1945
JANUARY
1945
Atlantic
Monthly Loss
Summary
-
5 British, Allied and neutral ships of
29,000 tons in the
Atlantic from all causes
- 1
U-boat by USN in mid-Atlantic
Europe
British
Isles
Inshore Campaign - As the
campaign continued, there were losses on
both sides: 15th/16th - Off the
Clyde, Scotland on
the 15th, "U-482"
torpedoed
a
merchantman and badly damaged
escort carrier "THANE" (not repaired and
laid up) ferrying
aircraft from Northern Ireland. After a
long hunt the
U-boat was sunk next day by frigate
"Loch
Craggie" and sloops "Amethyst",
"Hart", "Peacock" and
"Starling" of the 22nd EG. 21st
- After
torpedoing a merchant ship from a
Thames/ Bristol Channel
convoy,
"U-1199" was sunk
close to Lands End by escorting
destroyer
"lcarus" and corvette "Mignonette". 26th
- "U-1172"
severely damaged
frigate "MANNERS" (constructive total
loss) off the Isle of
Man and was sunk in the counter-attack
by sister ships
"Aylmer", "Bentinck" and
"Calder" of the 4th and 5th EGs. 27th
-
Further south in St George's Channel,
and after attacking
Halifax/UK convoy HX322, "U-1051" was
sunk by frigates "Bligh",
"Keats" and "Tyler" of the 5th EG.
One U-boat was
lost
in UK waters, possibly mined
off the Moray Firth, and others were
destroyed and
damaged in air-raids on Germany.
Merchant
Shipping War
- E-boats and small battle units
continued operating out
of Holland against Allied shipping in
the North Sea and
English Channel, and were now joined by
Seehunde midget
submarines. The new
craft enjoyed some success, but mines
remained the
biggest problem for the Allies at sea.
Monthly Loss
Summary
12
British, Allied and neutral ships of
47,000 tons in UK
waters.
FEBRUARY
1945
Atlantic
Russian
Convoys - There was
still no let
up for the Russian
convoys. Although JW64 reached
Kola Inlet safely
on the 13th with all 26
merchantmen, the arriving
corvette "DENBIGH CASTLE"
was
torpedoed
by "U-992" and
became a total loss. Four days later on
the 17th
return RA64 was ready to set
out. Just off Kola
Inlet "U-425"
was
sunk
by sloop "Lark" and
corvette "Alnwick Castle", but later
that day "LARK"
was damaged
by "U-963" and also
became a total loss. Corvette "BLUEBELL"
was
then torpedoed
by "U-711"
and blew up with only one man surviving.
22nd -
In
operations against convoys south of
Portugal, "U-300", one of a small number
of U-boats scattered across the North
Atlantic was sunk by escorting
minesweepers
"Recruit" and "Pincher".
Monthly Loss
Summary
- 6
British, Allied and neutral ships of
39,000 tons in UK
waters, 3 escorts
- 3
U-boats including 1 by US and French
escorts off Morocco
Europe
British
Isles
Inshore Campaign -
U-boats
still
took
a steady toll
of shipping in the
inshore campaign and sank two corvettes,
but a number
were lost, mainly to the Royal Navy: 3rd
-
Frigates "Bayntun", "Braithwaite",
"Loch Dunvegan" and "Loch Eck" of the
10th Escort Group patrolling north of
the Shetland
Islands shared in the sinking of three
U-boats (1-3)
in the next two weeks. The
first
was "U-1279"
(1)
on the 3rd. 4th
- Off the north coast of Ireland
"U-1014"
was accounted for by
23rd EG frigates "Loch Scavaig", "Loch
Shin", "Nyasaland" and "Papua". 9th
- Submarine "Venturer" on patrol off
Bergen,
Norway sank another U-boat when she
torpedoed "U-864". The first was "U-771"
in November 1944. 14th - The
same four frigates of
10th EG sank "U-989" (2)
north of the Shetlands. 16th -
Attacking Scottish coastal convoy WN74
off the Moray
Firth, "U-309"
was
lost
to Canadian frigate "St
John" of 9th EG. 17th - The
third sinking of
the month by 10th EG north of the
Shetlands was "U-1278"
(3).
20th - "U-208"
attacked
convoy
HX337 in St George's Channel
between SE Ireland and Wales, and sank
escorting corvette
"VERVAIN". The U-boat was then hunted
down and destroyed by sloop
"Amethyst" of 22nd EG. 22nd -
Off
Falmouth, Bristol Channel/Thames convoy
BTC76 was
attacked by "U-1004" and Canadian
corvette "TRENTONIAN"
was
sent
to the bottom of
the English Channel. 24th -
"U-927"
was lost in the
western Channel area to a RAF Wellington
of No 179
Squadron. 24th - During the
inshore campaign, 10 U-boats were sunk
in the Lands End area, three
in February. On the 24th "U-480" sank a
merchant ship from coastal convoy
BTC78 and was then hunted down and
finished off by
frigates "Duckworth" and "Rowley" of
the 3rd EG. 27th - Three days
later "U-1018"
attacked BTC81 to be
sunk by frigate "Loch Fada" of the 2nd
EG. On
the same day "U-327"
was
detected
by a USN liberator and
sunk by "Loch Fada" again, working with
"Labuan" and "Wild Goose". Two more
U-boats
were
lost
off Norway, one by accident
and the other mined.
Monthly Loss
Summary
19
British, Allied and neutral ships of
49,000 tons in UK
waters.
MARCH
1945
Atlantic
Russian
Convoys - As Russian
convoy JW65 approached
Kola Inlet with 24 merchant ships on the
20th,
waiting U-boats
sank
two
and "U-716" sank sloop "LAPWING"
of
the
escort.
Monthly Loss
Summary
- 4
British, Allied and neutral ships of
27,000 tons in the
Atlantic from all causes, 1 sloop
- 1
U-boat by USN off Nova Scotia
Europe
British
Isles
Inshore Campaign - The inshore
campaign continued: 7th -
"U-1302" successfully attacked
Halifax/UK
convoy SC167 in St George's Channel, but
after a long
search off the coast of western Wales
was sunk by
Canadian frigates "La Hulloise",
"Strathadam" and "Thetford Mines" of
the 25th EG. 10th - Deep
minefields laid by the
Royal Navy to protect UK inshore waters
from the U-boats
claimed two victims. On the 10th,
"U-275"
was lost in the
English Channel off Beachy Head. 12th
- Two days
later, the deep minefields damaged
"U-260" off Fastnet Rock, southern
Ireland, and she had to be scuttled. 12th
-
Between now and the 29th, three more
U-boats went down
close to Lands End, starting with
"U-683" to frigate "Loch Ruthven"
and sloop "Wild Goose" of the 2nd EG. 14th
- South African frigate "Natal" on
passage off
the Firth of Forth, Scotland in the
North Sea sank "U-714". 21st -
Two U-boats were
lost off the north coast of Ireland. The
first was "U-1003" damaged by Canadian
frigate
"New Glasgow" of the 26th EG and later
scuttled. 22nd - "U-296" was
also sunk off the north coast of
Ireland - by RAF aircraft of No 120
Squadron. 26th
- The second loss off Lands End was
"U-399", sunk by frigate
"Duckworth" and other ships of 3rd EG.
The same
Group accounted for the third U-boat off
Lands End on the
29th. 27th - The frigates of
21st EG were split
into two divisions, and sank three
U-boats in the
Hebrides area. On the 27th, "U-965"
was
sunk
by Hedgehog off the northern
end of the islands by the 'first'
division -
"Conn", accompanied by "Deane" and
"Rupert". The same day further south,
"U-722"
went
down
to the 'second' division -
"Byron", "Fitzroy" and
"Redmill". 29th - "U-246"
torpedoed
and
badly damaged Canadian frigate "TEME"
(constructive total loss), but was
then hunted down and sunk by "Duckworth"
and
the 3rd EG off Lands End. 30th -
Frigates
"Conn", "Deane" and
"Rupert", the 'first' division of 21st
EG and
still off the northern end of the
Hebrides, sank "U-1021". One more U-boat
was
lost
to US aircraft in southern UK
waters and two to the RAF on Northern
Transit Area
patrols, but now the Allied air-raids
were really
starting to bite. In Germany around 12
U-boats, completed or in service, were
destroyed in the month mainly by the
USAAF on the night
of the 30th.
APRIL
1945
Atlantic
Russia/UK
Convoy RA66, the Last Convoy
Battle of the War - Kola
Inlet bound convoy JW66 (22
ships)
arrived safely on the 25th with
escort carriers
"Premier" and "Vindex", cruiser
"Diadem", Home Fleet destroyers and the
8th and
19th EGs all under the command of
Rear-Adm A. E.
Cunninghame-Graham. Return convoy
RA66 (24 ships)
set out on the 29th with JW66s
escort, some of
which went ahead to clear the 14 U-boats
waiting off the Inlet. Frigates
"Anguilla", "Cotton", "Loch
lnsh" and "Loch Shin" of the 19th EG
accounted for "U-307" followed by
"U-286", the last U-boats sunk by
warships of the Royal
Navy. In the action, frigate "GOODALL"
of the 19th EG was torpedoed by
"U-968" and went down with heavy loss of
life.
She was the last major warship of the
Royal and Dominion
Navies lost in the war against Germany.
RA66 arrived
safely in the Clyde on 8th May
Monthly Loss
Summary
- 5
British, Allied and neutral ships of
32,000 tons in the
Atlantic from all causes, 1 frigate and
1 US destroyer
off the Azores
- 9
U-boats including 7 by USN off east
coast of USA, off the
Azores and in mid-Atlantic
Europe
U-boat
Campaign - Throughout
the month over 40 U-boats
were
lost
in and around the waters of northwest
Europe. The Royal Navy was directly
involved in 12 of the sinkings: 5th
- "U-1169"
went down
off the southeast coast of
Ireland in a deep-laid minefield in St
George's Channel.
Two U-boats
were
sunk
in English Channel operations: 6th
- The first, "U-1195"
sank
a
ship from a convoy off the Isle
of Wight, and was lost to old escorting
destroyer
"Watchman". 15th - The second
U-boat
sunk in Channel operations was "U-1063".
Attacking a convoy off Start
Point, she was sent to the bottom off
Land's End by
frigate "Loch Killin" of 17th EG.
Four more
U-boats went down to the south and
southwest of Ireland, two of them on the
8th: 8th
- Frigates "Byron" and "Fitzroy" of
21st EG sank "U-1001", and "Bentinck"
and
"Calder" of 4th EG accounted for
"U-774". 10th - Two days later
"U-873" sailing from still uncaptured St
Nazaire attacked a UK-out convoy and
fell victim to
escorting destroyer "Vanquisher" and
corvette
"Tintagel Castle". 15th - The
last
U-boat loss off Ireland was "U-285" sunk
by frigates
"Grindall" and "Keats" of the 5th EG.
Two more were
lost in the
Irish Sea northwest of Anglesey, Wales:
12th -"U-1024" was
disabled
by the Squid of frigate
"Loch Glendhu" of 8th EG. Boarded by
"Loch
More", she was taken in tow but
foundered. 30th
- The second loss in the Irish Sea was
"U-242" detected by a RAF Sunderland of
No
201 Squadron and sunk by destroyers
"Havelock"
and "Hesperus" of the 14th EG.
There were
other losses
due to the Royal Navy: 12th -
Home Fleet
submarines gained another success when
"Tapir"
sank outward-bound "U-486" off Bergen,
Norway. 16th - "U-1274"
attacked Forth/Thames
convoy FS1784 off St Abbs Head, SE
Scotland, sinking one
ship, but was then lost to destroyer
"Viceroy"
of the escort. 21st - Frigates
of the 4th EG,
"Bazely", "Bentinck" and
"Drury" sank "U-636" northwest of
Ireland.
Other U-boats
lost were: 6 to RAF and US
aircraft in and around the British
Isles; 1 by accident
and 2 more missing, cause of loss
unknown, during the
inshore campaign; 5 in the Skagerrak and
Kattegat, 3 by
rocket-firing Mosquitoes of RAF Coastal
Command; around
17 completed boats in air-raids on
Germany.
Monthly Loss
Summary
14
British, Allied and neutral ships of
50,000 tons in UK
waters.
MAY
1945
Atlantic
Russian
Convoys - One last convoy
sailed each way soon after the German
surrender. Since
August 1941, 78 convoys had sailed in
both directions
and passed through nearly
1,400 merchant ships for the loss of 85
- a loss rate of
6 percent. Millions of tons of vital
cargo and thousands
of tanks and aircraft had been delivered
to the Russians.
The cost to the Royal Navy included one
escort carrier
severely damaged, two cruisers, six
destroyers, and eight
other escorts sunk in
the cold and often stormy waters of the
Arctic. The
Germans lost "Scharnhorst"
and
indirectly
"Tirpitz",
three big destroyers, over 30 U-boats.
Battle
of the
Atlantic - Conclusion
Just
68 months
before, northwest of the
British Isles liner
"Athenia" was torpedoed by
"U-30" and 11 days later
"U-39" sunk by Royal Navy
destroyers.
Since then, tens of
thousands of lives,
thousands
of ships and hundreds of
U-boats had been lost in the
battle to sustain Britain as
the base without
which the liberation of
Europe would had been
impossible.
As
the United States took over
from
Britain the mantle of the
world's most powerful
navy, so the last
merchantmen and U-boats of
the Battle of the
Atlantic went to the bottom
in American waters
and involving American
ships. 6th - "U-881"
was sunk by
the US Navy south of
Newfoundland. On the same
day, "U-853"
torpedoed
freighter
"Black
Point" off New York, was
hunted
down and sunk by US
destroyer escort
"Atherton" and frigate
"Moberley".
|
Monthly
Loss Summary
- 1
merchant ship of 5,000 tons in the
Atlantic
- 2
German U-boats
Europe
End of
the U-boats - Right
to the end of the war there was no
let-up in the struggle
against the U-boats,
especially faced with the threat from
the new and
dangerous Types XXI and XXIII. Between
the 2nd and 6th,
23 U-boats of all types were destroyed
by the
Typhoons, Beaufighters, Mosquitoes and
Liberators of the
RAF and Allied Tactical Air Forces. As
the German fighter
defences crumbled, Allied aircraft
roamed the Kattegat
and nearby waters catching many of the
U-boats in the
Baltic or sailing for Norway. One more
was lost by
unknown causes off Scotland. Two others
represented
respectively, the last U-boat destroyed
by the Royal Navy and the final
sinking of the European war. While much
of this was
happening, steps were taken to arrange
for the surrender
of Germany's still formidable submarine
fleet.
4th -
A Royal Navy
task force consisting of escort carriers
"Queen", "Searcher" and
"Trumpeter" with cruisers and destroyers
and
under the command of Vice-Adm R. R.
McGrigor returning
from Murmansk, launched strikes against
shipping off
Norway, and "U-711"
was
sunk near Narvik. The same day Adm
Doenitz ordered his U-boats
to stop operations and return to base.
Many crews
preferred to scuttle their boats.
7th -
U-boats gained their last success when
Type
XXIII coastal boat "U-2336" sank
merchantmen
"Avondale Park" and "Sneland" off the
Firth of Forth. Further north, to the
west of Bergen, a
RAF Catalina of No 210 Squadron on
Northern Transit Area
patrol destroyed "U-320", the very last
U-boat casualty.
8th -
Operational U-boats were
ordered to surface and sail for
Allied ports flying a black flag of
surrender. Most made
for the UK, although a few reached the
US.
9th -
The first of
over 150 surrendered U-boats started to
arrive, but more than 200 were
scuttled. Of those surrendering, a
quarter were taken
over by the Allied powers and in
Operation 'Deadlight',
the rest sunk by the Royal Navy in the
Atlantic off
Northern Ireland through to January
1946.
DEFENCE
OF TRADE - June 1944 to May 1945
Total
Losses = 210 British, Allied and
neutral ships of 942,000 tons ( 78,000
tons per month)
By
Location
Location
|
Number
of
British, Allied, neutral
ships
|
Total
Gross
Registered Tonnage
|
North
Atlantic |
31
|
177,000
tons
|
South
Atlantic |
5
|
28,000
tons
|
UK
waters |
135
|
500,000
tons
|
Mediterranean
|
5
|
7,000
tons
|
Indian
Ocean |
21
|
134,000
tons
|
Pacific
Ocean |
13
|
96,000
tons
|
By
Cause
Causes*
in order of tonnage sunk
(1. 4. ... -
Order when weapon first
introduced)
|
Number
of
British, Allied, neutral
ships
|
Total
Gross
Registered Tonnage
|
1.
Submarines |
120
|
629,000
tons
|
2.
Mines
4. Aircraft
5. Other causes
7. Coastal forces
3. Warships
6. Raiders |
50
14
15
11
-
-
|
162,000
tons
96,000 tons
28,000 tons
27,000 tons
-
-
|