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Convoy SC 7 order of battle

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HMS Fowey was one of the Royal Navy ships to come to the assistance of the convoy

Convoy SC 7 was the seventh of the SC convoys, bound from Sydney, Nova Scotia across the North Atlantic to British ports, mainly Liverpool. They were called SC as their departure point was designated Sydney, Cape Breton to avoid confusion with Sydney in Australia. The convoys formed part of the battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. Large numbers of merchant ships travelled with naval escorts to protect against U-boat attacks. The convoys were often slow, the merchantmen often only being capable of a speed of around 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) and so were particularly vulnerable to attack. This problem was exacerbated by a shortage of suitable escorts from either the Royal Canadian Navy or the Royal Navy early in the war.

Convoy SC 7 left Sydney on 5 October 1940, consisting of 36 freighters initially escorted by the Canadian armed yacht HMCS Elk and the British sloop HMS Scarborough. Having seen the convoy out of Canadian waters, Elk turned back on 7 October, leaving the convoy to spend three-quarters of the crossing escorted by Scarborough. SS Winona had developed engine problems and also turned back. The crossing was uneventful, the only casualty being SS Trevisa, which straggled behind the convoy and was torpedoed and sunk near Rockall on 16 October by U-124.

The main convoy was spotted the following day by U-38, which sank SS Aenos. Further sporadic attacks continued that day and the following, despite the arrival of the sloop HMS Fowey and the corvette HMS Bluebell. The night of 18/19 October saw the use of the wolf pack tactic by the U-boats. Five U-boats; U-46, U-99, U-100, U-101 and U-123 attacked together, overwhelming the escorts, despite being reinforced by HMS Leith and Heartsease. They sank 16 ships in a six-hours, bringing the total to twenty freighters sunk and a total tonnage lost of 79,592 gross registered tons. The U-boats only broke off their attacks to intercept convoy HX 79, which had arrived in the area. They went on to sink a further 12 ships from this convoy, for a total of 28 ships sunk on 18/19 October, making this the deadliest two days of the battle of the Atlantic. The surviving merchant ships were gathered up by the remaining escorts and brought into port several days later.

Merchant ships

  This along with the * indicates that the ship was sunk

Name Flag Cargo Fate Date Lived Died Notes
Aenos  Greece Wheat Sunk, U-38* 17 October 25 4 Straggler
Assyrian  United Kingdom Grain Sunk, U-101* 19 October 34 17 Convoy commodore's ship
Beatus  United Kingdom Steel, timber, aircraft Sunk, U-46* 18 October 37 0
Blairspey  United Kingdom Timber Damaged, U-101
Damaged, U-100
18 October
19 October
34 0 Reached port, repaired
Boekelo  Netherlands Timber Damaged, U-100
Sunk, U-123*
18 October
19 October
25 0 Straggler
Botusk  United Kingdom Timber Reached port 42 0
Carsbreck  United Kingdom Timber Damaged, U-38 18 October 55 0 Towed into port
Clintonia  United Kingdom Pulpwood Damaged, U-99
Sunk, U-123*
19 October
19 October
35 1
SS Convallaria  Sweden Pulpwood Sunk, U-46* 18 October 22 0
Corinthic  United Kingdom Steel, scrap metal Reached port 21 0
Creekirk  United Kingdom Iron ore Sunk, U-101* 18 October 0 36
Dioni  Greece Grain Reached port 82 0
Eaglescliffe Hall  United Kingdom Timber Reached port 64 0
Empire Brigade  United Kingdom Metals, ores Sunk, U-99* 19 October 35 6
Empire Miniver  United Kingdom Pig iron, steel Sunk, U-99* 19 October 35 3
Fiscus  United Kingdom Steel, timber, aircraft Sunk, U-99* 18 October 1 38 Straggler
Flynderborg  United Kingdom Pulpwood Reached port 12 0
SS Gunborg  Sweden Pulpwood Sunk, U-46* 18 October 23 0
Havørn  Norway Pit props Reached port 53 0
Inger Elisabeth  Norway Pit props Reached port 44 0
Karlander  Norway Timber Reached port 92 0
Languedoc  United Kingdom Fuel oil Sunk, U-48* 17 October 39 0
SS Niritos  Greece Sulphur Sunk, U-99* 18 October 27 1
Scoresby  United Kingdom Pit props Sunk, U-48* 17 October 39 0
SS Sedgepool  United Kingdom Wheat Sunk, U-123* 19 October 36 3
SS Shekatika  United Kingdom Pit props, steel Damaged, U-123, U-100
Sunk, U-123*
19 October 36 0 Joined from convoy SHX 76. 'Romper' (travelling ahead of the convoy)
Snefjeld  Norway Timber Sunk, U-99* 19 October 21 0
Sneland I  Norway Sulphur Reached port 94 0
Soesterberg  Netherlands Pit props Sunk, U-101* 19 October 19 6
Somersby  United Kingdom Flour Reached port 83 0
SS Thalia  Greece Steel, lead, zinc Sunk, U-99* 19 October 4 22
Thorøy  Norway Fuel oil Reached port 63 0
SS Trevisa  Canada Timber Sunk, U-124* 16 October 14 7 Straggler. First sinking.
Trident  United Kingdom Steel, timber Reached port 43 0
Valparaiso  Sweden General cargo Reached port 14 0
Winona  United States Timber Returned to port 34 0

Escorts

Name Class Navy With convoy Notes
HMS Bluebell Flower-class corvette  Royal Navy 18–21 October
HMCS Elk Armed yacht  Royal Canadian Navy 5 –7 October
HMS Fowey Shoreham-class sloop  Royal Navy 18–21 October
HMS Heartsease Flower-class corvette  Royal Navy 18–21 October Dispatched with Carsbreck, 18 October
HMS Leith Grimsby-class sloop  Royal Navy 18–21 October
HMS Scarborough Hastings-class sloop  Royal Navy 5–21 October Lost contact 17 October, unable to rejoin

U-boats

Name Flag Commander Sunk Damaged Notes
U-38  Kriegsmarine Heinrich Liebe 1 1
U-46  Kriegsmarine Engelbert Endrass 3 0
U-48  Kriegsmarine Heinrich Bleichrodt 2 0
U-99  Kriegsmarine Otto Kretschmer 6 1
U-100  Kriegsmarine Joachim Schepke 0 3
U-101  Kriegsmarine Fritz Frauenheim 3 1
U-123  Kriegsmarine Karl-Heinz Moehle 4 0
U-124  Kriegsmarine Georg-Wilhelm Schulz 1 0

Footnotes

  1. Canadian convoys
  2. ^ Hague 2000, pp. 133–138.
  3. Battle of the Atlantic
  4. ^ Convoy web
  5. Sinking of Trevisa
  6. Sinking of Aenos
  7. ^ Timeline of World War II
  8. ^ Woodman 2013, p. 234.
  9. Jordan 2006, p. 486.
  10. D/S Havørn, warsailors.com
  11. D/S Inger Elisabeth, warsailors.com
  12. D/S Karlander, warsailors.com
  13. D/S Snefjeld, warsailors.com
  14. D/S Sneland I, warsailors.com
  15. D/T Thorøy, warsailors.com

References

  • Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
  • Jordan, Roger W. (2006) . The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships (2nd ed.). London: Chatham/Lionel Leventhal. ISBN 978-1-86176-293-1.
  • Woodman, Richard (2013) . The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943 (3rd (repr.) Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley ed.). London: John Murray. ISBN 978-1-84884-415-5.

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