Convoy SC-7
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| Convoy SC-7 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
|
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Germany | United Kingdom | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Admiral Karl Dönitz | Vice Admiral L. D. I. Mackinnon | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| U-38, U-46, U-48, U-99, U-100, U-101 and U-123 | Convoy Escorts HMS Scarborough (U25), HMS Bluebell (K80) and HMS Fowey | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| None | 20 out of 35 ships lost, totalling 79,592 tons | ||||||
| Atlantic Campaign |
|---|
| River Plate – Altmark Incident - SC-7 - HX-84 - HX-106 - Operation Berlin - Denmark Strait – The Bismarck Chase - Mediterranean – Channel Dash – St. Lawrence - Laconia Incident - PQ-17 – Barents Sea – North Cape |
SC-7 was a World War II convoy of 35 merchant ships which sailed eastbound from Sydney, Nova Scotia for Liverpool, England and other British ports on October 4, 1940. While crossing the Atlantic, the convoy was attacked by a German U-boat wolf pack. During the ensuing battle, the escort was completely overwhelmed, demonstrating the potential of the wolf pack tactics and the utter inadequacy of British anti-submarine tactics at the time.
[edit] Ships of the convoy
The slow convoy SC-7 left Sydney, Nova Scotia on October 4, 1940 bound for Liverpool and other British ports. The convoy was supposed to make 8 knots, but a number of its 35 merchant ships were much slower than this. The convoy consisted of older, smaller ships, mostly with essential cargoes of bulk goods. Much of the freight on these ships originated on Canada's east coast, especially from points to the north and east of Sydney. Typical cargoes included pit props from eastern New Brunswick for the British coal mines, lumber, pulpwood, grain from the Great Lakes ports, steel and steel ingots from the Sydney plant, and iron ore from Newfoundland bound for the huge steel plants of Wales. The largest ship in the convoy was the 9,512-ton oil tanker SS Languedoc, belonging to the British Admiralty, which was bound for the Clyde with fuel for the Royal Navy. Another ship, the British SS Empire Brigand, carried a valuable cargo of trucks.
Many of the ships were British, but the convoy also included Greek, Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch vessels. The convoy commodore, Vice Admiral L. D. I. Mackinnon, a retired naval officer who volunteered for this civilian duty, sailed in the SS Assyrian, a British ship of 2,962 tons. As convoy commodore, Mackinnon was in charge of the good order of the merchant ships, but did not command the escort.
The sloop HMS Scarborough was sole naval escort for the first three quarters of the journey. There was no aircraft protection in 1940 for Allied ships in the Atlantic Ocean after leaving coastal regions. Scarborough would have had no chance against a surface attack by a German raider.
Many of the merchant ship captains would have preferred to take their chances on their own rather than risk such a slow crossing with a weak escort. They were resentful and often unco-operative. At one point early in the voyage Scarborough's captain was shocked to find a Greek merchant ship in the convoy travelling at night with her lights on.
[edit] The first attacks
For the first days all was quiet, but as the convoy entered the Western Approaches on October 16th, 1940, seven U-boats launched a coordinated attack. They were U-38, U-46, U-48, U-99, U-100, U-101 and U-123. U-99 was captained by the famous ace Otto Kretschmer. The attack was coordinated from Lorient by Admiral Karl Dönitz and his staff.
First to go down on the 16th was a straggler, the SS Trevisa, a small Canadian vessel of 1,813 tons with a cargo of lumber destined for Scotland.
SC7 was just the second convoy to be attacked by a wolf pack, groups of German U-boats making coordinated attacks. Convoy tactics were rudimentary at this early stage of the war, and in any event it is difficult to see what tactics would have helped a single rather slow and weak ship trying to protect 35 even slower targets from a pack of submarines. There was little that the Scarborough could do, even when reinforced from Britain the next day, October 17, by the sloop Fowey and the new corvette Bluebell. The escort ships stayed behind from time to time to rescue drowning sailors, leaving the other ships unescorted. Perhaps it was a bad decision to stop for rescue work, but those saved were certainly grateful.
On the 17th the U-boats sank three more ships including the tanker Languedoc.
The 18th was worse with seven ships torpedoed and sunk including the iron ore ship, SS Creekirk, bound for Cardiff, Wales. With her heavy cargo, she sank like a stone, taking all 36 crew members with her. During the day the escort was augmented from Britain by the sloop Leith, and the corvette Heartsease.
[edit] The blackest day
October 19, 1940 was the blackest day of all with the U-boats sinking nine ships, including the SS Empire Brigand with her cargo of trucks. She went down with six of her crew. Also casualties were the commodore's ship, SS Assyrian, down with 17 crew (though Admiral Mackinnon was rescued), and the SS Fiscus with its cargo of steel ingots from Sydney. She sank like a stone as well, taking with her 38 of her 39 man crew.
The convoy lost 20 ships out of 35, of which seven fell to Kretschmer's U-99. The total tonnage lost was 79,592 tons.
The arrival in the vicinity of convoy HX-79 diverted the U-boats and they went on to sink 14 ships from HX-79, making a total of 34 ships in 48 hours. No U-boats were lost.
