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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. Sixty-one ships departed New York City on 24 January 1943; and were met by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group B-2 consisting of V class destroyers Vanessa and Vimy, the USCG Treasury Class Cutter Bibb, the Town class destroyer Beverley, Flower class corvettes Campanula, Mignonette, Abelia and Lobelia, and the convoy rescue ship Toward.
On 2 February U-456 sank three ships from convoy HX-224. A survivor of one of the sunken ships was picked up by U-632 and told his rescuers a slower convoy was following behind HX-224.
A careless merchant seaman of convoy SC-118 accidentally fired a pyrotechnic snowflake projector aboard SS Annik in the pre-dawn darkness of 4 February. U-187 observed the snowflake display, reported sighting the convoy, and was promptly sunk by Beverly and Vimy after Bibb and Toward triangulated High-Frequency radio Direction-Finder (HF/DF or Huff-Duff) location from the sighting report. The destroyers rescued 44 of the submarine crew. Two ships were torpedoed by U-262 and U-413.
On 5 February the convoy escort was reinforced by the USCG Treasury Class Cutter Ingham and the Wickes class destroyers Babbitt and Schenck from Iceland. The reinforced escort damaged U-262 and U-267.
In the pre-dawn hours of 7 February, U-boat Ace Kapitänleutnant Siegfried von Forstner's U-402 torpedoed the 8,597-ton British freighter Afrika, the 9272-ton Norwegian tanker Daghild, the 6500-ton Greek freighter Kalliopi, the 6625-ton American tanker Robert E. Hopkins, the 6063-ton American cargo-liner Henry R. Mallory, and the 1571-ton rescue ship Toward.
Henry R. Mallory was capable of 14 knots but had been straggling well astern of the convoy for several days and was not zig-zagging in that exposed position. 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. Two-hundred-seventy-two were lost from Mallorys crew of 77, 34 Navy gunners, and the 136 American soldiers, 172 American sailors, and 72 American Marines she was transporting to Iceland. Twenty-seven merchant sailors were lost from the other ships with 8500 tons of fuel oil, 13000 tons of diesel fuel, 7000 tons of general cargo, and 10500 tons of steel and lumber.
U-614 sank the straggling 5730-ton British freighter Harmala with 8500 tons of iron ore and 53 crewmen while Lobelia sank U-609.
No. 220 Squadron RAF B-17 Flying Fortress J sank U-614 on 7 February. U-402 sank the 4265-ton British freighter Newton Ash that night with 32 crewmen and 6500 tons of grain, stores, and mail. On 9 February Kapitänleutnant von Forstner was awarded the Knight's 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.
Notes
- Hague 2000 p.133
- Hague 2000 p.135
- Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.191
- Waters December 1966 p.96
- Waters December 1966 p.96
- Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.191
- Waters December 1966 p.97
- Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.191
- Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.191
- Waters December 1966 p.98
- Hague 2000 p.137
- Waters December 1966 p.102
- Waters December 1966 p.102
- Waters December 1966 p.103
- Morison 1975 p.336
- Hague 2000 p.137
- Hague 2000 p.137
- Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.191
- Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.191
- Hague 2000 p.135
References
- Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-019-3.
- Milner, Marc (1985). North Atlantic Run. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-450-0.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1975). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I The Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943. Little, Brown and Company.
- Rohwer, J. and Hummelchen, G. (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Waters, John M. Jr., CAPT USCG (December 1966). "Stay Tough". United States Naval Institute Proceedings.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)