Convoy SC 118

Convoy SC 118 was the 118th of the numbered series of World War II slow convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island, to Liverpool. The ships departed New York City on 24 January 1943Hague 2000 p.135 and were met by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group B-2 consisting of V-class destroyers and , the cutter , the , s , , and , and the convoy rescue ship ''Toward''.Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p. 191

Background

As western Atlantic coastal convoys brought an end to the "second happy time", Admiral Karl Dönitz, the ''Befehlshaber der U-Boote'' (''BdU'') or commander in chief of U-boats, 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'' 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.Hague pp. 132, 137–38, 161–62, 164, 181

On 2 February sank three ships from convoy HX 224. A survivor of one of the sunken ships was picked up by and told his rescuers a slower convoy was following behind HX 224.Waters December 1966 p.96

Battle

4 February 1943

A careless merchant seaman of convoy SC 118 fired a pyrotechnic snowflake projector aboard the Norwegian freighter SS ''Vannik'' in the pre-dawn darkness of 4 February. observed the snowflake display, reported sighting the convoy, and was promptly sunk by ''Beverly'' and ''Vimy'' after ''Bibb'' and ''Toward'' triangulated the submarine's location from the sighting report, using high-frequency radio direction-finder (HF/DF or Huff-Duff). The destroyers rescued 44 of the submarine's crew. The Polish freighter ''Zagloba'' was torpedoed on the unprotected side of the convoy by and torpedoed the straggling American freighter ''West Portal''.

5 February 1943

On 5 February the convoy escort was reinforced by the cutter and the s and from Iceland. The reinforced escort damaged ''U-262'' and .

7 February 1943

In the pre-dawn hours of 7 February, ''Kapitänleutnant'' Siegfried von Forstner's torpedoed the British freighter ''Afrika'', Norwegian tanker ''Daghild'', Greek freighter ''Kalliopi'', American tanker ''Robert E. Hopkins'', American cargo liner , and convoy rescue ship ''Toward''.Hague 2000 p.137

''Henry R. Mallory'' was capable of but had been straggling well astern of the convoy for several days and was not zig-zagging in that exposed position.Waters December 1966 p.102 ''Mallory'' would normally have been assigned to one of the faster HX convoys, but there had been no Iceland section of the preceding convoy HX 224. No commands came from the bridge after ''Mallory'' was torpedoed, no flares were sent up, no radio distress message was sent out, and no orders were given to abandon ship. There were heavy casualties from ''Mallory''s crew of 77, 34 Navy gunners, and the 136 American soldiers, 172 American sailors, and 72 American Marines she was transporting to Iceland.Morison 1975 p. 336

sank the straggling British freighter ''Harmala'' while ''Lobelia'' sank .

B-17 Flying Fortress J of No. 220 Squadron RAF sank ''U-614'' on 7 February. ''U-402'' sank British freighter ''Newton Ash'' that night. On 9 February ''Kapitänleutnant'' von Forstner was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for ships sunk by ''U-402'' from this convoy and from Convoy SC 107 on the previous patrol. SC 118 reached Liverpool without further loss on 12 February.

Ships in convoy

See also

* Convoy Battles of World War II

Notes

References

*
*
*
*
*
*
* {{citation , last=Waters , first=John M. Jr., title=Stay Tough , publisher=United States Naval Institute Proceedings , date=December 1966

SC118
Naval battles of World War II involving Canada
C