French Corvette Aconit

''Aconit'' (formerly HMS ''Aconite'') was one of the nine s lent by the Royal Navy to the Free French Naval Forces. During World War II, she escorted 116 convoys, spending 728 days at sea. She was awarded the '' Croix de la Libération'' and the ''Croix de Guerre'' 1939–1945, and was cited by the British Admiralty. Following the war she was used as whaling ship for three different companies from 1947 to 1964.

War service

Early history 1941-42

''Aconite'' was built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Ltd at Troon in Scotland, and was commissioned on 19 July 1941, under ''Lieutenant de vaisseau'' Jean Levasseur ( fr). She was attached to the Free French Naval Forces (FNFL) on 23 July 1941, and assigned to the Clyde escort group on 17 August 1941, joining the Newfoundland Forces.

''Aconit'' took a very active part in the Battle of the Atlantic for two years, protecting convoys sailing from Newfoundland to the U.K. via Iceland. She also took part to the operations( fr) in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon between 10 and 27 December 1941.

In 1942 ''Aconit'', with three other FNFL corvettes, was assigned to Escort Group B-3 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force and served with this group for the rest of the campaign.

1943

On 10 and 11 March 1943, ''Aconit'', one of eight warships escorting a large convoy HX228, destroyed two German submarines, and .

On Tuesday 9 March the convoy was five days out from Newfoundland. At 0800 a plane from a U.S. carrier sighted a U-boat ahead. At 1500, the carrier was short on fuel and had to turn back. At 1930, an ammunition ship had been hit and on a second ship SS ''Andrea F. Luckenbach'', men were taking to the boats.

In response the escort leader, , hunted ''U-444'' by sweeping through the lumbering convoy. A corvette was detailed to rescue survivors as the underwater search went on. Hours passed as the destroyer remained in the attack area. At midnight, astern of the convoy, silently moving up to regain station ''U-444'' was surfaced and going at top speed after the convoy. After the U-boat dived, ''Harvester'' raced over dive position and forced her to surface by depth charge attacks. Circling at speed ''Harvester'' searched and spotted the U-boat 500 yards ahead. Making revs for the destroyer rammed ''U-444'', disabling herself in the process. From astern ''Aconit'' sighted ''U-444'' as ''Harvester'' broke free and closed to make her own ramming attack.

''Harvester'', dead in the water, picked up one survivor and ''Aconit'' another four. Commander Tait ordered ''Aconit'' to rejoin convoy HX228 and with only the damaged starboard propeller shaft turning, ''Harvester'' limped behind at . At 0400 on 10 March, 50 survivors of SS ''William C. Gorgas'' (a Liberty ship sunk by ''U-757'') were sighted and rescued. During the morning of 11 March, ''Harvesters remaining shaft broke. A signal was made to ''Aconit'' "Am stopped. Stand by me".

At 1100 ''Harvester'' was hit by the first torpedo from ''U-432''. As the officers and crew prepared to abandon ship in the middle of the intensely cold Atlantic, a second torpedo was fired. The captain, seven officers, 136 ratings and 39 survivors were lost. ''Aconit'' returned to the scene and forced ''U-432'' to surface, then sank her with artillery fire and ramming. During the day, the French corvette picked up 60 survivors from ''Harvester'', including 12 survivors from the ''William C. Gorgas''. ''Aconit'' also captured 12 survivors from ''U-432'', including the second officer.

The senior surviving officer of ''Harvester'', Lieutenant J L Briggs (who had been gunnery control officer) interviewed the second-in-command of ''U-432'', who had launched both torpedoes: "Why did you need to fire the second torpedo so shallow? What did you want to do, kill as many as you could?" The ''oberleutnant'' replied "didn't think you were sinking fast enough."

To the war's end 1943-45

From 1 to 12 April, ''Aconit'' undertook repairs in Glasgow. On 21 April 1943, at Greenock, General Charles de Gaulle came aboard and awarded the corvette and her commander the '' Croix de la Libération''.

Under major repairs from 1 September to 10 October 1943, her commander was replaced by ''Lieutenant de vaisseau'' Le Miller. She rejoined the Battle of the Atlantic, attacking a German submarine on 13 December 1943.

''Aconit'' spent the first months of 1944 in Casablanca and Gibraltar, On 6th March 1944 there was an incident at Gibraltar between the French corvette Aconit and the Italian Cruiser Guisseppi Garibaldi, involving French insults to the Italian Flag and vice versa.
On 5 June 1944 she escorted the convoy U-3 from Torbay to France, coming under attack from German airplanes. During the Normandy landings, she was attached to the 108th escort group, along with Free French ships ''Aventure'', ''Escarmouche'' and ''Renoncule''.

She last fired in anger