Convoy HX.79
Part of The Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War

Diagram of the area of the Western Approaches
Date19–20 October 1940
Location
Western Approaches
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Kriegsmarine  Royal Navy
Commanders and leaders
Admiral Karl Dönitz
Strength
5 U-boats 49 ships (1 early return)
17 escorts (11 during attack)
Casualties and losses
None 12 ships sunk
1 damaged

HX 79 was an Allied convoy in the North Atlantic of the HX series, which sailed east from Halifax, Nova Scotia. The convoy took place during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. One ship dropped out and returned to port, leaving 49 to cross the Atlantic for Liverpool. Two armed merchant cruisers and a submarine escorted the convoy to protect it from German commerce raiders.

The oceanic escorts detached from the convoy at noon on 18 October, in the Western Approaches, where Convoy SC 7 had been attacked by a Wolfpack on the night of 18/19 October, which sank many ships and scattered the survivors. The Admiralty sent the ten ships and a submarine escorting Convoy OB 229 to defend Convoy HX 79, which arrived from 8:00 a.m. to noon on 19 October.

During the night of 19/20 October, U-boats attacked the convoy and sank twelve ships. The convoy escorts were inexperienced and not trained in common anti-submarine tactics, the four corvettes were new and crewed with inexperienced wartime recruits; the submarine got in the way and was attacked twice by the ships. The U-boats, having expended their torpedoes turned for home.

German military communiqués exaggerated the results of the attacks on Convoys SC 7 and HX 79, claiming an even greater victory than the one achieved. The British began to revise their tactics and organisation, creating permanent escort groups and hurrying the provision of new equipment like R/T for anti-submarine ships and aircraft to communicate.

Background

U-boats

From 22 September the U-boats U-29, U-43, U-31, U-32, U-46, U-37, U-38, U-137 and U-123 to pick off ships sailing independently and attack convoys in the area between the North Channel and the Rockall Bank. The first attempt to intercept a convoy with a line of U-boats on 7 October failed but several independents were sunk, including three from Convoy SC 6.[1]

Convoy SC 7

Rockall, Rockall Bank and the North Channel

SC 7 was a slow convoy which departed Sydney on 5 October 1940, ahead of the faster Convoy HX 79, bound for Liverpool with 34 ships. On 17 October, four of the ships had straggled and it had been met by the sloops HMS Scarborough and Fowey with the corvette HMS Bluebell. The U-boat U-48 sank two ships before Coastal Command flying boats forced the U-boat to withdraw.[2]

Convoy HX 79

Convoy HX 79 was an east-bound convoy which sailed from Halifax on 8 October 1940 making for Liverpool.[3] Twenty ships joined at Halifax, nineteen from Sydney, Nova Scotia and then ten ships from Bermuda, one ship dropped out and returned early.[4] The meagre ocean escort of the armed merchant cruisers HMS Alaunia and Montclare with the Netherlands submarine HNLMS O 14 accompanied the convoy in case of attack by a surface raider.[2]

Prelude

Attack on Convoy SC 7

Having received the sighting report from U-48, Admiral Karl Dönitz, the Befehlshaber der U-Boote (Commander, U-boats) established another patrol line with U-101, U-46, U-123, U-99, U-100. During the night of 17/18 October U-38 attacked twice, sinking one ship befire being forced to retire by the corvette HMS Heartsease, which, with the sloop HMS Leith, had joined the convoy. Later in the evening, the convoy reached the U-boat patrol line and the escorts present, Leith, Fowey and Bluebell were unable to challenge U-101, U-46, U-99 (attacking from inside the convoy), U-123 and U-100 which overwhelmed the convoy escorts with massed attacks and sank sixteen ships, damaged one and scattered the survivors.[2] On 19 October, the 49 ships of Convoy HX 79 entered the Western Approaches, where the slow Convoy SC 7 had been attacked.[5]

In the late morning of 19 October Alaunia and Montclare turned west, handing over Convoy HX 79 to the 1st Escort Group (1st EG).[5] The Admiralty expected an attack on Convoy HX 79 after the disaster befalling Convoy SC 7 and sent the 1st EG, the escorts of Convoy OB 229, to reinforce the convoy; eleven ships arrived from 8:00 a.m. until noon.[6] The escort group consisted of the destroyers HMS Whitehall (Lieutenant-Commander Archibald Russell, escort leader) and Sturdy, the minesweeper HMS Jason, the corvettes HMS Hibiscus, Heliotrope, Coreopsis and Arabis with the anti-submarine trawlers HMT Lady Elsa, Blackfly and Angle. The submarine HNLMS O 21 had also joined during the morning of 19 October.[6]

Action

Day: 19 October

Convoy HX 79 was sighted by U-47 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien) Prien transmitted a sighting report and shadowed the convoy. The U-boats U99, U-101 and U-123 had fired all their torpedoes in the attack on Convoy SC 7 and sailed for home; those still operational were directed to the scene; U-100 (Joachim Schepke), U-46 (Engelbert Endrass) and U-28 which had failed to reach Convoy SC 7 in time and U-38 (Heinrich Liebe) and U-48 (Heinrich Bleichrodt) were guided to Convoy HX 79 by U-47, joining during the day.[2] U-boats which failed to reach Convoy HX 79 in time continued to attack ships sailing independently. At the back of the port column, the British Brocklebank liner Matheran was torpedoed by U-38 outside the convoy. The torpedo hit No. 3 hold and the ship sank in seven minutes, with its cargo of 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) of iron and 1,200 long tons (1,200 t) of zinc, grain, machinery and general cargo. Captain J. Greenhall and eight crew were killed and 72 men abandoned ship and were picked up later by Loch Lomond, which was acting as a rescue ship. U-38 entered the convoy and six minutes later fired a second salvo of torpedoes at the Maclay & McIntyre tramp Uganda in the third column, carrying 2,006 long tons (2,038 t) of steel and 6,200 long tons (6,300 t) of wood. Only one lifeboat was not destroyed by the explosion but there were no casualties, Captain C. Mackinnon and the 39 crew being rescued by Jason. U-47 attacked, also on the surface, sinking first the Dutch Holland–Amerika Lijn general cargo-vessel, Bilderdijk, loaded with 8,640 long tons (8,780 t) of grain and general cargo, the crew of 39 men surviving.[7]

Having sunk the second vessel in column two, U-47 torpedoed the Baltic Trading Company vessel, Shirak, the sixth ship in the second column, carrying 7,771 long tons (7,896 t) of petroleum products. The crew abandoned ship and Captain L. R. Morrison with his crew were rescued by Blackfly; as the convoy sailed on, U-48 finished Shirak off.[7] U-47 attacked the new Ropner tramp steamer Wandby, on its first journey, with 1,700 long tons (1,700 t) of lead, zinc and 7,200 long tons (7,300 t) of wood from Vancouver; the crew being rescued by Angle. Wandby sank slowly going down on 21 October. U-46 had also fired at Wandby and close to midnight torpedoed the British tramp steamer Ruperra full of steel scrap and aircraft, the ship sinking quickly with the captain, D. T. Davies, 29 crew members and a naval gunner being killed; seven men were rescued by Induna. U-100 sank two tankers of the British Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company. Caprella (Captain P. Prior, from Curaçao with a cargo of 11,300 long tons (11,500 t) of heavy fuel oil .was hit at 11:15 p.m. The fuel did not explode but the torpedo hit it between the bridge and the engine room, breaking the ship’s back. Lifeboats amidships and aft were lowered, without the chief officer, who had been on the bridge and was killed by the torpedo explosion. As Captain Prior and his crew abandoned ship, they could see Shirak burning nearby. The 52 survivors were picked up by Lady Elsa after about two hours. U-100 attacked Sitala, also bound for Stanlow with 8,444 long tons (8,580 t) of crude oil, killing a member of the engine-room staff; Captain J. L. Morgans and 42 crew were rescued by Lady Elsa.[8]

Night 19/20 October

It was now after midnight, and Prien fired at Buries Markes’s cargo-vessel La Estancia. Again one man below was lost, along with the 8,333 long tons (8,467 t) of sugar, Captain J. Meneely, 24 members of the crew and a passenger were rescued by Coreopsis and seven men taken on by Induna. U-47 still on the surface, torpedoed Whitford Point at the back of the convoy, carrying 7,840 long tons (7,970 t) of steel and sinking quickly with the Captain J. E. Young and 35 men; a survivor was rescued by Sturdy. After stopping to rescue the survivors of Matheran, the Maclay & McIntyre ship, Loch Lomond, carrying 6,000 long tons (6,100 t) of wood and 1,858 long tons (1,888 t) of steel, was attacked and sunk by U-100, Captain W. J. Park, the 38 crew and the survivors from Matheran were picked up by Jason. A straggler, the Swedish Johnson Line oil-tanker, Janus, a new 9,965 GRT ship, was sunk by U-46. Janus was the last ship of Convoy HX 79 to be sunk but U-47 damaged the tanker Athelmonarch, which made port. Convoy HX 79 arrived at Liverpool without further loss on 23 October.[9] Convoy HX 79 had lost twelve ships out of 49, a total tonnage of 75,069 gross register tons (GRT) for no loss to the U-boats.[2]

Aftermath

Analysis

Based on short signals and the confusion of massed night attacks, Dönitz at U-boat headquarters in Paris announced exaggerated figures for ships sunk, some later being amended after U-boat crews returned and gave more detailed accounts. Seventeen sinkings were claimed against a post-war analysis by Jurgen Rohwer of twelve ships sunk.[10] Despite the number of escorts, their anti-submarine effort had been ineffective; the ships were uncoordinated, the four corvettes were new, with inexperienced hostilities-only crews, the ships were not used to working together and used different tactics. The escorts had arrived singly and command went to the senior officer present and could change if a new arrival was commanded by a more senior officer. Tactics had to be made on the spot and communicated by signal lamp to each ship in turn. The failure of the escort led to a number of changes in policy. Permanent escort groups were formed with a leader, allowing consistent tactics and better teamwork.[11] In the German semi-official history, Germany and the Second World War (2015), Bernd Stegemann wrote that the U-boats had their best success pe-day-at-sea in October 1940, a period that the submariners called the Happy Time. During the winter of 1940–1941 the U-boats had less success due to the seasonal weather, the British–US destroyers-for-bases deal, the arrival of more corvettes, the addition of radar sets and radio-telephones to British destroyers and the (slow) increase in the number of Coastal Command aircraft.[12]

Casualties

Amongst the casualties, Caprella suffered one man killed and 51 survivors, Matheran suffered nine men killed, thirty men wee killed and seven survived on Ruperra, one man was killed and 43 survived on Sitara and there were three survivors and 36 men killed on Whitford Point.[13] The U-Boats sank 21 ships of 79,592 GRT in Convoy SC 7 and stragglers; the U-boats then sank 12 ships in Convoy HX 79 of 75,069 GRT** and damaged a tanker. The six GRT discrepancy in the U-boat claims table is accounted for by it coming from an edition of Axis Submarine Successes 1939–1945 (1983) by Jürgen Rohwer and the larger figure being taken from Chronology of the War at Sea (2005) by Rohwer and Hümmelchen.[2]

Tonnage lost

List of tonnage sunk from SC 7, HX 79, stragglers and scattered ships[lower-alpha 1]
U-boat Sunk GRT Notes
U-48637,0831 damaged by U-47 (6,032 GRT)
U-101414,5621 shared with U-100 and U-123 (4,155 GRT), 1 damaged with U-100 (5,458 GRT)
U-93313,214
U-124520,061
U-46522,9661 shared with U-47 (4,947 GRT)
U-99627,3961 shared with U-123 (4,144 GRT)
U-100319,9001 shared with U-101 and U-123 (4,155 GRT), 1 damaged with U-101 (5,458 GRT)
U-47317,0651 shared with U-48 (6,023 GRT), 1 shared with U-46 (4,947 GRT), 1 damaged (8,995 GRT)

U-boat claims

U-boat HQ claims against Convoy HX 79 and post-war analysis, data from Blair (2000).[10]
U-boat Captain Dönitz GRT Rohwer GRT
U-38Heinruch Liebe213,000212,619
U-46Engelbert Endrass323,0002½*16,987
U-47Günter Prien850,500422,552
U-48Heinrich Bleichrodt17,000½*3,011
U-100Joachim Schepke319,600319,894
Totals* shared with U-4717113,10012**75,063

Orders of battle

Allied merchant ships

Twenty ships joined at Halifax, nineteen from Sydney, Nova Scotia and then ten ships from Bermuda, one ship having returned early.[4]

Name Flag Tonnage (GRT) Notes
Athelmonarch (1928)  United Kingdom 8,995 Damaged by U-47 no casualties[14]
Atland (1910)  Sweden 5,203
Axel Johnson (1925)  Sweden 4,915 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Baron Carnegie (1925)  United Kingdom 3,178 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Benwood (1910)  Norway 3,931 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Biafra (1933)  United Kingdom 5,405
Bilderdijk (1922)  Netherlands 6,856 Sunk by U-47, no casualties[15]
Blairnevis (1930)  United Kingdom 4,155 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Brittany (1928)  United Kingdom 4,772 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Cadillac (1917)  United Kingdom 12,062
Cairnvalona (1918)  United Kingdom 4,929 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Campus (1925)  United Kingdom 3,667 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Cape Corso (1929)  United Kingdom 3,807
Caprella (1931)  United Kingdom 8,230 Sunk by U-100 one killed, 51 survivors[16]
City Of Lancaster (1924)  United Kingdom 3,041
Egda (1939)  Norway 10,050
Empire Swan (1921)  United Kingdom 7,964
Empire Trader (1908)  United Kingdom 9,990 Joined Ex BHX 79
Enseigne Maurice Prehac (1924)  United Kingdom 4,578 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Erna III (1930)  United Kingdom 1,590 Returned early
Flowergate (1911)  United Kingdom 5,161
Gunda (1930)  Sweden 1,770
Harbury (1933)  United Kingdom 5,081
Harlesden (1932)  United Kingdom 5,483
Hoyanger (1926)  Norway 4,624 Joined Ex BHX 79
Induna (1925)  United Kingdom 5,086 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Janus (1939)  Sweden 9,965 Sunk by U-46 all 38 crew survived[17][18]
Kiruna (1921)  Sweden 5,484 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
La Estancia (1940)  United Kingdom 5,185 Joined Ex BHX 79, Sunk by U-47[19]
Loch Lomond (1934)  United Kingdom 5,452 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia. Sunk by U-100 crew of 39 and 72 survivors rescued by Jason
Marathon (1919)  Greece 7,926
Matheran (1919)  United Kingdom 7,653 Sunk by U-38, nine killed[20]
Ravnefjell (1938)  Norway 1,339 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Rio Blanco (1922)  United Kingdom 4,086 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Ruperra (1925)  United Kingdom 4,548 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia. Sunk by U-46 30 killed seven survivors[19][21]
Rydboholm (1933)  Sweden 3,197
Salacia (1937)  United Kingdom 5,495
San Roberto (1922)  United Kingdom 5,890
Sandanger (1938)  Norway 9,432
Shirak (1926)  United Kingdom 6,023 Joined Ex BHX 79. Sunk by U-47 & U-48, no casualties[19][22]
Sir Ernest Cassel (1910)  Sweden 7,739 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sitala (1937)  United Kingdom 6,218 Joined Ex BHX 79. Sunk by U-100, one killed, 43 survivors[16]
Thyra (1920)  Norway 1,655 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Tiba (1938)  Netherlands 5,239 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Tribesman (1937)  United Kingdom 6,242 Joined Ex BHX 79
Triton (1930)  Norway 6,607 Joined Ex BHX 79
Uganda (1927)  United Kingdom 4,966 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia. sunk by U-38[19]
Wandby (1940)  United Kingdom 4,947 Joined Ex BHX 79. Sunk by U-47, no casualties, wreck sank 21 October[23][22]
Wellington Court (1930)  United Kingdom 4,979 Sailed Sydney, Nova Scotia
Whitford Point (1928)  United Kingdom 5,026 Sunk by U-47, three survivors, 36 killed[24]

Convoy escorts

Warships escorted the convoy at times during its journey. Data from Rohwer and Hümmelchen (2005) unless indicated.[2]

Name Flag Type Period
HMS/HMT Angle  Royal Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) trawler 19 Oct 1940
HMS Arabis  Royal Navy Flower-class corvette 19–23 Oct 1940
HMS/HMT Blackfly  Royal Navy ASW trawler 19 Oct 1940
HMS Coreopsis  Royal Navy Flower-class corvette 19–22 Oct 1940
HMCS French  Royal Canadian Navy Armed yacht 8–9 Oct 1940
HMS Heliotrope  Royal Navy Flower-class corvette 19–23 Oct 1940
HMS Hibiscus  Royal Navy Flower-class corvette 19–23 Oct 1940
HMCS Husky  Royal Canadian Navy Armed yacht 9–10 Oct 1940
HMS Jason  Royal Navy Halcyon-class minesweeper 9 Oct 1940
HMS/HMT Lady Elsa  Royal Navy ASW trawler 19 Oct 1940
HMS Montclare  Royal Navy Armed merchant cruiser 9–18 Oct 1940
HNLMS O 14  Royal Netherlands Navy O 12-class submarine 9–18 Oct 1940
HMCS Reindeer  Royal Canadian Navy Armed yacht 9–10 Oct 1940
HMCS Saguenay  Royal Canadian Navy Canadian River-class destroyer 8–9 Oct 1940
HMS Sardonyx  Royal Navy Admiralty S-class destroyer 20 Oct 1940
HMS Sturdy  Royal Navy S-class destroyer 19 Oct 1940
HMS Whitehall  Royal Navy Modified W-class destroyer 19–21 Oct 1940

U-boats

U-boats attacking Convoy HX 79. Data from Rohwer and Hümmelchen (2005) unless indicated.[2]
U-boat Captain Notes
U-38Heinrich LiebeType IX
U-46Engelbert EndrassType VIIB, bombed and damaged by three Hudsons of 233 Squadron Coastal Command, west of Stavanger on return journey, one man killed.[25]
U-47Günther PrienType VIIB
U-48Heinrich BleichrodtType VIIB
U-100Joachim SchepkeType VIIB

Notes

  1. ↑ Data from Rohwer and Hümmelchen (2005) unless indicated.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 41–42.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 44.
  3. ↑ Hague 2000, p. 127.
  4. 1 2 Edwards 2011, pp. 130–131.
  5. 1 2 Woodman 2013, p. 245.
  6. 1 2 Edwards 2011, p. 157; Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 44.
  7. 1 2 Woodman 2013, pp. 246–247.
  8. ↑ Woodman 2013, p. 247.
  9. ↑ Woodman 2013, pp. 247–249.
  10. 1 2 Blair 2000, p. 342.
  11. ↑ Milner 2011, p. 37.
  12. ↑ Stegemann 2015, p. 346.
  13. ↑ Edwards 2011, pp. 131–157.
  14. ↑ Edwards 2011, p. 156.
  15. ↑ Hague 2000, p. 131; Edwards 2011, p. 138.
  16. 1 2 Hague 2000, p. 131; Edwards 2011, p. 142.
  17. ↑ Blair 2000, p. 343; Edwards 2011, p. 157.
  18. ↑ Edwards 2011, p. 158.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Hague 2000, p. 131.
  20. ↑ Hague 2000, p. 131; Edwards 2011, p. 135.
  21. ↑ Edwards 2011, p. 145.
  22. 1 2 Edwards 2011, p. 138.
  23. ↑ Hague 2000, p. 141.
  24. ↑ Hague 2000, p. 131; Edwards 2011, p. 153.
  25. ↑ Woodman 2013, p. 249.

Bibliography

  • Blair, Clay (2000) [1996]. Hitler's U-boat War: The Hunters, 1939–1942 (Modern Library Paperback, NYC ed.). New York City: Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-87437-5.
  • Edwards, Bernard (2011). The Wolf Packs Gather: Mayhem in the Western Approaches 1940. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime. ISBN 978-1-84468-271-3.
  • Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
  • Maier, Klaus A.; Rohde, Horst; Stegemann, Bernd; Umbreit, Hans (2015) [1991]. Falla, P. S. (ed.). Germany and the Second World War: Germany's Initial Conquests in Europe. Vol. II. Translated by McMurry, Dean S.; Osers, Ewald (trans. pbk. Clarendon Press, Oxford ed.). Freiburg im Breisgau: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt [Research Institute for Military History]. ISBN 978-0-19-873834-3.
    • Stegemann, Bernd. "Part VI The Battle for Hegemony in Western Europe. Part VIII The Second Phase of the War at Sea (until the Spring of 1941) I. The Submarine War". In Maier et al. (2015).
  • Milner, Marc (2011) [1985]. Battle of the Atlantic (e-book ed.). Stroud: Spellmount. ISBN 978-0-75246646-0. First published as North Atlantic Run: The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle for the Convoys (1985) University of Toronto Press.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Further reading

  • Carruthers, Bob, ed. (2013) [2011]. The U-boat War in the Atlantic: 1939–1941. World War II from Original Sources. Vol. I (Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley ed.). Coda Books. ISBN 978-1-47384-651-7.
  • Edwards, Bernard (1996). Dönitz and the Wolf Packs – The U-boats at War. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 0-304-35203-9.
  • Lund, Paul; Ludlam, Harry (1973). The Night of the U-Boats. London: W. Foulsham & Co. ISBN 0-450-01833-4.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (1983). Axis Submarine successes of World War Two: German, Italian and Japanese Submarine successes, 1939–1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-85059-695-3.
  • 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.
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