Corvette Command Campaign January 1942 (2)

9th January

Weather remains good, with calm seas and good visibility. Lookouts on high alert as conditions ideal for E/S attack.

10th / 11th January

Weather still good due to high pressure system over Eastern Atlantic.

20.15 M/V Snowden (4000t) hit by torpedo. Crew taken off. U/Boat detected at long range by ASDIC, bearing 156. Tanker M/V Missouri (8000t) hit by torpedo and explodes. Survivors rescued but most of crew lost. Convoy reports several torpedo tracks spotted.

01.47 Suspicions of a Wolfpack confirmed by RADAR contact with surfaced E/S, bearing 230, but lookout could not locate as down moon and at long range. Torpedo tracks spotted by convoy but only one vessel hit, cargo liner SS Talbot Castle (10000t), crew and passengers taken off.

03.16 Torpedo hits M/V Sennen (4000t), cargo of ammunition explodes with no survivors, followed immediately afterwards by hit on MV Gratton (5000t), with crew picked up from lifeboats. No RADAR or ASDIC contact made but suspect E/S had launched spread of torpedoes.

03.40 M/V Portland Bay (4000t) hit by torpedo, crew abandon ship. A solid RADAR contact, bearing 178, with surfaced E/S at long range but lookout fails to locate. Suspect E/S submerges to evade detection.

05.38 Torpedo hit on M/V Lady Montgomery (9000t), survivors picked up by rescue ship. RADAR contact, bearing 214, with surfaced E/S at medium range. No visual identification. 

05.46 Torpedo tracks spotted by lookout and torpedo closing HMCS Windflower located by ASDIC, evasive manoeuvres, torpedo passes down starboard side but fails to hit. 

05.50 Torpedo hits tanker, M/V Shell Adventure (8000t) with cargo of aviation fuel, explodes with no survivors. RADAR contact with surfaced E/S confirms it has moved to long range, then lost as probably submerged. 

A costly night for the convoy but most survivors successfully picked up by daybreak. 

12th / 14th January

Weather generally good but deteriorates to poor conditions, with moderate swell and some rain showers. No further enemy activity as now within air cover of Coastal Command and destroyer escort Western Approaches.

15th January

Convoy arrives LIVERPOOL, in poor weather. Over night a bombing raid by E/A on docks and roadstead. HMCS Windflower engages with AA and claims one aircraft shot down. P/O Boucher and gun crew congratulated by C/O. Huzzah! No hits on convoy. 

END

That was a dramatic convoy with an attack by a Wolfpack of four U-Boats in ideal conditions at night. It was very hard to detect them, even with RADAR and eight ships were sunk, making a total of ten overall for the convoy. This means the Kriegsmarine have won a Minor Victory, having sunk 69000 tonnes of shipping, although they did lose a U-Boat in the process. I now have six days to repair, rearm and refuel before HMCS Windflower heads back across the North Atlantic with a new convoy!