Convoy SC 118
Convoy SC 118 | |
---|---|
Part of North Atlantic | |
Result | German tactical victory |
Canada
United States
Free French[1]
Commander Proudfoot RN
5 destroyers
2 cutters
4 corvettes
445 killed/drowned
101 killed/drowned
45 captured
Convoy SC 118 was the 118th of the numbered series of
Background
As western Atlantic coastal convoys brought an end to the "
On 2 February U-456 sank three ships from convoy HX 224. A survivor of one of the sunken ships was picked up by U-632 and told his rescuers a slower convoy was following behind HX 224.[7]
Battle
4 February 1943
A careless merchant seaman of convoy SC 118 fired a pyrotechnic snowflake projector aboard the Norwegian freighter SS Vannik in the pre-dawn darkness of 4 February.
5 February 1943
On 5 February the convoy escort was reinforced by the Treasury-class cutter Ingham and the Wickes-class destroyers USS Babbitt and USS Schenck from Iceland.[4] The reinforced escort damaged U-262 and U-267.[9]
7 February 1943
In the pre-dawn hours of 7 February, Kapitänleutnant Siegfried von Forstner's U-402 torpedoed the British freighter Afrika, Norwegian tanker Daghild, Greek freighter Kalliopi, American tanker Robert E. Hopkins, American cargo liner Henry R. Mallory, and convoy rescue ship Toward.[10]
Henry R. Mallory was capable of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) but had been straggling well astern of the convoy for several days and was not zig-zagging in that exposed position.[11] Mallory would normally have been assigned to one of the faster HX convoys, but there had been no Iceland section of the preceding convoy HX 224.[11] No commands came from the bridge after Mallory was torpedoed, no flares were sent up, no radio distress message was sent out, and no orders were given to abandon ship.[12] There were heavy casualties from Mallory's crew of 77, 34 Navy gunners, and the 136 American soldiers, 172 American sailors, and 72 American Marines she was transporting to Iceland.[13]
U-614 sank the straggling British freighter Harmala[10] while Lobelia sank U-609.[4]
Ships in convoy
Name[14] | Flag[14] | Dead[10] | Tonnage (GRT)[14]
|
Cargo[10] | Notes[14] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acme (1916) | United States | 6,878 | Petrol & oil | ||
Adamas (1918) | Greece | 0 | 4,144 | Steel & lumber | Sank 8 Feb after collision with Samuel Huntington |
African Prince (1939) | United Kingdom | 8,031 | Bauxite and ammunition | Carried convoy commodore Capt H C C Forsyth RD RNR | |
Afrika (1920) | United Kingdom | 23 | 8,597 | 4,000 tons steel & 7,000 tons general cargo | Sunk by U-402 7 Feb |
Ann Skakel (1920) | United States | 4,949 | General cargo | Veteran of convoy SC 107; Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
Arizpa (1920) | United States | 0 | 5,437 | Stores | |
Athelprince (1926) | United Kingdom | 8,782 | Diesel & naptha | Convoy vice-commodore was ship's master | |
Baron Haig (1926) | United Kingdom | 3,391 | Sugar | ||
Baron Ramsey (1929) | United Kingdom | 3,650 | Iron ore | Veteran of convoy SC 42 | |
Bestik (1920) | Norway | 2,684 | Steel & lumber | ||
Blairdevon (1925) | United Kingdom | 3,282 | Steel & lumber | ||
Celtic Star (1918) | United Kingdom | 5,575 | refrigerated & general cargo | ||
Cetus (1920) | Norway | 2,614 | Sugar | Veteran of convoy HX 84; survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | |
City of Khios (1925) | United Kingdom | 5,574 | Sugar | ||
Daghild (1927) | Norway | 0 | 9,272 | 13,000 tons Diesel | Veteran of convoy ON 127; sunk by U-402, U-614 & U-608 |
Dallington Court (1929) | United Kingdom | 6,889 | Wheat | Survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | |
Danae II (1936) | United Kingdom | 2,660 | Bauxite | Veteran of convoy HX 84 | |
Danby (1937) | United Kingdom | 4,281 | Linseed & grain | ||
Daylight (1931) | United States | 9,180 | General cargo | Escort oiler; Detached to Iceland 9 Feb; survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | |
Deido (1928) | United Kingdom | 3,894 | Petrol | ||
Dettifoss (1930) | Iceland | 1,564 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
Dordrecht (1928) | Netherlands | 4,402 | Palm oil | Returned to Halifax | |
Empire Gareth (1942) | United Kingdom | 2,847 | Bauxite | ||
Empire Liberty (1941) | United Kingdom | 7,157 | General cargo | ||
Glarona (1928) | Norway | 9,912 | fuel oil & Diesel | ||
Gogra (1919) | United Kingdom | 5,190 | General cargo | ||
Gold Shell (1931) | United Kingdom | 8,208 | Petrol | ||
Grey County (1918) | Norway | 3 | 5,194 | General cargo | |
Gulf of Mexico (1917) | United States | 7,807 | Oil & petrol | ||
H M Flagler (1918) | Panama | 8,208 | Furnace fuel oil | Escort oiler | |
Harmala (1935) | United Kingdom | 53 | 5,730 | 8,500 tons iron ore | Straggled and sunk by U-614 7 Feb |
Helder (1920) | Netherlands | 3,629 | General cargo | ||
Henry Mallory (1916) | United States | 272 | 6,063 | 383 passengers & general cargo | Veteran of convoy ON 154; sunk by U-402 7 Feb |
Ioannis Frangos (1912) | Greece | 3,442 | Grain | ||
Julius Thomsen (1927) | Denmark | 1,151 | Detached to Greenland | ||
Kalliopi (1910) | Greece | 4 | 4,965 | 6,500 tons steel & lumber | Sunk by U-402 7 Feb |
King Stephen (1928) | United Kingdom | 5,274 | Grain | ||
Kiruna (1921) | Sweden | 5,484 | General cargo | Veteran of convoy HX 79 and convoy ON 154 | |
Lagarfoss (1904) | Iceland | 1,211 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb; survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | |
Makedonia (1942) | Greece | 7,044 | Flour | ||
Mana (1920) | Honduras | 3,283 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
Maud (1930) | Norway | 3,189 | Sugar | ||
New York City (1917) | United Kingdom | 2,710 | General cargo | Veteran of convoy SC 107 | |
Newton Ash (1925) | United Kingdom | 32 | 4,625 | 6,500 tons grain, mail & military stores | Sunk by U-402 7 Feb |
Norbryn (1922) | Norway | 5,087 | Tea & rubber | ||
Permian (1931) | Panama | 8,890 | Survived this convoy and convoy SC 122
| ||
Petter II (1922) | Norway | 7,417 | Gas oil | ||
Polyktor (1914) | Greece | 4,077 | Grain | Sunk by U-266 | |
Radmanso (1914) | Sweden | 4,280 | Sulphur | ||
Radport (1925) | United Kingdom | 5,355 | General cargo | ||
Redgate (1929) | United Kingdom | 4,323 | General cargo | ||
Robert E. Hopkins (1921) | United States | 0 | 6,625 | 8,500 tons furnace fuel oil | Escort oiler; sunk by U-402 7 Feb |
Samuel Huntington (1942) | United States | 7,181 | General cargo | Liberty ship | |
Sheaf Holme (1929) | United Kingdom | 4,814 | Potash & general cargo | Survived this convoy and convoy SC 130 | |
Sommerstad (1926) | Norway | 5,923 | Lubricating oil | ||
Stad Arnhem (1920) | Netherlands | 3,819 | Phosphates | ||
Tilemachos (1911) | Greece | 3,658 | Grain | ||
Toward (1923) | United Kingdom | 58 | 1,571 | Rescue ship; sunk by U-402 7 Feb | |
Vacuum (1920) | United States | 7,020 | Petrol | ||
Vannik (1940) | Norway | 1,333 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
West Portal (1920) | United States | 5,376 | Stores | Straggled and sunk by U-413 4 Feb | |
William Penn (1921) | United States | 8,447 | Petrol | ||
Yemassee (1922) | Panama | 2,001 | General cargo | Detached to Iceland 9 Feb | |
Zagloba (1938) | Poland | 2,864 | Ammunition & general cargo | Sunk by U-262 4 Feb |
See also
- Convoy Battles of World War II
Notes
- ^ The Flower-class corvette Lobelia was then under Free French
- ^ Hague 2000 p. 133
- ^ a b Hague 2000 p.135
- ^ a b c d e f Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p. 191
- ^ Tarrant p. 108
- ^ Hague pp. 132, 137–38, 161–62, 164, 181
- ^ a b Waters December 1966 p.96
- ^ Waters December 1966 p.97
- ^ Waters December 1966 p. 98
- ^ a b c d Hague 2000 p.137
- ^ a b Waters December 1966 p.102
- ^ Waters December 1966 p.103
- ^ Morison 1975 p. 336
- ^ a b c d "SC convoys". Arnold Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
References
- Edwards, Bernard (1996). Dönitz and the Wolf Packs – The U-boats at War. pp. 141–145, 147–151, 199. ISBN 0-304-35203-9.
- Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-019-3.
- Milner, Marc (1985). North Atlantic Run. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-450-0.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1975). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I The Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943. Little, Brown and Company.
- Rohwer, J.; Hummelchen, G. (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
- Tarrant, V.E. (1989). The U-Boat Offensive 1914–1945. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-520-X.
- Waters, John M. Jr. (December 1966), Stay Tough, United States Naval Institute Proceedings