Convoy SL 125 was the 125th of the numbered series of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

SL convoys SL convoys were a numbered series of North Atlantic trade convoys during the Second World War. Merchant ships carrying commodities bound to the British Isles from South America, Africa, and the Indian Ocean traveled independently to Freetown, Sie ...

of merchant ships from Sierra Leone to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Ships carrying commodities bound to the British Isles from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

travelled independently to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to be convoyed for the last leg of their voyage. Thirty-seven merchant ships departed Freetown on 16 October 1942 and were joined at sea by five more.

Initial contact

German cryptographers decoded message traffic containing tactical information about convoy SL 125, and wolf pack ''Streitaxt'' (battle axe), consisting of , , , , , , , , , and was assembled 23 October to intercept the convoy west of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. The only United States merchant ship and escorting sloop , HMS ''Copinsay'' and Free French corvette ''Commandant Drogou'' had been detached by the time ''U-203'' found the convoy on 25 October. U-203 was depth charged and damaged while attempting to attack the straggling British tanker ''Anglo Maersk''. The tanker was subsequently shadowed by ''U-134'' and damaged by ''U-509''.

27 October

The

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

and troopship HMS ''Esperance Bay'' was detached with the HMS ''Juliet'',

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

HMS ''Salvonia'', and repair ship HMNZS ''Kelantan'' when ''U-409'' found and reported the main convoy of 37 ships on 27 October. Forty-one merchant shipsHague 2000 p.142 were left in the care of s ,Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.172 , , and .Blair 1998 p.69 ''U-659'' was depth charged and damaged while attempting to attack the convoy. After moonrise, ''U-604'' sank the damaged ''Anglo Maersk'' while ''U-509'' torpedoed the British freighters ''Pacific Star'' and ''Stentor''.

28 October

After unsuccessful submerged daylight attacks on 28 October, ''U-509'' sank the British freighter ''Nagpore'' and damaged the British freighter ''Hopecastle'' after sunset. ''U-203'' sank the damaged ''Hopecastle'' before dawn.Blair 1998 p.70

29 October

''U-509'' sank the British freighter ''Britanny'' during foul weather on the night of 29–30 October. The British tanker ''Bullmouth'' (sailing in ballast) was damaged by ''U-409'' and sunk by ''U-659''. The British freighter ''Corinaldo'' was damaged by both ''U-509'' and ''U-659'' before being sunk by ''U-203''.

30 October

Improved weather brought coordinated attacks on the night of 30–31 October. ''U-409'' torpedoed the British freighter ''Silverwillow'' while ''U-604'' torpedoed the British transport ''President Doumer'' and the British freighter ''Baron Vernon''. The British freighter ''Tasmania'' was damaged by ''U-659'' and sunk by ''U-103''. The Norwegian freighter ''Alaska'' was damaged by ''U-510'', but reached England safely with the help of newly arriving escorts.

Aftermath

Long-range bombers of

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

arrived over the convoy on 31 October. Admiral Dönitz cancelled operations on the morning of 1 November. The convoy was reinforced with eleven more escorts and reached

on 9 November. It had suffered the greatest loss of any SL convoy, but its timing focused the available

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s in the area away from the

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

convoys for the allied invasion of North Africa on 8 November 1942. Some historians have suggested that the trade convoy SL 125 was an intentional tactical diversion to keep U-boats away from the loaded troop transports. Eleven of the ships surviving this convoy sailed two months later with convoy ON 154, in which four of them were sunk.

Ships in convoy

Notes

References

* * * * {{cite book, title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945 , author1=Rohwer, J. , author2=Hummelchen, G. , publisher=Naval Institute Press , year=1992 , ISBN =1-55750-105-X SL125 C