Order of battle for Convoy SC 7
Convoy SC 7 was the seventh of the SC convoys, bound from Sydney, Nova Scotia across the North Atlantic to a number of British ports, mainly Liverpool.[1] They were designated SC as their departure point was designated Sydney, Cape Breton in order to avoid confusion with Sydney in Australia.[2] The convoys formed part of the battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. Large numbers of merchants travelled together with naval escorts to protect against U-boat attacks. They were often slow, the merchants often only being capable of a speed of around 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) and so were particularly vulnerable to attack.[2] This problem was exacerbated by a shortage of suitable escorts from either the Royal Canadian Navy or the Royal Navy in the early stages of the war.[3]
Convoy SC 7 left Sydney on 5 October 1940, consisting of 36 merchants initially escorted by the Canadian armed yacht HMCS Elk and the British sloop HMS Scarborough.[4] Having seen the convoy out of Canadian waters, Elk turned back on 7 October leaving the convoy to spend three quarters of the crossing escorted by the lone Scarborough.[4] One of the merchants, SS Winona had developed engine problems and also turned back.[4] The crossing was uneventful to begin with, the only casualty being SS Trevisa which was straggling behind the main convoy and was torpedoed and sunk on 16 October by U-124.[5]
The main convoy was spotted the following day by U-38, which sank SS Aenos.[6] Further sporadic attacks continued that day and the following, despite the arrival of the sloop HMS Fowey and the corvette HMS Bluebell. The night of 18/19 October saw the successful use of the wolf pack tactics of Germany's U-boat fleet. Five U-boats; U-46, U-99, U-100, U-101 and U-123 attacked en-masse, overwhelming the escorts, newly reinforced by HMS Leith and Heartsease.[7] They sank 16 merchants in a six-hour period, bringing the total to twenty merchants sunk and a total tonnage lost of 79,592 Gross registered tons. The U-boats only broke off their attacks to intercept convoy HX 79 that had arrived in the area. They went on to sink a further 12 ships from this convoy, for a total of 28 ships sunk on 18/19 October, making this the deadliest two days of the battle of the Atlantic.[7] The surviving merchants were gathered up by the remaining escorts and brought into port several days later.
Merchant ships
This along with the * indicates that the ship was sunk
Name | Flag | Cargo | Fate | Date of attack | Survivors | Dead | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aenos | Wheat | Sunk by U-38* | 17 October | 25 | 4 | Straggler | |
Assyrian | Grain | Sunk by U-101* | 19 October | 34 | 17 | Convoy commodore's ship | |
Beatus | Steel, timber and aircraft | Sunk by U-46* | 18 October | 37 | 0 | ||
Blairspey | Timber | Damaged by U-101 Damaged by U-100 | 18 October 19 October | 34 | 0 | Reached port, repaired and returned to service. | |
Boekelo | Timber | Damaged by U-100 Sunk by U-123* | 18 October 19 October | 25 | 0 | Straggler | |
Botusk | Timber | Reached port safely | 42 | 0 | |||
Carsbreck | Timber | Damaged by U-38 | 18 October | 55 | 0 | Towed into port | |
Clintonia | Pulpwood | Damaged by U-99 Sunk by U-123* | 19 October 19 October | 35 | 1 | ||
SS Convallaria | Pulpwood | Sunk by U-46* | 18 October | 22 | 0 | ||
Corinthic | Steel and scrap metal | Reached port safely | 21 | 0 | |||
Creekirk | Iron ore | Sunk by U-101* | 18 October | 0 | 36 | ||
Dioni | Grain | Reached port safely | 82 | 0 | |||
Eaglescliffe Hall | Timber | Reached port safely | 64 | 0 | |||
Empire Brigade | Various metals and ores | Sunk by U-99 | 19 October | 35 | 6 | ||
Empire Miniver | Pig iron and steel | Sunk by U-99 | 19 October | 35 | 3 | ||
Fiscus | Steel, timber and aircraft | Sunk by U-99 | 18 October | 1 | 38 | Straggler | |
Flynderborg | Pulpwood | Reached port safely | 12 | 0 | |||
SS Gunborg | Pulpwood | Sunk by U-46* | 18 October | 23 | 0 | ||
Havørn[8] | Pit props | Reached port safely | 53 | 0 | |||
Inger Elisabeth[9] | Pit props | Reached port safely | 44 | 0 | |||
Karlander[10] | Timber | Reached port safely | 92 | 0 | |||
Languedoc | Fuel oil | Sunk by U-48* | 17 October | 39 | 0 | ||
SS Niritos | Sulphur | Sunk by U-99* | 18 October | 27 | 1 | ||
Scoresby | Pit props | Sunk by U-48* | 17 October | 39 | 0 | ||
SS Sedgepool | Wheat | Sunk by U-123* | 19 October | 36 | 3 | ||
SS Shekatika | Pit props and steel | Damaged by U-123, U-99 and U-100 Sunk by U-123* | 19 October | 36 | 0 | Had joined from convoy SHX-76. A 'romper' (travelling ahead of the main convoy) | |
Snefjeld[11] | Timber | Sunk by U-99* | 19 October | 21 | 0 | ||
Sneland I[12] | Sulphur | Reached port safely | 94 | 0 | |||
Soesterberg | Pit props | Sunk by U-101* | 19 October | 19 | 6 | ||
Somersby | Flour | Reached port safely | 83 | 0 | |||
SS Thalia | Steel, lead and zinc | Sunk by U-99* | 19 October | 4 | 22 | ||
Thorøy[13] | Fuel oil | Reached port safely | 63 | 0 | |||
SS Trevisa | Timber | Sunk by U-124* | 16 October | 14 | 7 | Straggler. First ship lost. | |
Trident | Steel and timber | Reached port safely | 43 | 0 | |||
Valparaiso | General cargo | Reached port safely | 14 | 0 | |||
Winona | Timber | Returned to port | 34 | 0 | |||
Escorts
Name | Class | Navy | Date joined | Date departed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
HMS Bluebell | Flower-class corvette | 18 October | 21 October | ||
HMCS Elk | Armed yacht | 5 October | 7 October | ||
HMS Fowey | Shoreham-class sloop | 18 October | 21 October | ||
HMS Heartsease | Flower-class corvette | 18 October | 21 October | Dispatched with the damaged Carsbreck on 18 October | |
HMS Leith | Grimsby-class sloop | 18 October | 21 October | ||
HMS Scarborough | Hastings-class sloop | 5 October | 21 October | Lost contact with the convoy on 17 October and was unable to rejoin | |
U-boats
Name | Commander | Ships sunk | Ships damaged | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
U-38 | Heinrich Liebe | 1 | 1 | |
U-46 | Engelbert Endrass | 3 | 0 | |
U-48 | Heinrich Bleichrodt | 2 | 0 | |
U-99 | Otto Kretschmer | 6 | 1 | |
U-100 | Joachim Schepke | 0 | 3 | |
U-101 | Fritz Frauenheim | 3 | 1 | |
U-123 | Karl-Heinz Moehle | 4 | 0 | |
U-124 | Georg-Wilhelm Schulz | 1 | 0 | |
Notes
- ↑ Canadian convoys
- 1 2 The Allied Convoy System
- ↑ Battle of the Atlantic
- 1 2 3 Convoy web
- ↑ Sinking of Trevisa
- ↑ Sinking of Aenos
- 1 2 Timeline of World War II
- ↑ D/S Havørn, warsailors.com
- ↑ D/S Inger Elisabeth, warsailors.com
- ↑ D/S Karlander, warsailors.com
- ↑ D/S Snefjeld, warsailors.com
- ↑ D/S Sneland I, warsailors.com
- ↑ D/T Thorøy, warsailors.com
References
- Paul Lund, Harry Ludlam : The Night of the U-Boats ( 1973) ISBN 0-572-00828-7
- Stephen Roskill : The War at Sea 1939-1945 Vol I (1954) ISBN (none)
- Dan van der Vat : The Atlantic Campaign (1988) ISBN 0-340-37751-8
- Arnold Hague : The Allied Convoy System 1939-1945 (2000) . Canada ISBN 1-55125-033-0 . UK ISBN 1-86176-147-3