Convoy SC-104 was the 104th
of the numbered series of World War II
Slow
Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney
, Cape Breton
Island
to Liverpool
.
Background
.
Forty-seven ships departed New York City
on 3 October 1942; and were met by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group B-6
consisting of the E and F class
destroyer Fame and
V and W class destroyer
Viscount with
Norwegian-manned Flower class
corvettes Potentilla, Eglantine, Montbretia, and Acanthus and the Convoy rescue ship
Goathland.
Opposing this force was the U-boat patrol group
Wotan
comprising 8 boats:
U-221, U-258, U-356, U-607, U-618, U-661, U-353, and U-254
.
Action
.
The convoy was found and reported by
U-258 on 11 October,
and the other
Wotan boats were ordered to join.By the
evening of 12 October
U-258 had been joined by
U-221 and
U-356, and during the night of 12/13
October these boats attacked.
U-258 and
U-356 were
unsuccessful, being driven off by the escorts, but
U-221
was able to sink three ships,the Norwegian freighters
Senta, and
Fagersten, and the British freighter
Ashworth.
On the 13th they continued to shadow the convoy, and were joined
during the day by five other boats; on the night of the 13/14
October the wolf pack attacked again.
This time
U-221 sank two ships, the American freighter
Susana and the British whale factory ship
Southern
Empress.
U-607 torpedoed the Greek freighter
Nellie, which later sank, but was counter-attacked and
severely damaged, and was forced to return to France/base for
repairs.
U-661 torpedoed the Yugoslav freighter
Nikolina Matkovic, and
U-618 torpedoed the
Empire Mersey.
Throughout 15 October the
Wotan boats shadowed SC 104, but
were unable to mount any successful attacks that night.
On 15 October Viscount detected
U-661 in fog, and attacked
with gun-fire, ramming and depth-charge.
U-661 was
destroyed, but Viscount was also damaged, and had to finish the
voyage as part of the convoy.
On 16 October
U-353 was sighted by
Fame which
attacked and destroyed her by ramming, again suffering damage in
the process.Command of the escort passed to Monsen in
Potentilla who was able to make an attack on a contact
later that day; no identification was made, or result credited, but
post-war examination shows that
U-254 was severely damaged
in this attack, and forced to retire to base.
Also on 16 and 17 October SC 104 came in range of air patrols, long
–range B-24 Liberators and Catalinas. These were able to break up
any further attacks and on 17th Donitz ceased further operations
against SC 104.
Conclusion
The
remainder of the voyage was unhindered, and the convoy reached
Liverpool on 21 October. SC 104 lost 8 ships of 44,000
tons, with 2 escorts damaged, and saw the destruction of 2 U-boats
with the damaging of 2 more.
Table of Losses
Convoy Losses
..
| Date |
Name |
Nationality |
Casualties |
Tonnage |
Cargo |
Sunk by… |
| 12/13 Oct |
Senta |
Norwegian |
? |
|
? |
U-221 |
| 12/13 Oct |
Ashworth |
British |
49 |
|
bauxite |
U-221 |
| 12/13 Oct |
Fagensten |
Norwegian |
19 |
|
steel,lumber |
U-221 |
| 13/14 Oct |
Susana |
US |
38 |
|
general cargo |
U-221 |
| 13/14 Oct |
Southern Empress |
British |
48 |
|
fuel oil |
U-221 |
| 13/14 Oct |
Nellie |
Greek |
32 |
|
steel, lumber |
U-607 |
| 13/14 Oct |
Nikolina Matkovic |
Yugoslav |
14 |
|
lumber, sugar |
U-661 |
| 13/14 Oct |
Empire Mersey |
British |
16 |
|
govt. stores |
U-618 |
.
U-Boat Losses
..
| Date |
Number |
Type |
Captain |
Casualties |
Sunk by |
By… |
| 15 Oct |
U-661 |
VIIC |
O/L v Lillenfeld |
44 |
gun, d/c, ramming |
HMS Viscount |
| 16 Oct |
U-353 |
VIIC |
O/L Romer |
6 |
depth charge |
HMS Fame |
Notes
- Hague 2000 p.133
- Hague 2000 p.135
- Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.167
- Blair p 39-41
- Showell 2002 p.113
- Kemp p 92
External links
- http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html convoy.web
- http://uboat.net/ops/convoys/convoys.php?convoy=SC-104
u.boat.net
References
- Clay Blair : Hitler’s U-Boat War Vol II (1998) ISBN
0-304-35261-7
- Paul Kemp : U-Boats Destroyed ( 1997) . ISBN 1 85409 515 3
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