Convoy SC-121

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A depth charge being loaded onto a depth-charge thrower aboard the corvette HMS Dianthus, 14 August 1942
A depth charge being loaded onto a depth-charge thrower aboard the corvette HMS Dianthus, 14 August 1942

Convoy SC-121 was the 121st of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool.[1] Fifty-seven ships departed New York City 23 February 1943;[2] and were met by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group A-3 consisting of the USCG Treasury Class Cutter Spencer, the Wickes class destroyer Greer, Flower class corvettes Dianthus, Rosthern, Trillium and Dauphin,[3] and the convoy rescue ship Melrose Abbey.[4] Three of the escorts had defective SONAR and three had inoperative RADAR.[5]

On 6 March U-405 sighted the convoy[6] scattered by nine consecutive days of northwesterly Force 10 gales and snow squalls.[7] The storm damaged the radio communication system aboard the escort commander's ship Spencer; and Dauphin had to leave the convoy with damaged steering gear.[8] U-230 torpedoed the 2868-ton British freighter Egyptian on the night of 6-7 March.[9] The 6116-ton British freighter Empire Impala stopped to rescue survivors and was torpedoed after dawn by U-591. Cargo losses were 7,628 tons of general cargo, oilseed, palm oil, and tin ore.[10]

U-190 torpedoed the 7015-ton British freighter Empire Lakeland when the gale subsided on 8 March; and four more stragglers were sunk by U-526, U-527, U-591, and U-642.[11] On 9 March the convoy escort was reinforced by No. 120 Squadron RAF B-24 Liberators from Northern Ireland and by the Wickes class destroyer Babbitt and the USCG Treasury Class Cutters Bibb and Ingham from Iceland.[12]

U-530 torpedoed the straggling 3058-ton Swedish freighter Milos on the evening of 9 March; and that night U-405 torpedoed the 4665-ton Norwegian freighter Bonneville while U-229 torpedoed the 4946-ton British freighter Nailsea Court and U-409 torpedoed the 5989-ton British escort oiler Rosewood and the 3837-ton American ammunition ship Malantic. Cargo losses were 8000 tons of ammunition, 14856 tons of general cargo and explosives, steel and lumber.[13]

Flower class corvettes Campion and Mallow reinforced the convoy escort on 10 March,[14] and the convoy reached Liverpool on 14 March.[15] Only 76 of the 275 crewmen of the sunken ships were rescued.[16]

[edit] 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. 
  1. ^ Hague 2000 p.133
  2. ^ Hague 2000 p.135
  3. ^ Milner 1985 p.291
  4. ^ Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.196
  5. ^ Morison 1975 p.342
  6. ^ Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.196
  7. ^ Morison 1975 p.341
  8. ^ Morison 1975 p.342
  9. ^ Hague 2000 p.137
  10. ^ Hague 2000 p.137
  11. ^ Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.196
  12. ^ Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.196
  13. ^ Hague 2000 pp.137-8
  14. ^ Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.196
  15. ^ Hague 2000 p.137
  16. ^ Morison 1975 p.342