Order of battle for Convoy SC 7

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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 a number of British ports, mainly Liverpool.[1] They were designated SC as their departure point was designated Sydney, Cape Breton in order to avoid confusion with Sydney in Australia.[2] The convoys formed part of the battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. Large numbers of merchants travelled together with naval escorts to protect against U-boat attacks. They were often slow, the merchants often only being capable of a speed of around 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) and so were particularly vulnerable to attack.[2] This problem was exacerbated by a shortage of suitable escorts from either the Royal Canadian Navy or the Royal Navy in the early stages of the war.[3]

Convoy SC 7 left Sydney on 5 October 1940, consisting of 36 merchants initially escorted by the Canadian armed yacht HMCS Elk and the British sloop HMS Scarborough.[4] 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 the lone Scarborough.[4] One of the merchants, SS Winona had developed engine problems and also turned back.[4] The crossing was uneventful to begin with, the only casualty being which was straggling behind the main convoy and was torpedoed and sunk on 16 October by U-124.[5]

The main convoy was spotted the following day by U-38, which sank SS Aenos.[6] 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 successful use of the wolf pack tactics of Germany's U-boat fleet. Five U-boats; U-46, U-99, U-100, U-101 and U-123 attacked en-masse, overwhelming the escorts, newly reinforced by HMS Leith and Heartsease.[7] They sank 16 merchants in a six-hour period, bringing the total to twenty merchants 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 that 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.[7] The surviving merchants 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 of attack Survivors Dead Notes
Aenos  Greece Wheat Sunk by U-38* 17 October 25 4 Straggler
Assyrian  United Kingdom Grain Sunk by U-101* 19 October 34 17 Convoy commodore's ship
Beatus  United Kingdom Steel, timber and aircraft Sunk by U-46* 18 October 37 0
Blairspey  United Kingdom Timber Damaged by U-101
Damaged by U-100		 18 October
19 October		 34 0 Reached port, repaired and returned to service.
Boekelo  Netherlands Timber Damaged by U-100
Sunk by U-123*		 18 October
19 October		 25 0 Straggler
Botusk  United Kingdom Timber Reached port safely 42 0
Carsbreck  United Kingdom Timber Damaged by U-38 18 October 55 0 Towed into port
Clintonia  United Kingdom Pulpwood Damaged by U-99
Sunk by U-123*		 19 October
19 October		 35 1
SS Convallaria  Sweden Pulpwood Sunk by U-46* 18 October 22 0
Corinthic  United Kingdom Steel and scrap metal Reached port safely 21 0
Creekirk  United Kingdom Iron ore Sunk by U-101* 18 October 0 36
Dioni  Greece Grain Reached port safely 82 0
Eaglescliffe Hall  United Kingdom Timber Reached port safely 64 0
Empire Brigade  United Kingdom Various metals and ores Sunk by U-99 19 October 35 6
Empire Miniver  United Kingdom Pig iron and steel Sunk by U-99 19 October 35 3
Fiscus  United Kingdom Steel, timber and aircraft Sunk by U-99 18 October 1 38 Straggler
Flynderborg  United Kingdom Pulpwood Reached port safely 12 0
SS Gunborg  Sweden Pulpwood Sunk by U-46* 18 October 23 0
Havørn[8]  Norway Pit props Reached port safely 53 0
Inger Elisabeth[9]  Norway Pit props Reached port safely 44 0
Karlander[10]  Norway Timber Reached port safely 92 0
Languedoc  United Kingdom Fuel oil Sunk by U-48* 17 October 39 0
SS Niritos  Greece Sulphur Sunk by U-99* 18 October 27 1
Scoresby  United Kingdom Pit props Sunk by U-48* 17 October 39 0
SS Sedgepool  United Kingdom Wheat Sunk by U-123* 19 October 36 3
SS Shekatika  United Kingdom Pit props and steel Damaged by U-123, U-99 and U-100
Sunk by U-123*		 19 October 36 0 Had joined from convoy SHX-76. A 'romper' (travelling ahead of the main convoy)
Snefjeld[11]  Norway Timber Sunk by U-99* 19 October 21 0
Sneland I[12]  Norway Sulphur Reached port safely 94 0
Soesterberg  Netherlands Pit props Sunk by U-101* 19 October 19 6
Somersby  United Kingdom Flour Reached port safely 83 0
SS Thalia  Greece Steel, lead and zinc Sunk by U-99* 19 October 4 22
Thorøy[13]  Norway Fuel oil Reached port safely 63 0
SS Trevisa  Canada Timber Sunk by U-124* 16 October 14 7 Straggler. First ship lost.
Trident  United Kingdom Steel and timber Reached port safely 43 0
Valparaiso  Sweden General cargo Reached port safely 14 0
Winona  United States Timber Returned to port 34 0

Escorts[]

Name Class Navy Date joined Date departed Notes
HMS Bluebell Flower-class corvette  Royal Navy 18 October 21 October
HMCS Elk Armed yacht  Royal Canadian Navy 5 October 7 October
HMS Fowey Shoreham-class sloop  Royal Navy 18 October 21 October
HMS Heartsease Flower-class corvette  Royal Navy 18 October 21 October Dispatched with the damaged Carsbreck on 18 October
HMS Leith Grimsby-class sloop  Royal Navy 18 October 21 October
HMS Scarborough Hastings-class sloop  Royal Navy 5 October 21 October Lost contact with the convoy on 17 October and was unable to rejoin

U-boats[]

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

Notes[]

  1. ^ Canadian convoys
  2. ^ a b The Allied Convoy System
  3. ^ Battle of the Atlantic
  4. ^ a b c Convoy web
  5. ^ Sinking of Trevisa
  6. ^ Sinking of Aenos
  7. ^ a b Timeline of World War II
  8. ^ D/S Havørn, warsailors.com
  9. ^ D/S Inger Elisabeth, warsailors.com
  10. ^ D/S Karlander, warsailors.com
  11. ^ D/S Snefjeld, warsailors.com
  12. ^ D/S Sneland I, warsailors.com
  13. ^ D/T Thorøy, warsailors.com

References[]

  • Paul Lund, Harry Ludlam  : The Night of the U-Boats ( 1973) ISBN 0-572-00828-7
  • Stephen Roskill : The War at Sea 1939–1945 Vol I (1954) ISBN (none)
  • Dan van der Vat : The Atlantic Campaign (1988) ISBN 0-340-37751-8
  • Arnold Hague : The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945 (2000). Canada ISBN 1-55125-033-0. UK ISBN 1-86176-147-3

External links[]

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