Naval Battle of Casablanca
Naval Battle of Casablanca | |
---|---|
Part of French Morocco | |
Result | American victory |
Germany
Ernst Kals
1 escort carrier
1 battleship
3 heavy cruisers
1 light cruiser
14 destroyers
15 troopships
347 landing craft
108 aircraft
1 light cruiser
2 flotilla leaders
7 destroyers
8 sloops
11 minesweepers
13 submarines
7 aircraft
4 troopships sunk
150 landing craft sunk
5 aircraft destroyed
1 battleship damaged
1 heavy cruiser damaged
2 destroyers damaged
1 oiler damaged
200 wounded
1 battleship damaged
1 light cruiser destroyed
4 destroyers sunk
7 submarines sunk
1 submarine scuttled
2 submarines damaged
1 destroyer grounded
2 flotilla leaders grounded
1 submarine grounded
7 aircraft destroyed
The Naval Battle of Casablanca was a series of naval engagements fought between
Allied military planners anticipated an all-American force assigned to seize the Atlantic port city of Casablanca might be greeted as liberators. An invasion task force of 102 American ships carrying 35,000 American soldiers approached the Moroccan coast undetected under cover of darkness.
French defenders interpreted the first contacts as a diversionary raid for a major landing in Algeria; and Germany regarded the surrender of six Moroccan divisions to a small commando raiding force as a clear violation of French obligations to defend Moroccan neutrality under the Armistice of 22 June 1940 at Compiègne.[2]
The last stages of the battle consisted of operations by German U-boats which had reached the area the same day the French troops surrendered.[note 1]
An escalating series of surprised responses in an atmosphere of mistrust and secrecy caused the loss of four U.S. troopships and the deaths of 462 men aboard 24 French ships opposing the invasion.[7]
Background
American forces
French forces
In 1942, Casablanca was the principal Vichy-controlled port on the Atlantic (all of France′s Atlantic coast having been
Most French personnel attending General Clark′s pre-invasion meeting were army officers. Information subsequently conveyed in pre-invasion contact with army personnel stationed in Morocco was interpreted as a request for recommendations. No pre-invasion contact has been documented with Vice Admiral Michelier, who commanded naval forces responsible for the defense of Casablanca. Admiral Michelier was not yet in the confidence of North African officers in contact with the Americans, since he had been a member of the Armistice Commission until assuming his Casablanca post less than a month before the invasion.[13]
Prelude
French defenders were placed on alert status when Algerian invasion convoys were detected passing through the
Battle
8 November
Center group troopships USS William P. Biddle, Leonard Wood,[note 3] Joseph T. Dickman,[note 3] Tasker H. Bliss, Hugh L. Scott, Joseph Hewes, Edward Rutledge, Charles Carroll, Thomas Jefferson, Ancon, Elizabeth C. Stanton, Thurston, Arcturus, Procyon, and Oberon[17] anchored 8 mi (7.0 nmi; 13 km) off Fedala at midnight. Loaded landing craft rendezvoused and left the line of departure at 06:00.[note 4] Pont Blondin coast defense batteries were alerted by the noise of landing craft engines and illuminated the beach approaches with searchlights but the searchlights were extinguished when the landing craft support boats opened fire with machine guns. The destroyer Wilkes and a scout boat tasked with marking Red Beach 2 moved out of position while maneuvering to avoid an unidentified boat evaluated as potentially hostile; and landing craft ran onto rocks while running at full speed rather than reaching their intended beach. Twenty-one of the 32 landing craft from Leonard Wood were wrecked. Eight of the ship's surviving landing craft were wrecked in heavy surf landing later waves.[20]
3,500 American troops were ashore by dawn; but early morning mist concealed the size of the invasion force. Fedala coast defense batteries opened fire on the landing craft shortly after 07:00.[note 4][21] At 07:20,[note 4] Admiral Hewitt authorized four American destroyers supporting the landing craft to open fire on the French shore batteries.[22] French gunners damaged the destroyers USS Ludlow and Murphy,[23] and at 07:25[note 4] the destroyers were defended by the heavier guns of the cruisers Augusta and Brooklyn screening the troopships.[24] Ludlow and Wilkes silenced the Pont Blondin battery, while Augusta silenced the Fedala battery. Murphy, Wainwright, and other U.S. vessels engaged two French aircraft just before 07:00 on 8 November, ultimately driving them off.[23]
The French submarines
While the covering force engaged El Hank Battery west of Casablanca, seven ships of the French 2nd Light Squadron sortied from Casablanca harbor at 09:00[25] under cover of a smoke screen to attack the troopships anchored off Fedala to the east.[24] The French destroyer Milan sortied with destroyers Fougueux and Boulonnais. At 09:20, the French squadron was strafed by fighter planes from Ranger.[25] French gunners sank a landing craft and scored hits on Ludlow.[28] Milan beached after being damaged by gunfire from Wilkes,[29][30] Wichita, and Tuscaloosa.[23] Massachusetts and Tuscaloosa engaged the French destroyers Fougueux at 10:00 and Boulonnais at 10:12.[30] Fougueux sank at 10:40.[28] The French light cruiser Primauguet sortied with flotilla leader destroyer Albatros and destroyers Brestois and Frondeur. Engaged by Massachusetts, the Primauguet force was outgunned; Primauguet had been under refit and was not fully operational but returned fire nonetheless. The French flotilla was also engaged by Augusta and Brooklyn from 11:00 to 11:20.[30] Albatros beached to avoid sinking. The remaining ships returned to Casablanca harbor where Primauguet beached and burnt out and the two destroyers capsized. Forty-five crew members were killed aboard Primauguet, and more than 200 more wounded. The French submarine Amazone missed Brooklyn with a salvo of torpedoes.[23][29] Sibylle disappeared on a patrol station between Casablanca and Fedala, but the cause of her destruction remains uncertain.[23][31] Surviving French submarines Sidi Ferruch and Le Conquérant sortied without torpedoes to avoid destruction in the harbor. Le Tonnant managed to load a few torpedoes before leaving. Augusta sank Boulonnais[23] at noon[28] and the only French destroyer remaining operational was L'Alcyon.[24][28]
A less significant victim of this engagement was the boat in which General Patton had intended to reach the beach from the flagship Augusta. The boat had been swung out on davits in preparation for launch when muzzle blast from the cruiser's 8-inch guns blew out the bottom of the boat, causing most of Patton's luggage to be lost overboard.[32]
Three small French warships emerged from Casablanca harbor in the early afternoon to rescue sailors from the sunken destroyer Fougueux, but the rescue ships were turned back by shellfire from the American covering force.[note 5] French planes bombed and strafed the landing beach at intervals throughout the day, but caused little damage.[33] Workmen had repaired Jean Bart's turret by sundown, and El Hank Battery remained operational. Nearly half of the 347 American landing craft had been destroyed, and fewer than 8,000 troops had been landed. Five French submarines still stalked the invasion fleet.[34]
9 November
Dawn found the Fedala landing beaches lashed by 6-foot (1.8 m) waves which greatly impeded unloading the invasion troopships. Forty percent of the troops were ashore with barely one percent of their supplies. There were shortages of ammunition, and inadequate medical supplies for the wounded. Communications broke down because radio equipment was still aboard the troopships. The advance toward Casablanca halted because shore parties lacked mechanized equipment to move supplies off the landing beach.[35]
10 November
The French sloops Commandant Delage and La Gracieuse sortied at 10:00 to open fire on American troops advancing from Fedala to the outskirts of Casablanca.[36] The cruiser Augusta and destroyers Edison and Tillman chased the minesweepers back into Casablanca harbor before being forced to retreat by gunfire from Jean Bart.[36] Nine dive bombers from Ranger[37] hit Jean Bart with two 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs and sank her at 16:00.[31] Jean Bart settled into the harbor mud with decks awash.[38] French submarines Le Tonnant, Meduse and Antiope launched unsuccessful torpedo salvos at Ranger, Massachusetts and Tuscaloosa, respectively.[23][29] Meduse was crippled by counterattacks and beached off Cape Blanc.[36]
11 November
Casablanca surrendered on 11 November while 11,000 tons (75 percent) of supplies for the invading troops remained aboard the troopships.[39] That day German submarines were able to reach the troopships before they completed offloading cargo.[38] In the early evening, U-173 torpedoed the destroyer Hambleton, the oiler Winooski and the troopship USS Joseph Hewes (AP-50); around 100 men went down with Joseph Hewes. At this time, Bristol spotted a surfaced submarine and engaged with her deck guns and finally with depth charges, but is not believed to have sunk the French submarine. Sidi Ferruch was sunk by Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers from Suwanee on 11 November.[23][36]
Final actions
The invasion troopships remained in their makeshift anchorage to keep Casablanca's harbor open to unload additional troops from the anticipated arrival of
One of Massachusetts′s 16-inch (406 mm) shells weighing more than a ton, fired at the Jean-Bart, after an unexpected rebound on the quay, caused the collapse, with the death of three of its inhabitants, of the house adjoining the Ettedgui Synagogue which remained intact,[44] in Casablanca's medina. Later, the artificers trolley to remove the defused shell having given way under the overload, it was then necessary to send for a truck.
Order of battle
French 2nd Light Squadron
Ship | Type | Displacement | Speed | Guns | Torpedoes | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Primauguet | Duguay-Trouin-class light cruiser | 7,249 tons[45] | 33 knots | 8 × 155 mm (6.1 in) | 12 | Beached and burnt out for total loss |
Albatros | Aigle-class destroyer | 2,441 tons[46] | 36 knots | 5 × 138 mm Mle 1927 guns | 6 | Beached to avoid sinking |
Milan | Aigle-class destroyer | 2,441 tons[46] | 36 knots | 5 × 138 mm Mle 1927 guns | 6 | Beached to avoid sinking |
Boulonnais | Adroit-class destroyer
|
1378 tons[47] | 33 knots | 4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) | 6 | Sunk by USS Augusta |
Brestois | Adroit-class destroyer
|
1378 tons[47] | 33 knots | 4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) | 6 | Capsized |
Fougueux | Adroit-class destroyer
|
1378 tons[47] | 33 knots | 4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) | 6 | Sunk by 16" gunfire from USS Massachusetts |
Frondeur | Adroit-class destroyer
|
1,378 tons[47] | 33 knots | 4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) | 6 | Capsized |
L'Alcyon | Adroit-class destroyer
|
1378 tons[47] | 33 knots | 4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) | 6 | did not sortie |
Simoun | Bourrasque-class destroyer | 1,319 tons[47] | 33 knots | 4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) | 6 | repairing collision damage – did not sortie |
Tempête | Bourrasque-class destroyer | 1,319 tons[47] | 33 knots | 4 × 130 mm (5.1 in) | 6 | repairing collision damage – did not sortie |
American covering force
Ship | Type | Displacement | Speed | Guns | Torpedoes | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Massachusetts | South Dakota-class battleship | 35000 tons[49] | 28 knots | 9 × 5"/38 cal
|
none | Damaged the incomplete and not-yet commissioned French battleship Jean Bart in gun duel, sank a floating dry dock and up to seven merchant ships in the harbor.
Engaged French 2nd Light Squadron, sank at least one destroyer, assisted in engaging light cruiser and other destroyers. |
Wichita | heavy cruiser | 10000 tons[50] | 34 knots | 9 × 8"/55 cal 8 × 5"/38 cal |
none | engaged and help sink several destroyers, Damaged by a coastal battery with 14 wounded |
Tuscaloosa | New Orleans-class heavy cruiser | 9975 tons[51] | 32 knots | 9 × 8"/55 cal 8 × 5"/25 cal
|
none | Engaged and help sink several destroyers |
Mayrant | Benham-class destroyer | 1500 tons[52] | 36 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 16 | Mayrant's Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of the President of the United States[53]
|
Rhind | Benham-class destroyer | 1500 tons[52] | 36 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 16 | |
Wainwright | Sims-class destroyer | 1570 tons[54] | 38 knots | 5 × 5"/38 cal | 12 | |
Jenkins | Fletcher-class destroyer | 2050 tons[55] | 37 knots | 5 × 5"/38 cal | 10 | |
Augusta | Northampton-class cruiser | 9050 tons[56] | 32 knots | 9 × 8"/55 cal 8 × 5"/25 cal |
none | operated independently as Task Force 34 flagship |
Brooklyn | Brooklyn-class cruiser | 9700 tons[57] | 33 knots | 15 × 6"/47 cal 8 × 5"/25 cal |
(none) | assigned as escort for center group troopships engaged 2nd Light Squadron |
Rowan | Benham-class destroyer | 1500 tons[52] | 36 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 16 | screened center group troopships off Fedala engaged 2nd Light Squadron[58] |
Woolsey | Gleaves-class destroyer | 1620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 10 | screened center group troopships off Fedala[17] |
Ludlow | Gleaves-class destroyer | 1620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 10 | screened center group troopships off Fedala engaged Pont Blondin Battery engaged 2nd Light Squadron[59] |
Edison | Gleaves-class destroyer | 1620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 10 | screened center group troopships off Fedala[17] |
Wilkes | Gleaves-class destroyer | 1620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 10 | screened center group troopships off Fedala engaged Fedala Battery engaged 2nd Light Squadron[59] |
Swanson | Gleaves-class destroyer | 1620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 10 | screened center group troopships off Fedala engaged Fedala Battery engaged 2nd Light Squadron[59] |
Bristol | Gleaves-class destroyer | 1,620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 10 | screened center group troopships off Fedala[17] |
Boyle | Benson-class destroyer | 1,620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 5 | screened center group troopships off Fedala[17] |
Murphy | Benson-class destroyer | 1620 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 5 | screened center group troopships off Fedala engaged Pont Blondin Battery[22] |
Tillman | Gleaves-class destroyer | 1630 tons[54] | 37 knots | 4 × 5"/38 cal | 5 | screened center group troopships off Fedala[17] |
Ranger | aircraft carrier | 14500 tons[60] | 29 knots | 8 × 5"/25 cal | (none) | provided air cover for center group while operating 130 mi (210 km) offshore of Casablanca,[61] her bombers sank Jean Bart 10 November 42 after she was refloated from being sunk at her stern on 8 November 1942. |
Suwannee | Sangamon-class escort carrier | 11400 tons[62] | 18 knots | 2 × 5"/51 cal | (none) | provided air cover for center group while operating 130 miles (200 km) offshore of Casablanca[61] |
See also
- List of French military equipment of World War II
- Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
- Atlantic Theater aircraft carrier operations during World War II#Allied Invasion of North Africa (1942)
Notes
- ^ Robert Cressman, in his book USS Ranger: The Navy's First Flattop from Keel to Mast, 1934-1946, recounts the sinking of three troopships by U-130 on 12 November.[3] U-130 was one of the submarines ordered to investigate early reports of invasion convoys on 2 November[4] after sailing from France on 29 October.[5] All were delayed by battle damage or mechanical difficulties.[4] U-130 approached the Fedala troopship anchorage after Casablanca had surrendered by sailing along the Moroccan coast on the evening of 11 November[6]
- Anglicizedas Sherki. (Willoughby, p. 210)
- ^ a b Ship manned by United States Coast Guard crew. (Willoughby, p. 208)
- ^ UTC-1. The commencement of Massachusetts' shelling of Casablanca harbor is reported as 08:04 by Auphan & Mordal, but 07:04 by USN sources Karig and Potter & Nimitz. Times specified in those references have been adjusted to GMT to conform to other references and clarify the sequence of events.
- ^ Potter and Nimitz refer to a destroyer and two sloops, and Auphan and Mordal identify the destroyer as L'Alcyon. Cressman identifies the three ships as the 1969-ton colonial sloop La Grandiere with second class sloops La Gracieuse and Commandant Delage. La Grandiere was about the size of a destroyer with three 14 cm (5.5 in) guns and a maximum speed of 15 knots. Jane's Fighting Ships refers to the second class sloops as 20-knot, 630-ton minesweepers armed with two 9 cm (3.5 in) guns.
Citations
- ^ Auphan & Mordal (1976), p. 210
- ^ Potter & Nimitz (1960), pp. 568–574
- ISBN 978-1-57488-720-4.
- ^ a b Blair (1998), p. 88
- ^ Blair (1998), p. 736
- ^ Blair (1998), p. 110
- ^ Auphan & Mordal (1976), pp. 210, 228–229 & 236
- ^ Potter & Nimitz (1960), p. 567
- ^ Blair (1998), p. 92
- ^ Potter & Nimitz (1960), pp. 568–571
- ^ Auphan & Mordal (1976), pp. 212–215
- ^ Auphan & Mordal (1976), p. 228
- ^ "ALAMER: Mémoire des Équipages des marines de guerre, commerce, pêche & plaisance de 1939 à 1945". Retrieved 18 September 2016.
- ^ Auphan & Mordal (1976), pp. 212–218
- ^ Karig (1946), p. 191
- ^ Karig (1946), p. 184
- ^ a b c d e f g Karig (1946), p. 201
- ^ Potter & Nimitz (1960), pp. 571–572
- ^ Auphan & Mordal (1976), p. 231
- ^ Willoughby (1957), p. 210
- ^ Potter & Nimitz (1960), pp. 572–575
- ^ a b Karig (1946), p. 203
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Cressman (2000), p. 129
- ^ a b c d e Potter & Nimitz (1960), p. 575
- ^ a b c d e f Auphan & Mordal (1960), p. 230
- ^ Atkinson (2002), p. 131
- ^ Karig (1946), p. 206
- ^ a b c d Auphan & Mordal (1976), p. 233
- ^ a b c d e Rohwer & Hummelchen (1992), p. 175
- ^ a b c Brown (1995), p. 72
- ^ a b Auphan & Mordal (1976), p. 235
- ^ Atkinson (2002), p. 132
- ^ a b Willoughby (1957), p. 211
- ^ Potter & Nimitz (1960), p. 576
- ^ Atkinson (2002), pp. 138–140
- ^ a b c d Cressman (2000), p. 130
- ^ Karig (1946), p. 209
- ^ a b Potter & Nimitz (1960), p. 577
- ^ Atkinson (2002), p. 151
- ^ Atkinson (2002), p. 154
- ^ Cressman (2000), p. 131
- ^ Auphan & Mordal (1976), p. 236
- ^ "The Type IXC U-boat U-173 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
- ^ "Synagogue Ettedgui Rue de la Mission, Casablanca 2004". YouTube (in French). Retrieved 26 October 2022.
- ^ Masson (1969), p. 90
- ^ a b Masson (1969), p. 112
- ^ a b c d e f g Masson (1969), p. 124
- ^ Masson (1969), p. 126
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 28
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 79
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 71
- ^ a b c Silverstone (1968), p. 124
- ^ Walker, Edward K. (1985). "Mayrant, Roosevelt, and the Med". Proceedings. 111 (10). United States Naval Institute: 179.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Silverstone (1968), p. 126
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 135
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 67
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 85
- ^ Karig (1946), p. 207
- ^ a b c Karig (1946), pp. 201, 203 & 207
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 38
- ^ a b Potter & Nimitz (1960), p. 574
- ^ Silverstone (1968), p. 55
References
- Atkinson, Rick, An Army at Dawn (2002) Henry Holt and Company ISBN 0-8050-6288-2
- ISBN 0-8371-8660-9
- Blair, Clay, Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945 (1998) ISBN 0-679-45742-9
- Brown, David, Warship Losses of World War II (1995) Naval Institute Press ISBN 1-55750-914-X
- Cressman, Robert J. The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II (2000) Naval Institute Press ISBN 1-55750-149-1
- Kafka, Roger and Pepperburg, Roy L. Warships of the World (1946) Cornell Maritime Press
- Karig, Walter, CDR, USNR Battle Report: The Atlantic War (1946) Farrar & Rinehart
- Le Masson, Henri The French Navy (volume 1) (1969) Doubleday & Company
- Potter, E.B. and Nimitz, Chester W. Sea Power (1960) Prentice-Hall
- Preston, Antony Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II (1996) Random House ISBN 0-517-67963-9
- Rohwer, Jurgen and Hummelchen, Gerhard Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945 (1992) Naval Institute Press ISBN 1-55750-105-X
- Silverstone, Paul H. U.S. Warships of World War II (1968) Doubleday & Company
- Willoughby, Malcolm F. The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II (1957) United States Naval Institute