany.
22nd -
Italian
submarine "MARCELLO"
was believed
sunk to the west of the
Hebrides by ex-US destroyer "Montgomery" and
other escorts of Liverpool-out convoy OB287. The
convoy
was reported by Kondors which sank two and
damaged four
merchantmen. No more U-boat attacks were made.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
Italian U-boat.
MARCH
1941
7th/8th - With
better weather the spring U-boat offensive
started and 41
ships of 243,000 tons sunk. However, in the
space of a
few days they suffered their first major defeat
at the
hands of the escorts and lost five submarines (1-5)
in the month including three aces.
From then on, escort versus wolf-pack battles
predominated in the North Atlantic. Attacking
Liverpool-out convoy OB293, the first sinking
was "U-70"
(1) by
corvettes "Arbutus" and
"Camellia" on the 7th. Continuing the
hunt, next to go was "U-47" (2)
(Cdr Prien who sank battleship "Royal
Oak" in Scapa Flow) to destroyer
"Wolverine" on the 8th.
German Heavy Ships
- battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and
"Gneisenau" were sighted by aircraft of
battleship "Malaya" escorting convoy SL67 off
the Cape Verde Islands. The German ships
returned to the
Newfoundland area and on the 15th and 16th sank
or
captured 16 unescorted ships. They returned to
Brest on
the 22nd, having accounted for 22 ships of
116,000 tons,
but never again took part successfully in
commerce
raiding.
17th -
Germany lost
two more U-boat aces during operations against
Halifax/UK
convoy HX112. "U-99" (3)
(Lt-Cdr Kretschmer) and "U-100"
(4) (Lt-Cdr
Schepke)
were sunk by the 5th Escort Group commanded by
Cdr
Macintyre. Destroyers "Vanoc" and
"Walker" were mainly responsible.
20th -
Following
her earlier sighting of the "Scharnhorst" and
"Gneisenau", "Malaya"
was now
sailing with convoy SL68 off the
west coast of Africa. Torpedoed and damaged by
"U-106", she became the first British ship
repaired in the United States under Lend-Lease
arrangements. The convoy lost seven merchantmen
to the
U-boats.
23rd - The
fifth
U-boat loss of the month was "U-551" (5)
to armed trawler
"Visenda". All five U-boat sinkings took place
to the south of Iceland, the first German
casualties
since November 1940 - four months earlier.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 5
German U-boats, including three of the
most experienced commanders.
APRIL
1941
4th - Armed
merchant cruisers again suffered heavy losses at
widely
scattered locations and in different
circumstances. On
the 4th "VOLTAIRE"
was
sunk in a gun duel
with German
raider "Thor" west of the Cape Verde Islands.
5th - Slow
Halifax/UK convoy SC26 was attacked by U-boats
for two
days and lost 10 merchantmen. On the 5th, "U-76"
was
sunk by escorting
destroyer
"Wolverine and sloop "Scarborough" south
of Iceland.
6th - Only
two days
later, "COMORIN"
caught fire and
finally went down west of Ireland - the rescue
of her
crew and passengers in raging seas an epic in
its own
right.
13th - The
third
AMC was "RAJPUTANA" of the Northern Patrol lost
in an attack by
"U-108" in the Denmark Strait separating
Greenland and Iceland.
German Raiders -
"Thor" now returned to Germany after an absence
of 11 months, having accounted for 11 ships of
83,000
tons plus the "Voltaire". Pocket battleship
"Admiral Scheer" also got back to Germany after
five months in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
credited
with 16 ships of 99,000 tons and "Jervis Bay".
28th - Fast
Halifax/UK convoy HX121 lost four ships but
"U-65"
was sunk
in return by corvette
"Gladiolus", like "U-76", south of
Iceland.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German U-boats
MAY
1941
8th - On
patrol
north of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean,
heavy
cruiser "Cornwall" found and sank German raider
"PINGUIN". This was the first raider to be
hunted down, having accounted for 28 ships of
136,000
tons.
9th -
Capture of "U.110" and
the German Enigma
- South
of Iceland, "U.110" (Lt-Cdr
Lemp of the "Athenia" sinking) attacked
Liverpool out convoy OB318 protected by ships of
Capt A.
J. Baker-Creswell's escort group. Blown to the
surface by
depth charges from corvette "Aubretia" on the
9th, "U-110's" crew abandoned ship, but she
failed to go down. A boarding party from
destroyer
"Bulldog", led by Sub-Lt Balme, managed to get
aboard. In a matter of hours they transferred to
safety
"U-110's" entire Enigma package - coding
machine, code books, rotor settings and charts.
The
destroyer "Broadway" stood by during this
hazardous operation. Two days later "U-110" sank
on tow to Iceland, knowledge
of her capture having been withheld from the
crew and
Lt-Cdr Lemp dying at the time of the boarding.
The
priceless Enigma material represented one of the
greatest
intelligence coup ever and was a major naval
victory in
its own right. "U-110's" capture was far and
away the most successful of the attempts to
capture
Enigma codes. In the March 1941 raid on the
Norwegian
Lofoten Islands, spare coding rotors were found.
Then two
days before the "U-110" triumph, a cruiser
force had tried to capture the weather trawler
"Munchen" off Iceland. At the end of the coming
June a similar operation was mounted against the
"Lauenberg". In both cases useful papers were
taken but the real breakthrough only came with
"U-110". Included with the material captured
were all rotor settings until the end of June
1941. A
number of codes were used with Enigma.
The U-boat
one was 'Hydra', also used by all ships in
European
waters. From the end of June, Bletchley Park was
able to
decipher 'Hydra' right through until the end of
the war.
Unfortunately the U-boats moved off this version
to the
new 'Triton' in February 1942. The big ship
'Neptun' and
Mediterranean 'Sud' and 'Medusa' codes were also
soon
broken.
13th - Armed
merchant cruiser "SALOPIAN" on passage to
Halifax after escorting
convoy SC30 was torpedoed a total of six times
by
"U-98". Eventually she went down southeast of
Cape Farewell, the sad but appropriately-named
southern
tip of Greenland.

18th-28th - Hunt
for the
"Bismarck", Phase 1 - On the 18th,
new German
15in battleship "Bismarck" and heavy cruiser
"Prinz Eugen" sailed from Gdynia in the Baltic
for the Atlantic via Norway. A simultaneous
sortie by the
battlecruisers "Scharnhorst" and
"Gneisenau" from Brest was fortunately
prevented by the damage inflicted by the RAF. On
the 20th,
the first two ships were sighted in the Kattegat
by a
Swedish warship. 21st - In the evening
the German
ships were sighted in a fiord south of Bergen,
Norway.
Two of the Home Fleet's capital ships, "Hood"
and "Prince of Wales" (the latter still not
fully completed and working up), sailed from
Scapa Flow
towards Iceland to support the cruisers on
Northern
Patrol. 22nd - "Bismarck" was reported
at sea and the main body of the Home Fleet
under
Adm Tovey left Scapa Flow and headed west.
Battleship
"King George V", fleet carrier
"Victorious", cruisers and destroyers were
later joined by battlecruiser "Repulse".
"Victorious" was also a recent addition to the
Fleet and still working up.
23rd - In the
early
evening, heavy cruisers "Suffolk" and shortly
"Norfolk" sighted the German ships north west
of Iceland and shadowed them southwestwards
through the
Denmark Strait separating Iceland from Greenland
to the
west. "Hood" and "Prince of Wales"
pressed on to intercept west of Iceland. 24th
- That morning the big ships met and opened
fire. Around 06.00,
after firing two or three salvos, "Bismarck"
hit
"HOOD"
which blew up with only three
survivors. Now it was "Prince of Wales" turn to
be the target. After being
hit several times she turned away but not before
damaging
"Bismarck" and causing her to lose fuel oil
to the sea.
Phase 2
- German Adm
Lutjens decided to make for St Nazaire in
France, with
its large dry-dock, and headed southwest and
later south
out of the Denmark Strait. The two Royal Navy
cruisers,
and for a while the damaged "Prince of Wales",
continued to shadow. Adm Tovey hurried west with
the rest
of Home Fleet. With "Hood's" loss, Force H (Adm
Somerville)
with battlecruiser "Renown",
carrier "Ark Royal" and cruiser
"Sheffield" was sailing north from Gibraltar.
Battleship "Ramillies", released from convoy
escort duties, and "Rodney", then to the west
of Ireland, headed towards "Bismarck's"
expected track. "Ramillies" played no part in
later operations. At 18.00, still an the
24th,
"Bismarck" feinted north towards her shadowers
long enough to allow "Prinz Eugen" to get away.
(The cruiser went south, later refueled from a
tanker and
cruised for three days before reaching Brest on
1 June.
There she joined the two battlecruisers under
heavy RAF
attack until the Channel Dash of February 1942.)
Around midnight,
southeast of Cape Farewell, Swordfish from Adm
Tovey's
"Victorious" got one hit on
"Bismarck" after she had resumed her southerly
course. The damage was negligible. Shortly after
in the
early hours of the 25th, she altered
course to the
southeast for France and the cruisers lost
contact. At
this point Adm Tovey's heavy ships were only 100
miles
away.

25th -
"Bismarck" held her southeasterly
course, but broke radio silence. Unfortunately
the
British direction-finding service put her on a northeasterly
heading. Adm Tovey sailed in that direction for
a while
before turning to the southeast in pursuit. Now
he was
well astern of his quarry. Only by slowing her
down could
destruction become possible. In the meantime,
Force H
continued to sail north to take up a blocking
position
between "Bismarck" and her new goal of Brest. 26th
- After a 30-hour interval, "Bismarck" was
once more sighted, this time by a RAF Catalina
of No 209
Squadron, and only 30hr from home. In the
afternoon a
Swordfish strike from Force H's "Ark Royal"
attacked cruiser "Sheffield" in error. They
missed. A second strike took place in the
evening
by 810, 818 and 820 Squadrons with 15 Swordfish
led by
Lt-Cdr Coode. They torpedoed "Bismarck" twice
and one hit damaged her propellers and jammed
the rudder.
As "Bismarck" circled, destroyers of the 4th
Flotilla (Capt Vian) came up around midnight,
and
made a series of torpedo and gun attacks but
with
uncertain results. Capt Vian's "Cossack",
"Maori", "Sikh", "Zulu" and
Polish "Piorun" had been detached from troop
convoy ("Winston's Special") WS8B, an
indication of the seriousness of "Bismarck's"
threat. By this time Adm Tovey's force of heavy
ships had
lost "Repulse" to refuel, but been joined by
"Rodney". They now came up from the west but do
not attack just yet. 27th - "King George
V", "Rodney" and the still circling
"Bismarck" all opened fire around 08.45.
Only the German ship was hit and by 10.15
was a
blazing wreck. Heavy cruiser "Dorsetshire",
having left convoy SL74 the previous day, fired
torpedoes
to finish her off. "BISMARCK" sank at 10.36
to the southwest of
Ireland. Shadowing cruiser "Norfolk" was there
at the end. 28th - The many warships
deployed from
all parts of the North Atlantic returned to
other duties.
As they did, heavy attacks by German aircraft
sank
destroyer "MASHONA" off the west coast of
Ireland.
Axis
Loss
Summary -
German battleship "Bismarck" and
"U-110"
JUNE
1941
2nd -
Destroyer
"Wanderer" and corvette "Periwinkle"
sank "U-147" northwest of Ireland during a
convoy attack.
13th - Pocket
battleship "Lutzow" attempted to break out.
Attacked on the
13th off the Norwegian coast by an RAF Beaufort,
she was
hit by one torpedo and only just made it back to
Germany.
18th - As
Force H
headed into the Atlantic to help search for
German supply
vessels already in position to support
"Bismarck's" breakout, they came across a
U-boat located through the recently captured
"Enigma" codes off the Strait of Gibraltar.
Screening destroyers "Faulknor",
"Fearless", "Forester",
"Foresight" and "Foxhound" shared in
the destruction of "U-138".
27th - Italian
submarine "GLAUCO"
was
scuttled west
of Gibraltar after being
damaged by destroyer "Wishart".
27th-29th
- Attacks on Halifax/UK convoy
HX133
- A total
of 10 U-boats attacked Halifax/UK
convoy HX133 south of Iceland. Five ships were
lost but
the convoy escort sank two U-boats. Corvettes
"Celandine", "Gladiolus" and
"Nasturtium" accounted for "U-556" on the 27th,
and destroyers
"Scimitar" and "Malcolm", corvettes
"Arabis" and "Violet" and minesweeper
"Speedwell" sank "U-651" on the 29th. The
escort had
been reinforced to a total of 13 ships as a
result of
'Ultra' intercepts of Enigma codes. This, the
first of
the big convoy battles, led to the development
of
additional convoy support groups.
Axis
Loss Summary -
4 German and 1
Italian U-boats
JULY
1941
Axis
Loss
Summary - no
U-boat sinkings
AUGUST
1941
3rd -
Southwest of
Ireland, ships of the 7th Escort Group escorting
Sierra
Leone/UK convoy SL81 - destroyers "Wanderer"
and Norwegian "St Albans” and corvette
"Hydrangea" sank "U-401".
7th -
Submarine
"Severn" on patrol for U-boats attacking HG
convoys west of Gibraltar, torpedoed and sank
Italian
submarine "BIANCHI".
12th -
Corvette
"PICOTEE"
with the 4th Escort Group accompanying convoy
ONS4 was
detached to search for a reported U-boat south
of
Iceland. She was sunk without trace by "U-568".
19th-23rd
- Attacks on UK/Gibraltar
convoy OG71
- A total
of
nine merchantmen were lost. Of the ships with
the 5th
Escort Group Norwegian destroyer "BATH"
was sunk on
the 19th by
"U-204" or "U-201", and corvette "ZINNIA" by
"U-564" to the west of
Portugal on the 23rd.
25th - South
of
Iceland, armed trawler "Vascama" and a RAF
Catalina of No 209 Squadron sank "U-452".
27th
- Capture of German
"U-570" - "U-570"
on patrol south of Iceland
surfaced and was damaged by depth charges from
an RAF
Hudson of No 269 Squadron, piloted by Sqn Ldr
Thompson.
She soon surrendered and was towed into Iceland.
After
refitting, "U-570" was commissioned into the
Royal Navy as HMS Graph.
German Raiders
-
"Orion" returned to France from the Indian
Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope. In 16 months
she had
accounted for 9 1/2 ships of 60,000 tons, some
in
co-operation with "Komet".
Axis Loss Summary - 3
German and 1
Italian U-boats
SEPTEMBER
1941
8th - As
Italian
submarines patrolled to the west of Portugal for
HG
convoys, "BARACCA"
was
depth charged and
rammed by
destroyer "Croome". A second Italian submarine
may have been sunk later in the month.
10th-19th
- Attacks on Halifax/UK Convoys
-
Attacks
on these
convoys southwest of Iceland led to the first
success and
loss by Royal Canadian Navy forces in the Battle
of the
Atlantic. Against SC42, "U-501"
was sunk
by Canadian corvettes
"Chambly" and "Moosejaw" (sister ship HMCS
Louisburg shown below) on the 10th.
Next day RN destroyers "Leamington" and
"Veteran" of 2nd EG sank "U-207". But in
exchange, SC42 lost 16 of
its 64 merchantmen. A few days later, on the
19th,
Canadian corvette "LEVIS" with SC44 was lost to
"U-74"
southeast of Cape Farewell.

21st -
Destroyer
"Vimy" claimed to have sunk Italian submarine
"MALASPINA" during attacks on Gibraltar/UK
convoy HG73. She may in fact have been lost
earlier
through unknown causes.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German and 2 Italian U-boats
OCTOBER
1941
4th - Supply
U-boat
"U-111" returning from the Cape Verde area
was sunk off the Canaries by armed trawler "Lady
Shirley".
14th-27th
- Attacks on Gibraltar/UK
Convoy Routes
- Two
escorts and two U-boats were lost in attacks on
the
UK/Gibraltar convoy routes. In operations
against
Gibraltar-bound OG75, "U-206" sank corvette
"FLEUR DE
LYS" off the
Strait of Gibraltar on the 14th. In the
same area
on the 19th, "U-204"
was
lost to patrolling
corvette
"Mallow" and sloop "Rochester". Six
days later on the 25th, Italian
submarine "FERRARIS"
was
damaged by a
RAF Catalina of No 202
Squadron and sent to the bottom by the gunfire
of escort
destroyer "Lamerton". UK-bound HG75 lost five
ships, and on the 23rd the famous
destroyer "COSSACK"
was torpedoed by
"U-563". Struggling in tow for four days she
foundered to the west of Gibraltar.
16th-31st
- First US Navy Casualties
- In mid-Atlantic,
convoy
SC48 of 39 ships and 11 stragglers was
reinforced
by four US destroyers. On the 16th
corvette
"GLADIOLUS"
was
torpedoed
by "U-553" or "U-568" and went down.
There were no survivors. Next day - the 17th,
the
US "Kearny"
was
damaged by a
torpedo from
"U-568", and on the 18th British
destroyer "BROADWATER"
was
lost to "U-101". Nine
merchantmen were sunk. Convoy HX156 was escorted
by
another US group, and on the 31st the
destroyer "REUBEN
JAMES" was
sunk
by "U-552". This first US loss in the Battle of
the Atlantic came only two weeks after the
torpedoing of
"Kearny". The United States was virtually at
war with Germany.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German and 1 Italian U-boats
NOVEMBER
1941
22nd - While
replenishing "U-126" north of Ascension Island,
raider "ATLANTIS"
was
surprised and
sunk by heavy cruiser
"Devonshire". The raider's operations in the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans had cost the Allies
22
merchantmen of 146,000 tons.
24th - On her
way
to rescue "Atlantis'" survivors,
"U-124" sighted cruiser "DUNEDIN" on patrol off
the St Paul's Rocks,
half way between Africa and South America. The
cruiser
was sunk with heavy loss of life.
German
Raiders
- "Komet" returned to Germany through the
Atlantic having reached the Pacific across the
top of
Siberia some 17 months earlier. Her score was
just 6 1/2
ships, some in operations with "Orion".
German Heavy
Warships
- As the completed "Tirpitz", sister-ship to
"Bismarck" prepared for operations, units of
the Home Fleet sailed for Iceland waters to
cover any
possible breakout. They were supported by a US
Navy
battle squadron.
30th -
RAF
aircraft of Coastal Command were now flying
regular
patrols in the Bay of Biscay equipped with
effective
airborne depth charges and the long wavelength
ASV radar.
The first success was by a Whitley of No 502
Squadron. "U-206" on passage to the
Mediterranean
was detected and sunk.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German raider, 1 German U-boat and 1
Italian (cause unknown)
DECEMBER
1941
7th -
Canadian
corvette “WINDFLOWER“ with Halifax/UK convoy
SC58 was lost in
collision with the SS Zypenburg east of
Newfoundland.
15th-21st
- Battle for Convoy HG76:
Closing of the Gibraltar/UK Air-Gap
- Gibraltar/UK
convoy HG76 (32 ships)
was
escorted by the 36th Escort Group (Cdr F. J.
Walker)
with a support group including escort carrier
“Audacity”. In advance of the convoy leaving
Gibraltar, destroyers of Force H including the
Australian
“Nestor” located and destroyed “U-127” on the 15th.
In the four
days from the 17th, four more U-boats
were sunk
for the loss of two escorts and two merchantmen.
The
battle took place to the far west of Portugal,
north of
Madeira and the Azores. 17th - “U-131”
was sunk
by destroyers
“Blankney”, “Exmoor” and
“Stanley”, corvette “Pentstemon” and
sloop “Stork” together with Grumman Martlets
flying from “Audacity”. 18th - “U-434”
was accounted
for by “Blankney”
and “Stanley”. 19th - Destroyer
“STANLEY”
was
torpedoed and
sunk by “U-574”, which was in turn sent to the
bottom, rammed by sloop “Stork”. 21st -
The sole escort carrier “AUDACITY”
was torpedoed
by “U-751” and
lost, but in the general counter-attack “U-567”
was sunk by
corvette
“Samphire” and sloop “Deptford”. The
sinking of five U-boats in exchange for two
merchant
ships was a significant victory for the escorts,
and
proved beyond any doubt the value of escort
carrier
aircraft against the submarine - as well as the
patrolling Focke Wulf Kondors, two of which were
shot
down.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 5
German U-boats plus two transferring to
the Mediterranean
1942
JANUARY
1942
German Surface
Warships
- The German big ships giae the Admiralty
much cause
for concern. "Scharnhorst",
"Gneisenau" and "Prinz Eugen" all now
repaired, were ready for a possible break-out
from Brest
into the Atlantic. At the same time the new
battleship
"Tirpitz" moved to Trondheim in the middle of
the month from where she could prey on the
Russian
convoys. In fact Hitler had ordered the Brest
squadron
back to Germany. By early February the Admiralty
had got
wind of the proposed "Channel Dash" and
prepared accordingly.
German Raiders
-
Raider "Thor" sailed from France for her second
cruise. She was the only raider to do so
successfully.
Operations in the South Atlantic and Indian
Ocean
continued until her loss in November 1942. No
German
raiders had been at sea since the previous
November, and
"Thor" was the first of three to break out in
1942. In the first six months of the year they
sank or
captured 17 ships of 107,000 tons.
15th -
Destroyer
"Hesperus" escorting convoy HG78 sank "U-93"
north of Madeira.
31st -
Canadian
troop convoy NA2 sailing for Britain was
attacked by
"U-82" southeast of Nova Scotia. Destroyer
"BELMONT"
was
lost with all
hands.
31st - Ex-US
Coast
Guard cutter "CULVER"
was sunk
by "U-105" west of
the Bay of Biscay as she escorted Sierra Leone
convoy
SL93.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1
German U-boat.
FEBRUARY
1942
2nd - As she
attacked a damaged troopship sailing from the
Azores, "U-581" was
sunk by
escorting destroyer
"Westcott".
5th -
"U-136" on patrol off Rockall sank two escorts.
The first was corvette "ARBUTUS" detached with
destroyer
"Chelsea" from UK/Halifax convoy ONS63 to hunt
for a reported U-boat.
6th -
Returning
from the American coast where she sank destroyer
"Belmont", "U-82" encountered UK/Sierra Leone
convoy
OS18 north of the Azores and was destroyed by
corvette
"Tamarisk" and sloop "Rochester".
11th -
"U-136's" second success less than a week later
was Canadian corvette "SPIKENARD" escorting
Halifax/UK convoy SC67.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German U-boats
MARCH
1942
German Raiders
-
Raider "Michel" sailed for the South Atlantic
and later Indian and Pacific Oceans.
27th -
UK/Middle
East troop convoy WS17 was on passage southwest
of
Ireland. As "U-587" headed for American waters
her sighting
report was detected and she was sunk by the
convoy escort
including destroyers "Aldenham",
"Grove", "Leamington" and
"Volunteer". This was the first success using HF/DF
- ship-borne, high frequency direction-finding.
Axis Loss Summary - 3
U-boats,
including 2 by US aircraft off Newfoundland
APRIL
1942
14th - "U-252"
attacked UK/Gibraltar convoy OG82
southwest of Ireland and was sunk by sloop
"Stork" and corvette "Vetch" of the
36th EG (Cdr Walker). This was one of the first
successful attacks using 10cm Type 271 radar.
From
now on the new radar and HF/DF played an
increasing part
in the sinking of U-boats.
14th - The US
Navy
had its first warship success against U-boats
when
destroyer "Roper" sank "U-85" off the east coast
of America.
Axis
Loss
Summary - 2
German U-boats
MAY
1942
Axis
Loss
Summary - 1 German U-boat by US Coast Guard off
east
coast of America
JUNE
1942
17th - As
destroyer
"WILD
SWAN" headed for
Gibraltar/UK convoy HG84 she was attacked and
sunk off
south west Ireland by German Ju88s, but not
before she
shot down a number of them. The convoy lost five
ships to
U-boats.
21st - Ex-US
submarine "P-514" on passage around the coast of
Newfoundland
from Argentia to St Johns was rammed and sunk in
error by
Canadian sloop "Georgian".
Axis
Loss Summary -
2 U-boats by US
forces off Cuba and Bermuda
JULY
1942
3rd - "U-215"
sank an escorted ship south of
Nova Scotia and was lost in the counter-attack
by British
armed trawler "Le Tiger" (Free French trawler
"Le Tigre" according to some sources).
11th -
Northwest of
the Canaries, UK/West Africa convoy OS.33 was
attacked
and "U-136" sunk by frigate "Spey",
sloop "Pelican" and Free French destroyer
"Leopard".
14th - Damaged
in
action with the cutter "Lulworth" and other
escorts, Italian submarine "PIETRO CALVI"
was scuttled
south of the Azores.
24th -
Canadian
destroyer "St Croix", with the Canadian C2
group escorting UK/North America convoy ON115,
sank "U-90" off Newfoundland.
31st - In
mid-Atlantic, Canadian destroyer "Skeena" and
corvette "Wetaskiwan" of the C3 group (see
below for "C" designation) with ON113 sank
"U-588".
31st - On
passage
out, "U-213" stumbled across a convoy west of
the Bay of Biscay, where she was sunk by the
escort
including sloops "Erne", "Rochester"
and "Sandwich".
Axis Loss Summary -
11 German and 1
Italian U-boats, including 2 by RAF Bay of
Biscay
patrols; 1 by RCAF off Nova Scotia; and 3 by US
forces in
the Caribbean and off the east coast of America
AUGUST
1942
3rd - On
anti-U-boat patrol between the Shetlands and
Norway,
submarine "Saracen" torpedoed "U-335" on passage
out.
5th-10th
- Attacks on Halifax/UK convoy SC94
- In
the space of five days slow
Halifax/UK convoy SC94 (33 ships) was attacked
by a total
of 17 U-boats and lost 11 merchantmen. Southeast
of
Greenland two U-boats were sunk by ships of the
Canadian
C1 group. On the 6th, Canadian destroyer
"Assiniboine" shelled and rammed "U-210". Two
days later on the 8th,
British corvette "Dianthus" also with C1 group,
depth charged and rammed "U-379" to destruction.
Four more U-boats
were damaged in attacks on the convoy.
28th - "U-94"
attacked Trinidad/Cuba convoy
TAG15 off Jamaica. Damaged by a US Navy
Catalina, she was
finished off by Canadian corvette "Oakville".
Axis Loss Summary - 9
U-boats including
1 by RAF Bay of Biscay patrols; 3 by US aircraft
in Gulf
of Mexico, Caribbean and off Iceland; 1 Italian
by
unknown causes, possibly by RAF Bay of Biscay
patrols.
SEPTEMBER
1942
3rd - "U-162"
attacked destroyer
"Pathfinder" north of Trinidad, but was sunk by
her and accompanying destroyers "Quentin" and
"Vimy".
11th -
Canadian
corvette "CHARLOTTETOWN" on passage with a
minesweeper in
the Gulf of St Lawrence was sunk by "U-517".
"Laconia"
Incident - Off West Africa on the 12th,
"U-156" sank liner "Laconia" loaded
with 1,800 Italian POWs. The CO called for
assistance in
clear and other U-boats came to the rescue. An
American
aircraft made an attack and Adm Doenitz
subsequently
forbade U-boats to help ships' survivors. He was
indicted
for the 'Laconia order' at the Nurnberg trials.
14th -
"U-91" sent Canadian destroyer "OTTAWA" to the
bottom, east of
Newfoundland. She was with the Canadian C4 group
protecting UK/North American convoy ON127, which
lost
seven ships to U-boats.
26th - U-boats
attacked convoy RB1 of Great Lakes steamers
bound for the
UK. In mid-Atlantic, escorting destroyer
"VETERAN"
was
lost to "U-404". There
were no survivors and only postwar-captured
German
records revealed her fate.
German Raiders
-
After sinking just three ships, German raider
"STIER" encountered American freighter
"Stephen Hopkins" in the South Atlantic on the
27th. The "HOPKINS"
was sunk, but
not before her single 4in
gun damaged the raider so severely she had to be
abandoned.
Axis Loss Summary - 1
German raider and
9 U-boats including 3 by US and RAF aircraft in
the North
Atlantic; 1 by RAF Bay of Biscay patrols; 1 on
an
RAF-laid mine in the Bay of Biscay
OCTOBER
1942
2nd - Off
northwest
Ireland the 81,000-ton liner "Queen Mary",
sailing as a fast unescorted troopship met
Western
Approaches escort AA cruiser "CURACOA" and
accidentally rammed and sank
her with the loss of over 300 men.
8th - "U-179"
torpedoed and sank a merchantman
off Cape Town, South Africa and was then
depth-charged
and rammed by destroyer "Active". Four other
U-boats had preceded "U-179" to South African
waters and in just four weeks sank over 20
ships.
15th/I6th
- Attacks on Halifax/UK Convoy SC104
- The
convoy with 47 ships escorted by
the British B6 group lost eight merchantmen to
U-boats.
However, in mid-Atlantic on the 15th,
destroyer
"Viscount" rammed and sank "U-619", and next day
destroyer
"Fame" accounted for "U-353", also by ramming.
(Note: the
identity of "U-619" is sometimes reversed with
"U-661" sunk in the vicinity by the RAF.)
Early October
-
Submarine "UNIQUE" on passage from Britain to
Gibraltar was
last reported on the 9th off Land's End, south
west
England. She was never heard from again.
23rd - Two
U-boats
were on patrol off the Congo Estuary. "U-161"
torpedoed and badly damaged cruiser "Phoebe" on
passage to French Equatorial
Africa.
Axis Loss Summary -
15 U-boats
including 6 by RAF in North Atlantic; 1 by RAF
Bay of
Biscay patrols; 1 by RAF-laid mine in the Bay of
Biscay;
2 by RCAF off Newfoundland; 1 by US aircraft off
French
Guiana; 1 by unknown causes, possibly by US
aircraft
NOVEMBER
1942
15th - The
Germans
reacted to the 'Torch' landings on French North
Africa by
concentrating U-boats off Morocco and to the
west of
Gibraltar. A number of empty transports were
sunk, and on
the 15th escort carrier "AVENGER" sailing with
return convoy MKF1
was torpedoed by "U-155" and went down off the
Strait of Gibraltar. Only 12 men survived. That
same day,
destroyer "Wrestler" also with MKF1 sank
"U-411". Over the next few days US
destroyers accounted for "U-173" and the RAF for
"U-98".
15th -
Canadian
destroyer "SAGUENAY" escorting an iron ore
convoy off Cape Race,
Newfoundland, was badly damaged in collision.
She was not
repaired.
18th/20th
- Attacks on UK/North America Convoy ONS144
- Slow
convoy ONS144 was heavily attacked
in the mid-Atlantic and lost five ships. Escort
was
provided by the British B6 group composed
largely of
Norwegian-manned corvettes. On the 18th
the
Norwegian "MONTBRETIA"
was lost
to "U-624" or
"U-262", but two days later Norwegian
sister-ship "Potentilla sank "U-134".
21st -
Aircraft of
817 Squadron from fleet carrier "Victorious"
accounted for "U-517" southwest of Ireland.
Axis Loss Summary - 7
U-boats including
one by US aircraft off Iceland, and one possibly
by the
RAF in the North Atlantic
DECEMBER
1942
16th - In
attacks
on UK/North America convoy ON153, "U-211" sank
destroyer "FIREDRAKE" in mid-Atlantic on the
night of the
16th/17th.
26th - Outward
bound "U-357"
was
detected by
HF/DF to the northwest
of Ireland. Destroyers "Hesperus" and
"Vanessa" of the British B2 group (Cdr
Macintyre) with convoy HX219 located and sank
her.
27th - "U-356"
attacked slow convoy ONS154
escorted by the Canadian Cl group to the north
of the
Azores. Destroyer "St Laurent" and corvettes
"Battleford", "Chilliwack" and
"Napanee" all shared in her sinking. It was a
poor return for the convoy's loss of 13 of its
45 ships.
Axis Loss Summary - 5
U-boats including
1 by US and 1 indirectly by RAF aircraft in
attacks on
HX217; 1 by US Coast Guard in mid-Atlantic