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 | Greece | Wheat | Sunk by U-38* | 17 October | 25 | 4 | Straggler |
Assyrian | United Kingdom | Grain | Sunk by U-101* | 19 October | 34 | 17 | Convoy commodore's ship |
Beatus | United Kingdom | Steel, timber and aircraft | Sunk by U-46* | 18 October | 37 | 0 | |
Blairspey | United Kingdom | Timber | Damaged by U-101 Damaged by U-100 | 18 October 19 October | 34 | 0 | Reached port, repaired and returned to service. |
Boekelo | Netherlands | Timber | Damaged by U-100 Sunk by U-123* | 18 October 19 October | 25 | 0 | Straggler |
Botusk | United Kingdom | Timber | Reached port safely | 42 | 0 | ||
Carsbreck | United Kingdom | Timber | Damaged by U-38 | 18 October | 55 | 0 | Towed into port |
Clintonia | United Kingdom | Pulpwood | Damaged by U-99 Sunk by U-123* | 19 October 19 October | 35 | 1 | |
SS Convallaria | Sweden | Pulpwood | Sunk by U-46* | 18 October | 22 | 0 | |
Corinthic | United Kingdom | Steel and scrap metal | Reached port safely | 21 | 0 | ||
Creekirk | United Kingdom | Iron ore | Sunk by U-101* | 18 October | 0 | 36 | |
Dioni | Greece | Grain | Reached port safely | 82 | 0 | ||
Eaglescliffe Hall | United Kingdom | Timber | Reached port safely | 64 | 0 | ||
Empire Brigade | United Kingdom | Various metals and ores | Sunk by U-99 | 19 October | 35 | 6 | |
Empire Miniver | United Kingdom | Pig iron and steel | Sunk by U-99 | 19 October | 35 | 3 | |
Fiscus | United Kingdom | Steel, timber and aircraft | Sunk by U-99 | 18 October | 1 | 38 | Straggler |
Flynderborg | United Kingdom | Pulpwood | Reached port safely | 12 | 0 | ||
SS Gunborg | Sweden | Pulpwood | Sunk by U-46* | 18 October | 23 | 0 | |
Havørn[8] | Norway | Pit props | Reached port safely | 53 | 0 | ||
Inger Elisabeth[9] | Norway | Pit props | Reached port safely | 44 | 0 | ||
Karlander[10] | Norway | Timber | Reached port safely | 92 | 0 | ||
Languedoc | United Kingdom | Fuel oil | Sunk by U-48* | 17 October | 39 | 0 | |
SS Niritos | Greece | Sulphur | Sunk by U-99* | 18 October | 27 | 1 | |
Scoresby | United Kingdom | Pit props | Sunk by U-48* | 17 October | 39 | 0 | |
SS Sedgepool | United Kingdom | Wheat | Sunk by U-123* | 19 October | 36 | 3 | |
SS Shekatika | United Kingdom | 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] | Norway | Timber | Sunk by U-99* | 19 October | 21 | 0 | |
Sneland I[12] | Norway | Sulphur | Reached port safely | 94 | 0 | ||
Soesterberg | Netherlands | Pit props | Sunk by U-101* | 19 October | 19 | 6 | |
Somersby | United Kingdom | Flour | Reached port safely | 83 | 0 | ||
SS Thalia | Greece | Steel, lead and zinc | Sunk by U-99* | 19 October | 4 | 22 | |
Thorøy[13] | Norway | Fuel oil | Reached port safely | 63 | 0 | ||
SS Trevisa | Canada | Timber | Sunk by U-124* | 16 October | 14 | 7 | Straggler. First ship lost. |
Trident | United Kingdom | Steel and timber | Reached port safely | 43 | 0 | ||
Valparaiso | Sweden | General cargo | Reached port safely | 14 | 0 | ||
Winona | United States | Timber | Returned to port | 34 | 0 | ||
Escorts
Name | Class | Navy | Date joined | Date departed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
HMS Bluebell | Flower-class corvette | Royal Navy | 18 October | 21 October | |
HMCS Elk | Armed yacht | Royal Canadian Navy | 5 October | 7 October | |
HMS Fowey | Shoreham-class sloop | Royal Navy | 18 October | 21 October | |
HMS Heartsease | Flower-class corvette | Royal Navy | 18 October | 21 October | Dispatched with the damaged Carsbreck on 18 October |
HMS Leith | Grimsby-class sloop | Royal Navy | 18 October | 21 October | |
HMS Scarborough | Hastings-class sloop | Royal Navy | 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
External links
- A report on the convoy from public records
- Convoy SC-7 at Uboat.net
- SC-7 at Arnold Hague's convoy database