Convoy HX 79

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 were 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]

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 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]

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]

Convoy HX 79 was sighted by U-47 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien) Prien transmitted a sighting report and shadowed the convoy. The U-boats U-99, 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; 72 men abandoned ship and were picked up later by Loch Lomond, which was acting as a rescue ship.^[7]

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. 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.^[7]

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]

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] The convoy had lost twelve ships out of 49, with a tonnage of 75,069 gross register tons (GRT) for no loss to the U-boats.^[2]

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.^[11]

Tactics had to be made on the spot and communicated by signal lamp to each ship. 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 per-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]

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]

• 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.

• HX 79 at convoyweb