Battle of the Bay of Biscay

The Battle of the Bay of Biscay, or Operation Bernau, was a naval action that took place on 28 December 1943 during World War II as part of the Atlantic campaign. The battle took place in the Bay of Biscay between two light cruisers of the British Royal Navy, and a destroyer and a torpedo boat flotilla of the German Kriegsmarine hoping to intercept and escort a blockade runner. The battle was fought as part of the Allied Operation Stonewall, which was to intercept German blockade runners off the west coast of France. In the confused action that followed the two British cruisers and respectively sank ''T26'', together with her sister ship ''T25'' and the destroyer ''Z27''.Blair p.454

Background

In late December 1943 a German ''Kriegsmarine'' destroyer flotilla, reinforced by six large Elbing-class torpedo boats, was ordered to the Bay of Biscay in order to escort into a French port the blockade runners ''Osorno'' and ''Alsterufer'', which were carrying vital cargo from Japan. The Germans codenamed this Operation ''Bernau''.Chesneau p. 238 The blockade runner ''Osorno'' reached the Gironde on 26 December, but struck a wreck in the estuary after being attacked by the RAF. She was beached and subsequently unloaded offshore. Meanwhile, ''Alsterufer'', carrying tungsten (''Wolfram'') and rubber, was still much further behind.Tucker pp. 96–97

''Korvettenkapitän'' Franz Kohlauf sailed from Brest on the morning of 27 December with the torpedo boats ''T23'', ''T24'', and ''T22''. The 8th Destroyer Flotilla under ''Kapitän zur See'' Hans Erdmenger put out from the Gironde with destroyers , ''Z37'', and , accompanied by two torpedo boats, , under the command of ''Korvettenkapitän'' Wirich von Gartzen, and ''T27''.O'Hara pp. 277–279

The British Admiralty were also aware of the impending arrival of ''Alsterufer'' through the decryption of German Enigma messages at Bletchley Park and sent out dispatches to the nearest ships in the area for the interception. The closest ship, the light cruiser , which had sailed from the Azores on 24 December, was soon joined by . In support, but further away; had been ordered out from Gibraltar; steamed past Lisbon; and HMNZS Gambia was in the Western Atlantic.

By 04:00 the next day the 4th Flotilla was 300 miles due south of Cape Clear, the 8th Flotilla standing to the south, and were ready to meet ''Alsterufer''. She was however nowhere to be seen. The German flotillas were completely unaware that during the previous afternoon a B-24 Liberator bomber of No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF had attacked and set ''Alsterufer'' on fire. Abandoned by her crew, the ship was finished off by Liberators of No. 86 Squadron. This released the ''Glasgow'' and ''Enterprise'', who were some 300 nautical miles south-west of the German forces and were now steaming eastwards along the 45th Parallel.

Just after midday, Erdmenger's 8th Destroyer Flotilla sighted Kohlauf's 4th Flotilla to the east, whereupon the torpedo boats turned east astern of the northernmost destroyers, taking station on their port side.(German)

Battle

Allied aircraft had already reported the position of the German ships about 1300. About the same time a lone German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor sighted and attacked both cruisers only to be repelled by anti-aircraft gunfire. The German aircrew immediately turned north-east, reporting the position of the British cruisers more than half an hour later to Erdmenger. Captain Charles Clark on HMS ''Glasgow'', assuming that he had been reported then also turned north-east, working around Erdmenger's position to intercept. The sea was becoming rougher and the wind had increased to 30 knots, making sailing difficult for the destroyers and torpedo boats.

Sailing into rough seas and gale force winds, ''Glasgow'' sighted the destroyers at 1332 hours at a range of 16 miles. The two cruisers then intercepted at full speed and altered course to cut the German ships off from their base.
Soon after Clarke gave the order for ''Glasgow'' to open fire with her 6-inch 'A' and 'B' turrets using her Type 273 radar for ranging. ''Enterprise'' opened fire a few minutes later. The two leading German destroyers however remained unscathed as shells splashed 100–150 metres from their targets. The Germans counter-attacked: ''Z23'' launched six torpedoes, three from each bank of tubes, when the range was down to 17,000 metres, but missed. Both destroyers also opened up with their 15 cm guns and their first shots fell only 200 metres over on Glasgow's port quarter. At about 1405 hours, a German shell hit ''Glasgow'' which exploded in 'A' boiler room, killing two members of the port pom-pom crew and wounding six others. ''Enterprise'' was continually straddled by near misses.

By 1418 hours both of the German flotillas were involved in the fight. The 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla attempted to attack with torpedoes a number of times but was frustrated by the heavy seas. ''Z32'' and ''Z37'' turned towards the cruisers, and closing to 12,800 metres, launched six and four torpedoes respectively as the cruisers continued to give heavy and accurate fire. The torpedo attack forced ''Glasgow'' to make an emergency turn to port as the track of one torpedo passed no more than thirty metres from her port quarter and two more near the port side. ''Enterprise'' had by this time separated from ''Glasgow'' and both acted independently. After the torpedo attack, the destroyers laid smoke and then retired back towards the flotilla line. The formation was as follows: ''Z32'', ''Z24'', ''Z37'', ''T23'', ''T27'', ''T26'', ''T22'', ''T25'', ''Z27'' and ''Z25'' while ''Z32'' and ''Z37'' being off to port in the course of their torpedo attack.

The German force then split up, whereupon ''Glasgow'' reversed course at 1435 hours to chase the northerly group of destroyers; ''Enterprise'' had already altered course to the west to head them off. The Germans then launched another torpedo attack but shortly after ''Z27'' had fired hers, she received a shell hit from ''Enterprise'' which struck the boiler room, passing through an oil bunker which caused a huge fire. Clouds of steam gushed from her forward funnel as her speed fell off. After being hit she fired her second salvo of four torpedoes, but all missed.

''Glasgow'' meanwhile concentrated on ''T25'', which soon after sustained hits in the region of the aft torpedo tubes, the ''Flakvierling'' and the 3.7 cm flak platforms, which killed or wounded all their crews. Then a second shell struck the German torpedo boat, which completely destroyed the mast as well as the funnel. ''T25'' was now a sitting duck and requested ''T22'' to attempt to come alongside and take off her crew. ''Glasgow'' shifted to ''T26'', which was quickly bracketed by near misses. ''T22'' had both cruisers on her port side, and, in an effort to drive them off while she closed in on her damaged consort, she fired her full spread of torpedoes and opened fire with her guns. The torpedoes passed harmlessly by their targets, and as ''T22'' turned to starboard towards ''T25'', she too was bracketed by near misses. ''T22'' abandoned the rescue after suffering another hit, then laid smoke, fired her guns and withdrew to the south-west. ''T26'' was still under fire and was soon severely hit in the boiler room, and as ''T22'' laid smoke to screen her, the damaged ship signalled that she was sinking; ''T22'' turned northwards and broke away.

The two cruisers reversed course, chasing and soon catching ''T26''. Clarke ordered ''Enterprise'' to finish her off while he turned ''Glasgow'' north again to look for the other damaged German vessels, particularly ''T25''. ''Glasgow'' soon came across not ''T25'' but ''Z27'', drifting and silent. Closing to point-blank range, ''Glasgow'' fired, hitting the destroyer's magazines. The hit caused a large explosion which killed Erdmenger, his staff and the captain. At the same time ''Enterprise'' finished off ''T26'' with a single torpedo and then moved in for the kill on ''T25''. The German ship's bridge and upper deck were a twist of metal and her after superstructure wrecked but she remained afloat. ''Enterprise'' closed to 3000 metres, firing her guns and then fired a torpedo; within minutes ''T25'' was an abandoned, burning and sinking wreck.

Aftermath

The two British cruisers met up once more and, seeing no further signs of the German squadron and having accounted for three of them at no significant damage to themselves, withdrew toward Plymouth. They arrived on the evening of 29 December, low on both fuel and ammunition. ''Glasgow'' had received one hit that killed two crew members and wounded another three, while ''Enterprise'' had no real damage except for shell splinters. The two German survivors, ''T22'' and ''Z23'', reunited and headed towards Saint-Jean-de-Luz

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