DECEMBER
1941
Atlantic
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 of the 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”, but then 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.
Mediterranean
21st - “U-457”
was
sunk in
the Strait of
Gibraltar by
Swordfish of 812 Squadron flying from Gibraltar.
The
Swordfish managed to get away from the sinking
”Ark
Royal” a month earlier and now played an
important
part patrolling the waters in which the carrier
went
down.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Strategic
and Naval
Background
Allied
Britain
and
Dominions - Responsible for
defending India,
Ceylon, Burma, Malaya, northern
Borneo, Hong
Kong, Australia, New Zealand, the
Papua New
Guinea/Bismarck Archipelago/Solomon
Islands
chain, and numerous island groups
throughout the
Indian Ocean and Central/South
Pacific. Britain's
main base was at Singapore with its
two recently
arrived big ships. Three old
cruisers and some
destroyers were in Malayan waters,
and a few old
destroyers at Hong Kong. By now the
surviving
seven cruisers and smaller ships of
the Royal
Australian and New Zealand Navies
were back in
the area.
United
States -
Apart from the defence of its
Western seaboard,
Panama Canal Zone, Alaska and the
Aleutians,
Hawaiian Islands and various islands
in the
Central Pacific, the US had
responsibilities
towards the Philippines. In the
event of attack,
the defenders were expected to hold
out until
relieved by the US Pacific Fleet
fighting its way
from the main base at Pearl Harbor,
a distance of
4,500 miles. The Pacific Fleet
itself consisted
of eight battleships, three fleet
carriers, 21
cruisers, 67 destroyers and 27
submarines.
Dutch
- Naval forces allocated
to the defence of the many islands
of the Dutch
East lndies included three cruisers,
seven
destroyers and fifteen submarines.
Japan
Already
established in Korea, Manchuria,
northeast China,
its main ports and Hainan, Formosa,
and the
Mariana, Caroline and Marshall
Island groups,
Japan now had the whole of French
Indochina. Japan went to war with
both
the
strategic
and military advantages.
Militarily, Allied and Japanese
naval forces were about
balanced in numbers. There the
comparison ends.
The Imperial Japanese Navy
had
far more carriers (11 to
three American), its surface task
forces were
well trained, especially in
night-fighting, and
they had no command or language
difficulties. In
contrast, the Allied ships were
scattered and
had no central command. Their main
bases at
Singapore and Pearl Harbor were
6,000 miles
apart, and most of the strength was
concentrated
with the US Pacific Fleet. Only the
US Navy posed
an immediate danger to Japanese
plans. Hence the
decision to attack it in Pearl
Harbor rather than
wait for it to try to fight through
to the
Philippines. The Japanese chose the
time and
place of their landings, all well
escorted by
cruiser and destroyer forces. Air
cover was
maintained by land-based aircraft or
from
carriers and seaplane carriers as
necessary, and
battleships and cruisers provided
distant
support. By this time the
annihilation of the
Allied capital ships made their
presence
unnecessary.
The
few
Allied
maritime sorties
- some surface, but
mainly by aircraft and submarine -
had few
successes against the invasion
fleets. And in
return they suffered heavy losses.
|
East -
Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Wake Island and
British Gilbert
Islands - On the morning of the 7th local
time
(shortly after the Malay landings) the Japanese
Strike
Force carrier aircraft hit Pearl Harbor on the
Hawaiian
island of Oahu. In the Attack on Pearl
Harbor, battleships
“ARIZONA” and “OKLAHOMA” were total losses,
three more sank but
were later re-commissioned, and the remaining
three
damaged. Many were killed and a considerable
number of
aircraft destroyed. Although the Pacific
battlefleet
ceased to exist, the three priceless fleet
carriers
“Enterprise”, “Lexington” and
“Saratoga” were fortunately absent and the
large oil stocks and important repair
installations left
virtually untouched.
1942
JANUARY
1942
Indian &
Pacific Oceans
West - Malaya and
Burma
- On the last day of January, the retreating
British,
Australian and Indian troops in Malaya withdrew
into
Singapore Island, having been driven down the
length of
the Malay Peninsula. By then carrier
"Indomitable" had flown off 48 Hurricanes for
Singapore via Java.
FEBRUARY
1942
Europe
11th-13th
- The Channel Dash - The Brest
Squadron with
"Scharnhorst", "Gneisenau" and
"Prinz Eugen", heavily escorted by air and
other naval forces, left late on the 11th for
Germany in
Operation 'Cerberus'. The aim was to pass
through the
Strait of Dover around noon the next day. A
number of
problems conspired to prevent the RAF standing
patrols
detecting their departure. The first intimation
of the
breakout came with a RAF report around 10.45 on
the 12th
as the German force steamed towards Boulogne.
This left
little time for attacks to be mounted. Soon
after midday
the first was made by five motor torpedo boats
from Dover
and six Fleet Air Arm Swordfish torpedo-bombers
of 825
Squadron (Lt-Cdr Esmonde), but no hits were
made. All
Swordfish were shot down. Lt-Cdr Eugene Esmonde
was
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Before
they reached
German ports both battlecruisers were damaged by
mines.
After further damage in air raids, "Gneisenau"
never went to sea again.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Australia -
Aircraft from four of the Pearl Harbor Strike
carriers
raided Darwin, Northern Territories on the 19th.
One
American destroyer and a number of valuable
transports
were lost.
MARCH
1942
Atlantic
1st-12th
- Russian Convoy PQ12 and Return
QP8 - By now German
battleship
"Tirpitz", the ship that dictated
Royal Navy policies in northern waters for so
long, had
been joined in Norway by pocket battleship
"Admiral
Scheer". The next Russia-bound and return
convoys
therefore set out on the same day, the 1st,
so
they could be covered by the Home Fleet with
battleships
"Duke of York", "Renown", "King
George V" and carrier "Victorious". On the
4th, cruiser "Sheffield"
was damaged
on a mine off Iceland as she
sailed to join the cover force. Convoys PQ12 and
QP8
passed to the southwest of Bear Island and with
"Tirpitz" reported at sea, the Home Fleet tried
to place itself between her and the convoys.
There was no
contact between the surface ships, but on the 9th,
aircraft from "Victorious" attacked but failed
to hit "Tirpitz" off the Lofoten Islands. Of
the 31 merchantmen in two convoys, only one
straggler
from QP8 was lost to the German force.
APRIL
1942
Mediterranean
Malta -
President
Roosevelt lent US carrier "Wasp" to ferry
nearly 50 Spitfires to the Island. Escort was
provided by
battlecruiser "Renown", cruisers
"Cairo" and "Charybdis" and six
destroyers including two American. Sadly most of
the
aircraft were destroyed by bombing attacks soon
after
landing on the 20th.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
5th-9th
- Japanese Carrier Attacks on
Ceylon - A new
Eastern Fleet had been assembled under the
command of Adm
Sir James Somerville, recently of Force H. The
variety of
ships were split into two groups. A fast group
included
battleship "Warspite", carriers
"Indomitable" and "Formidable", heavy
cruisers "Cornwall" and
"Dorsetshire", two light cruisers plus
destroyers. In the slower group were four 'R'
class
battleships, old carrier "Hermes" and some
cruisers and destroyers. Two Australian
destroyers
accompanied each group. As the Ceylon bases of
Colombo
and Trincomalee were poorly defended and too far
forward,
Adm Somerville was operating out of the secret
base of
Addu Atoll in the Maldive Islands, SW of Ceylon.
Early in
April, two Japanese forces headed into the
Indian Ocean.
One under Adm Ozawa with carrier "Ryujo" and
six cruisers made for the Bay of Bengal and east
coast of
India. In a matter of days 23 ships of 112,000
tons were
sunk. Japanese submarines sank a further five
off the
Indian west coast. Bad as this threat was, the
real one
came from the carrier strike force of Adm Nagumo
with
five Pearl Harbor carriers - "Akagi",
"Hiryu", "Soryu", "Shokaku"
and "Zuikaku" - plus four battleships and three
cruisers.
The Japanese fleet
was
first sighted on the 4th south of
Ceylon, and
shipping cleared from the ports. In the morning
of the 5th
a heavy raid on Colombo sank destroyer
"TENEDOS"
and armed merchant cruiser "HECTOR". Heavy
cruisers "CORNWALL"
and "DORSETSHIRE" were to the southwest,
sailing from Colombo to rejoin the Royal Navy's
fast
group. Found at noon they soon went to the
bottom under a
series of aircraft attacks. But Adm Nagumo had
not yet
finished. As Adm Somerville's two groups
searched for the
Japanese from a position between Addu Atoll and
Ceylon,
they circled round to the east. From there, on
the 9th,
Japanese aircraft found the shipping cleared
from
Trincomalee and back on its way in. Carrier
"HERMES", Australian destroyer "VAMPIRE"
and corvette "HOLLYHOCK"
were
amongst those
that soon went down.
The Japanese carrier force left the Indian
Ocean, never
to return again. Not knowing this, the surviving
ships of
the Royal Navy withdrew - the slow group to
Kilindini in
East Africa and the other to the Bombay area.
The
Doolittle
Raid - American
B-25 bombers under the command of Col
Doolittle took off from US carrier "Hornet" for
the first ever raid on Japan on the 18th. Damage
was
slight, but the strategic implications were to
prove
fatal to the Japanese.
|
Strategic
and
Maritime Situation - Pacific Ocean
- The "Doolittle
Raid" made a decisive impact on
Japanese
strategy. The Allies had to be kept
away from the
homeland. Japanese conquests would
be extended
both to the southeast and east.
Landings would
made at Port Moresby to bring
Australia within
bomber range; the southern Solomons
and beyond
taken to cut US-Australia supply
lines; and
Midway Island and the Aleutians
occupied to
isolate Pearl Harbor. Each of these
three moves
led to three famous battles - Coral
Sea,
Guadalcanal, and Midway,
two of
them involving
only
carrier aircraft. Thereafter the
Japanese
were on the defensive.
|
MAY
1942
Mediterranean
Malta - USS
Wasp
and the "Eagle" flew off a further 60 Spitfires
to Malta on the 9th. More were ferried in by
"Eagle" and "Argus" a week or so
later. This time they were kept safe on arrival.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
8th
- Landings at Diego Saurez,
Madagascar: Operation 'Ironclad' - Concerned
about
the Japanese carrier sorties into the Indian
Ocean and
the vulnerability of the Cape of Good Hope/Middle
East convoy routes, Britain
decided to take Diego Saurez at the north end of
Vichy
French Madagascar. Under the command of Rear-Adm
E. N.
Syfret (recently appointed to Force H), a large
force of
ships including battleship "Ramillies" and
carriers "Indomitable" and
"Illustrious" assembled at Durban, South Africa
towards the end of April. The assault took place
on 5th
May in Courrier Bay to the west of Diego Saurez.
The
advance on Diego Saurez was held up and next day
a Royal
Marine unit stormed the town from the sea. By
the 7th the
fighting was over and the important anchorage
was in
British hands. On the 7th and 8th, French
submarines
"LE HEROS" and "MONGE" were sunk by
joint air and sea attacks.
Papua New Guinea
and
British Solomon Islands - Sailing from
Rabaul, a
Japanese invasion force headed for Port Moresby,
Papua
New Guinea covered by light carrier "Shoho" and
cruisers. Distant cover was given by a carrier
strike
force of two fleet carriers. From the Coral Sea,
aircraft
of US carriers "Lexington" and
"Yorktown", with a support group including
Australian cruisers "Australia" and
"Hobart" searched for them. First success in
the Battle
of the Coral Sea
went to the Americans on the 7th when their
planes sank "SHOHO" off the eastern tip of New
Guinea.
Next day, on the 8th, more aircraft strikes put
fleet
carrier "Shokaku" out of action on one side and
sank "LEXINGTON" and damaged "Yorktown" on the
other. A draw in naval
terms, the battle was a strategic defeat for the
Japanese
as the invasion ships turned back, leaving Port
Moresby,
so close to the north tip of Australia, safe for
now.
Throughout the battle, neither side's ships
sighted each
other - the first time in naval history a major
action
had taken place in this way. Before the battle
started,
the Japanese took the opportunity to occupy a
small
island called Tulagi in the southern Solomons,
close to a
larger island known as Guadalcanal.
JUNE
1942
Mediterranean
Malta - Early
in
the month carrier "Eagle" ferried over 50
Spitfires to Malta in two operations. By now the
Germans
had transferred many of their aircraft to
Russia. This,
together with the arrival of yet more RAF
fighters, eased
the terrible burden Malta had suffered for so
long.
2nd - Attacks
on
Allied shipping making for Tobruk before its
fall brought
further losses to both sides. Aircraft of FAA
815
Squadron and RAF No 203 Squadron damaged "U-652"
off Sollum on the Egyptian/Libyan
border. She was scuttled by a torpedo fired from
"U-81".
12th-16th
- Malta Convoy 'Harpoon' from
Gibraltar - Six escorted
merchantmen
passed through the Strait of Gibraltar
covered by battleship "Malaya", carriers
"Argus" and "Eagle", cruisers
"Kenya", "Charybdis",
"Liverpool" and destroyers.
Attacks by
Italian aircraft on the 14th
led to the first merchant ship going down south
of
Sardinia. "Liverpool"
was
also damaged and had to return.
Later that day at the entrance to the Strait of
Sicily,
the big ship cover force turned back. After
further
attacks by an Italian two-cruiser squadron in
conjunction
with Italian and German aircraft, just two of
'Harpoon's'
six ships reached Malta for the loss of two
destroyers
and serious damage to three more and a cruiser.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Midway and the
Aleutians - Adm Yamamoto, with over 130
ships in a
number of separate groups, set out to seize
Midway
island, occupy the western Aleutians, attack the
eastern
end, and draw out the Pacific Fleet for
destruction. At
the heart of the armada was the First Carrier
Fleet (Adm
Nagumo) with four of the Pearl Harbor attack
carriers.
The Americans had far fewer ships, but these
included
carriers "Enterprise", "Hornet" and
"Yorktown" barely repaired after the Battle of
the Coral Sea. Battle of Midway - On
the 3rd, Dutch Harbor, close
to Alaska, was attacked from two light carriers.
But the
main battle was far to the south off Midway
between the
carrier aircraft of both sides. On the 4th/5th
in the
close run battle, all four Japanese carriers -
"AKAGI", "HIRYU", "KAGA" and "SORYU" went down.
"YORKTOWN"
was
badly damaged
and finished off by a
Japanese submarine on the 7th. The Japanese
forces
retreated, Midway was spared, and the Allies had
their
first major strategic victory of World War 2.
However,
the Japanese Navy remained strong, with more
carriers in
the Pacific than the Americans.
JULY
1942
Atlantic
Destruction
of Russian Convoy PQ17 -
PQ17 left
Reykjavik, Iceland
with 36 ships, of which two returned. The close
escort
included six destroyers and four corvettes. Two
British
and two US cruisers with destroyers were in
support, and
distant cover was given by the Home Fleet with
battleships "Duke of York" and the US
"Washington", carrier "Victorious",
cruisers and destroyers. The British Admiralty
believed
the Germans were concentrating their heavy ships
in
northern Norway. In fact pocket battleship
"Lutzow" had run aground off Narvik, but this
still left battleship "Tirpitz", pocket
battleship "Admiral Scheer" and heavy cruiser
"Admiral Hipper" - all formidable adversaries,
which reached Altenfiord on the 3rd. At this
time PQ17
had just passed to the north of Bear Island,
after which
German aircraft sank three merchantmen. Fear of
attack by
the German ships led the First Sea Lord, Adm
Pound, far
away in London, to decide the fate of the
convoy. In the
evening of the 4th the support cruisers were
ordered to
withdraw and the convoy to scatter. Thirty-one
merchantmen tried to make for the isolated
islands of
Novaya Zemlya before heading south for Russian
ports.
Between the 5th and 10th July, 20 of them were
lost, half
each to the aircraft and U-boats sent to hunt
them down.
Some sheltered for days off the bleak shores of
Novaya
Zemlya. Eventually 11 survivors and two rescue
ships
reached Archangel and nearby ports between the
9th and
28th. No more Russian convoys ran until
September 1942.
Mediterranean
Malta -
Carrier
"Eagle" again flew off Spitfires for Malta.
AUGUST
1942
Mediterranean
10th-15th
- Malta Convoy: Operation
'Pedestal' - For Malta
to
survive another convoy had to be fought through.
The
biggest operation ever was mounted from the
Gibraltar
end. A total of fourteen merchantmen, including
two
American and the British-manned tanker "Ohio"
had a massive escort. Close in were cruisers
"Nigeria", "Kenya",
"Manchester" and "Cairo" and 12
destroyers. Covering were the three fleet
carriers
"Eagle", "Indomitable" and
"Victorious", battleships "Nelson"
and "Rodney", three cruisers and another 12
destroyers. The opportunity was taken for
carrier
"Furious" to fly off 38 Spitfires for Malta.
The Mediterranean Fleet would try to distract
the enemy
at the other end of the Mediterranean. In
overall command
of 'Pedestal' was Vice-Adm E. N. Syfret. The
convoy
passed Gibraltar on the 10th and from
the next day
was subjected to increasingly intense attacks by
submarines, aircraft and later coastal forces.
Early on
the afternoon of the 11th, "Furious"
sent off her Spitfires and later that day headed
back for
Gibraltar. On the 12th one of her
escorting
destroyers "Wolverine", rammed and sank Italian
submarine "DAGABUR" off Algiers.
Still on the 11th
and now north of Algiers, "EAGLE"
was
torpedoed four times
by
"U-73" and went down. Air attacks took place
later that day and early on the 12th,
but not
until noon, south of Sardinia, did they gain
their first
success. Italian and German aircraft slightly
damaged "Victorious"
and hit a merchantman
which later sank. More submarines then appeared
and the
Italian "COBALTO"
was
rammed by destroyer
"Ithuriel". Once the convoy was north of
Bizerta, Tunisia, submarine, aircraft and
Italian MTB
(mas) attacks came fast and furiously. At 18.30,
still on the 12th, aircraft badly
damaged "Indomitable" putting her out of action
and
destroyer "FORESIGHT"
was torpedoed
by an Italian bomber and
scuttled next day. The main Royal Navy cover
force next
turned back at the entrance to the 100 mile wide
Strait
of Sicily. The convoy carried on, still with 13
of the
original 14 merchantmen afloat and its close
escort of
four cruisers and 12 destroyers. In the next few
hours,
two cruisers were sunk and two damaged in
Italian MTB and
submarine attacks. Now into the afternoon of the
13th,
three merchant ships reached Malta. The fourth
struggled
in next day, but the crippled "Ohio", lashed to
destroyer "Penn", only made port on the 15th.
By now the close escort had just returned to
Gibraltar.
Only five out of fourteen transports had got
through to
Malta for the loss of one aircraft carrier, two
cruisers
and a destroyer sunk, and a carrier and two
cruisers
badly damaged. But the supplies delivered - and
especially "Ohio's" oil - were enough to
sustain Malta as an offensive base at a time
critical to
the coming Battle of El Alamein. More was still
needed
however, and only two days after "Ohio's"
arrival, "Furious" flew off more Spitfires
while submarines continued to make supply trips.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Guadalcanal,
British
Solomon
Islands
- The Japanese were now extending their
hold
in the southern Solomons and building an
airfield on the
island of Guadalcanal. From there they could
move against
the New Hebrides, New Caledonia and other
islands along
the supply routes to Australia and New Zealand.
After the
Japanese presence was discovered, the US 1st
Marine
Division was landed on the 7th, soon capturing
the
airstrip which was renamed Henderson Field.
Close cover
was provided by a force of American and
Australian
cruisers. Battle
of the Eastern Solomons - On
the 24th, Japanese
and
American carrier groups covering supply
operations to
Guadalcanal were in action to the east of the
Solomons
island chain. Japanese light carrier "RYUJO"
was
sunk and the American
"Enterprise" damaged.
Indian Ocean -
Adm
Somerville's Eastern Fleet carried out
diversionary moves
in the Indian Ocean at the time of the
Guadalcanal
landings. But he was continually losing ships to
other
theatres and by month's end was down to
battleships
"Warspite", "Valiant", carrier
"Illustrious" and a few cruisers and
destroyers.
SEPTEMBER
1942
Atlantic
Russian
Convoy PQ18 - PQ18 left
Loch Ewe in Scotland on the 2nd
with over 40 merchantmen. The hard learnt
lessons of PQ17
and previous convoys were not forgotten. Close
escort was
provided by 17 warships plus escort carrier
"Avenger" and two destroyers. Two separate
forces were in support - close cover by AA
cruiser
"Scylla" and 16 fleet destroyers under Rear-Adm
R L Burnett, and further out three heavy
cruisers. More
distant cover was by Vice-Adm Sir Bruce Fraser
with
battleships "Anson" and "Duke of
York", a light cruiser and destroyers to the
northeast of Iceland. German heavy ships moved
to
Altenfiord but did not sortie. Instead the
attacks were
mounted by bombers and torpedo aircraft as well
as
U-boats. On the 13th, aircraft torpedoed
nine
ships, but next day "Avenger's" Hurricanes
ensured only one more ship was lost to air
attack. In
total over 40 German aircraft were shot down by
the
convoy's defences. U-boats sank three
merchantmen but
lost three of their number to Adm Burnett's
forces.
Destroyers "Faulknor", "Onslow" and
"Impulsive" sank "U-88", "U-589" and "U-457"
respectively between the 12th and
16th in the Greenland and Barents Seas.
Escort
carrier "Avenger's" Swordfish from 825 Squadron
helped with the destruction of "Onslow's"
U-boat on the 14th. Of the original 40
ships, 27
reached Archangel on the 17th. In late
1941,
escort carrier "Audacity" closed the Gibraltar
air-gap for the first time. "Avenger" had now
done the same for the Russian route. However,
further
convoys had to be postponed as ships were
transferred in
preparation for the North African landings.
Battle
of
the Atlantic - A long felt need started
to be met when Adm Noble formed
the first convoy support groups. These highly
trained
flotillas were used to reinforce the escorts of
convoys
under heavy attack, and although called Escort
Groups
should not be confused with the groups of 1941,
often
temporary in nature and with a diversity of ship
types.
Some of the new Escort Groups were formed around
the
escort carriers now entering service - the first
since
"Audacity" lost in December 1941. Unfortunately
none of them would be available to fight the
Battle of
the Atlantic for another six months: they were
needed for
the invasion of French North Africa.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Guadalcanal,
British
Solomon Islands - As the two sides
struggled to build
up their forces, more fighting took place for
possession
of Henderson Field. An old friend of the Royal
Navy and
Malta was lost when US carrier "WASP"
was torpedoed
by submarine
"I-19" on the 15th, yet another casualty of the
attempts to reinforce the island. Only carrier
"Hornet" remained operational in the South
Pacific, but she was joined by the repaired
"Enterprise" in October.
OCTOBER
1942
Atlantic
Battle
of
the Atlantic - Losses
continued high in the North Atlantic, many
in the air-gaps on the transatlantic routes
which
aircraft could not reach from Newfoundland,
Iceland,
Northern Ireland. Apart from escort carriers,
more very
long range (VLR) aircraft were needed by RAF
Coastal
Command.
Mediterranean
Malta - At
the end
of the month, carrier "Furious" flew off
Spitfires to Malta. The island was even now
short of
supplies and the little getting through was
carried by
submarines and cruiser-minelayers.
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Guadalcanal,
Solomon
Islands - As
the struggle carried on for the island's
one airfield, supply and support operations led
to
another major naval battle:
Battle
of Santa Cruz - From
Truk, a large
Japanese
carrier and battleship task force approached the
southern
Solomons to support a major land attack on
Henderson
Field. On the 26th they were in action with a
much
smaller US carrier group north of the Santa Cruz
Islands. "HORNET"
was lost and "Enterprise" put out of action in
exchange for
heavy damage to the carrier "Shokaku". The
damaged
"Enterprise" was now the only US carrier in the
South Pacific. Adm King, US Navy
Commander-in-Chief,
asked for the loan of a fleet carrier from the
Royal
Navy. Anglo-US relations were strained when
problems
arose about the need to re-equip with US
aircraft, but
"Victorious" was ordered out in December.
NOVEMBER
1942
4th
- Second Battle of El Alamein had
been won by Eighth Army
Atlantic
15th - The
Germans
reacted to the 'Torch' landings on French North
Africa
(following) 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 survive.
21st -
Aircraft of
817 Squadron from fleet carrier "Victorious"
account for "U-517" southwest of Ireland.
Mediterranean
8th
- French North African Landings:
Operation 'Torch' - Plans
were formally approved in October, by
which time the large amounts of shipping needed
had been
organised and assembled. To provide them,
Russian convoys
and those to and from Britain and Gibraltar/West
Africa
had been suspended and the Home Fleet stripped
bare. The
Allies' greatest concern was the hundred or more
U-boats
at sea. The landing force for Casablanca
included US
fleet carrier "Ranger" and escort carriers
"Sangamon", "Chenango",
"Suwanee" and "Santee"; for Oran in
Algeria, British escort carriers "Biter" and
"Dasher"; and for Algiers itself, the old
"Argus" and escort carrier "Avenger".
In the Mediterranean, British Force H reinforced
by Home
Fleet and under the command of Vice-Adm Sir
Neville
Syfret, covered the Algerian landings. Their
main task
was to hold off any attack by the Italian fleet.
Strength
included three capital ships, three fleet
carriers
("Victorious", "Formidable" and the
old "Furious" (below)), three cruisers
and 17
destroyers. Over 300 ships were directly
involved in what
at that time was the greatest amphibious
operation in
history, and the forerunner of even greater ones
to come.
17th -
"U-331"
was damaged by RAF
Hudsons of No 500 Squadron and tried to
surrender.
Aircraft of 820 Squadron from carrier
"Formidable" torpedoed her in error off
Algiers.
Since Operation
'Excess'
in January 1941, two aircraft carriers, four
cruisers, 16
destroyers and five submarines had been lost in
the many
attempts to supply and reinforce the island, and
in the
heavy air attacks launched against the George
Cross
island.
1943
JANUARY
1943
|
PROSPECTS
FOR ALLIED
VICTORY - The Russians
gained a famous victory
with the German surrender
at Stalingrad in
January 1943. Taken with the October
1942 British
Battle of El Alamein and June 1942 American
carrier Battle of
Midway, the
three Allied successes were usually
considered as
marking the turning point in the 40
month old war
against the Axis powers. The
Battle
for Guadalcanal, ending as it did
Japanese hopes
of controlling the South West
Pacific should also
be added to this roll-call of
victory.
|
FEBRUARY
1943
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Guadalcanal,
Solomon
Islands: Conclusion - By the 8th, Japanese
destroyers
had quietly evacuated over 10,000 troops from
the Cape
Esperance area. This marked the end of one of
the most
intense struggles ever for a single island. In
the seven
main naval battles alone, US losses had been one
carrier,
six cruisers and eight destroyers plus the
"Wasp" and Australian "Canberra".
Japanese losses were two battleships, one
carrier, a
cruiser and six destroyers.
MARCH
1943
Atlantic
Battle
of
the Atlantic - The first
five Royal Navy support groups with
modern radars, anti-submarine weapons and HF/DF
were
released for operation in the North Atlantic.
Two were
built around Home Fleet destroyers, two around
Western
Approaches escorts, including Capt Walker's 2nd
Escort
Group, and one with escort carrier "Biter".
Escort carriers "Archer" and the American
"Bogue" were also ready for action,
but
"Dasher" was unfortunately
lost
in UK waters. Nevertheless, the mid-Atlantic air
gap
was about to be finally closed.
Europe
27th - Escort
carrier "DASHER" worked up in the Firth of Clyde
after
repairs to damage sustained during the February
Russian
convoy JW53. An aviation gasoline explosion led
to her
total destruction.
|
PACIFIC
OCEAN
- STRATEGIC AND MARITIME SITUATION
- At the Casablanca
Conference in January, the Allied
strategy for
the South West Pacific was agreed.
Twin
offensives were to be mounted up the
Solomons and
along the New Guinea coast (and
thence across to
New Britain), leading to the capture
of the main
Japanese base at Rabaul - later
by-passed.
Breaking through the Bismarck
Archipelago in this
way would open the route to the
Philippines.
American strategy was subsequently
revised to
allow for a parallel push through
the Japanese
mandated islands to the north. Gen
MacArthur,
C-in-C, South West Pacific, had full
responsibility for the New Guinea
area, and Adm
Halsey as C-in-C, South Pacific,
tactical command
of the Solomons. This overlapping
caused some
complications. The US Seventh Fleet
was formed to
support Gen MacArthur's campaigning
in New
Guinea. Main US naval strength would
remain with
Adm Halsey's Third Fleet and its
growing carrier
task forces in the South Pacific
Command area.
|
MAY
1943
Atlantic
The
May 1943 Convoy
Battles - Victory of the Escorts
At the
beginning
of the month over 40 U-boats were
deployed in
three patrol lines off Greenland and
Newfoundland. Another group operated
to the far
west of the Bay of Biscay. A number
were passing
through the northern transit area
and over 30 on
passage between their Biscay bases
and the North
Atlantic. More still were on patrol
in the South
Atlantic or passing through. There
were numerous
Allied convoys crossing the North
Atlantic as
suitable targets. Only those convoy
battles
involving escort carriers
are
summarised:
Slow
UK/North
America ONS6 - 31 ships
escorted by British B6
group and 4th EG with escort carrier
"Archer"; no merchant ship losses.
North
America/UK HX237 - 46 ships
escorted by Canadian
C2 group and 5th EG with escort
carrier
"Biter". Three stragglers sunk in
exchange for possibly
three U-boats in mid-Atlantic,
including: 12th
- "U-89" to destroyer
"Broadway" and frigate
"Lagan", both of C2 group, assisted
by
Swordfish of 811 Squadron from
"Biter".
North
America/UK SC129 - 26 ships
escorted by British B2
group, with 5th EG
(escort
carrier
"Biter") transferred from HX237 on
the
14th. Two merchant ships lost in
mid-Atlantic in exchange
for two U-boats.
UK/North
America
ON182 - 56 ships escorted by
Canadian C5
group, with 4th EG (carrier
"Archer") transferred from ONS6; no
merchant
ship losses.
UK/NorthAmerica
ON184 - 39 ships escorted by
Canadian C1
group and US 6th EG with escort
carrier
"Bogue". No merchant ship losses in
exchange for one U-boat:
22nd - "U-569" in
mid-Atlantic to
Avengers flying from "Bogue".
North
America/UK HX239 - 42 ships
escorted by British B3
group and 4th EG (carrier
"Archer") transferred from ON182
(and
before that ONS6). No merchant ship
losses in exchange for one more
U-boat: 23rd - In the first
success with
aircraft rockets, "U-752" in
mid-Atlantic was badly
damaged by "Archer's" Swordfish of
819
Squadron, and scuttled as surface
escorts
approach.
By the 24th,
U-boat losses were so heavy and the
attacks so
fruitless, Adm Doenitz ordered his
captains to
leave the North Atlantic
battlefield. They either
returned home or concentrated on the
US/Gibraltar
routes. It was some time before the
Allies
realised the North Atlantic was
almost free of
U-boats. The air and sea escorts
were winning.
|
Indian
& Pacific Oceans
Royal Navy in the
Pacific - After re-equipping with American
aircraft
and working-up out of Pearl Harbor, fleet
carrier
"Victorious" joined the Third Fleet under Adm
Halsey seven months after a first USN request
was made.
From now until August 1943, she and "Saratoga"
were the only Allied big carriers in the South
Pacific.
In the few months she was out there, there was
not one
carrier battle to follow on the 1942 Battles of
Coral
Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz.
Merchant Shipping
War -
Adm Somerville's Eastern Fleet had lost its
remaining
carrier, two battleships and many smaller
vessels to
other theatres.
JUNE
1943
Atlantic
Monthly Loss Summary
- 16 German and 1
Italian U-boats including two to US escort
carrier
"Bogue" off the Azores
