HMS Fowey was one of the Royal Navy ships to come to the assistance of the convoy

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, which 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

Escorts

Name Class Navy With convoy Notes
HMS BluebellFlower-class corvette Royal Navy18–21 October
HMCS ElkArmed yacht Royal Canadian Navy5 –7 October
HMS FoweyShoreham-class sloop Royal Navy18–21 October
HMS HeartseaseFlower-class corvette Royal Navy18–21 OctoberDispatched with Carsbreck, 18 October
HMS LeithGrimsby-class sloop Royal Navy18–21 October
HMS ScarboroughHastings-class sloop Royal Navy5–21 OctoberLost contact 17 October, unable to rejoin

U-boats

NameCommanderShips sunkShips damagedNotes
U-38Heinrich Liebe11
U-46Engelbert Endrass30
U-48Heinrich Bleichrodt20
U-99Otto Kretschmer61
U-100Joachim Schepke03
U-101Fritz Frauenheim31
U-123Karl-Heinz Moehle40
U-124Georg-Wilhelm Schulz10

Notes

  1. ↑ Canadian convoys
  2. 1 2 The Allied Convoy System
  3. ↑ Battle of the Atlantic
  4. 1 2 3 Convoy web
  5. ↑ Sinking of Trevisa
  6. ↑ Sinking of Aenos
  7. 1 2 Timeline of World War II
  8. 1 2 3 Woodman 2013, p. 234.
  9. ↑ D/S Havørn, warsailors.com
  10. ↑ D/S Inger Elisabeth, warsailors.com
  11. ↑ D/S Karlander, warsailors.com
  12. ↑ D/S Snefjeld, warsailors.com
  13. ↑ D/S Sneland I, warsailors.com
  14. ↑ D/T Thorøy, warsailors.com

References

  • Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
  • Lund, Paul; Ludlam, Harry (1973). The Night of the U-Boats. ISBN 0-450-01833-4.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  • Roskill, S. W. (1957) [1954]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The War at Sea 1939–1945: The Defensive. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. I (4th impr. ed.). London: HMSO. OCLC 881709135. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022.
  • Vat, Dan van der (1988). The Atlantic Campaign: World War II's Great Struggle at Sea. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-015967-2.
  • Woodman, Richard (2013) [2004]. The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943 (3rd (repr.) Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley ed.). London: John Murray. ISBN 978-1-84884-415-5.
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