Convoy SC 104 was the 104th of the numbered series of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney,

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. During October 1942, a U-boat wolf pack sank eight ships from the convoy. The convoy escorts sank two of the attacking submarines.

Background

As western Atlantic coastal

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be use ...

s brought an end to the

second happy time The "Second Happy Time" (; officially Operation Paukenschlag ("Operation Drumbeat"), and also known among German submarine commanders as the "American Shooting Season") was a phase in the Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines a ...

, Admiral

Karl Dönitz Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a Nazi Germany, German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Gov ...

the ''

Befehlshaber der U-Boote The ''Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote'' or BdU (Eng: "Commander of the U-boats") was the supreme commander of the German Navy's U-boat Arm (''Ubootwaffe'') during the First and Second World Wars. The term also referred to the Command HQ of the U-bo ...

'' (''BdU'') or commander in chief of

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

s, shifted focus to the mid-Atlantic to avoid aircraft patrols. Although convoy routing was less predictable in the mid-ocean, Dönitz anticipated that the increased numbers of U-boats being produced would be able to effectively search for convoys with the advantage of intelligence gained through ''

B-Dienst The ''B-Dienst'' (german: Beobachtungsdienst, observation service), also called x''B-Dienst'', X-''B-Dienst'' and χ''B-Dienst'', was a Department of the German Naval Intelligence Service (german: Marinenachrichtendienst, MND III) of the OKM, t ...

'' decryption of British Naval Cypher Number 3. However, only 20 percent of the 180 trans-Atlantic convoys sailing from the end of July 1942 until the end of April 1943 lost ships to U-boat attack. Forty-seven ships departed

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

on 3 October 1942 and were met by

Mid-Ocean Escort Force Mid-Ocean Escort Force (MOEF) referred to the organisation of anti-submarine escorts for World War II trade convoys between Canada and Newfoundland, and the British Isles. The allocation of United States, British, and Canadian escorts to these c ...

Group B-6 consisting of the and , with the Norwegian-manned s , , , and and the

convoy rescue ship A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

''Goathland''. Opposing this force was the U-boat Wolf pack ''Wotan'' comprising 8 boats: , , , , , , , and .Hague 2000 p.135Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.167

Action

The convoy was found and reported by ''U-258'' on 11 October, and the other ''Wotan'' boats were ordered to join. By the evening of 12 October, ''U-258'' had been joined by ''U-221'' and ''U-356'', and during the night of 12/13 October these boats attacked. ''U-258'' and ''U-356'' were unsuccessful, being driven off by the escorts, but ''U-221'' was able to sink three ships: the Norwegian freighters ''Senta'', and ''Fagersten'', and the British freighter ''Ashworth''. On the 13th the three U-boats continued to shadow the convoy, and were joined during the day by five other boats. On the night of the 13/14 October the wolf pack attacked again. This time ''U-221'' sank two ships: the American freighter ''Susana'' and the British whale factory ship ''Southern Empress''. ''U-607'' torpedoed the Greek freighter ''Nellie'', which later sank, but was itself attacked and severely damaged, and was forced to return to France for repairs. ''U-661'' torpedoed the Yugoslavian freighter ''Nikolina Matkovic'', and ''U-618'' torpedoed the ''Empire Mersey''. Throughout 15 October the ''Wotan'' boats shadowed SC 104, but were unable to mount any successful attacks that night. On 15 October, ''Viscount'' detected ''U-661'' in fog, and attacked with gunfire, ramming and depth charges. ''U-661'' was destroyed, but Viscount was also damaged, and had to finish the voyage as part of the convoy. On 16 October ''U-353'' was sighted by ''Fame'', which attacked and destroyed her by ramming, again suffering damage in the process. Command of the escort passed to LtCdr C.A. Monsen in ''Potentilla'', who was able to make an attack on a contact later that day. No identification was made, or result credited, but post-war examination shows that ''U-254'' was severely damaged in this attack and forced to retire to base. On 16 and 17 October SC 104 came in range of allied air patrols, long–range

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models d ...

s and Catalina flying boats. These were able to break up any further attacks and on the 17th, Dönitz ceased further operations against SC 104.Blair p 39-41 The remainder of the voyage was unhindered, and the convoy reached

on 21 October. SC 104 lost 8 ships of 44,000 tons, with 2 escorts damaged, and saw the destruction of 2 U-boats with the damaging of 2 more.

Ships in convoy

Losses

Notes

References

* Blair, Clay : ''Hitler's U-Boat War olume 2 The Hunted 1942–1945'' (1998) (2000 UK paperback ed.) * * Kemp, Paul : U-Boats Destroyed (1997). * * * * {{cite book, title=The U-Boat Offensive 1914–1945 , author=Tarrant, V.E. , publisher=Arms and Armour , year=1989 , isbn=1-85409-520-X

External links

* http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html convoy.web * http://uboat.net/ops/convoys/convoys.php?convoy=SC-104 u.boat.net SC104 Naval battles of World War II involving Canada C