Convoy TM 1

Convoy TM 1
Part of Atlantic Campaign of the Second World War

HMS Havelock in camouflage
Date3–12 January 1943
Locationmid-Atlantic Ocean
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Nazi Germany

 United Kingdom

Commanders and leaders
Nazi Germany Rudolf Schendel United Kingdom Cdr. Boyle
Strength
10 U-boats 1 destroyer
3 corvettes
9 tankers
Casualties and losses
2 U-boats damaged 7 ships sunk

Convoy TM 1 was the code name for an Allied convoy during the Second World War. Nine tankers, escorted by Royal Navy warships, attempted to reach Gibraltar from Trinidad. The convoy was attacked by a U-boat wolf pack in the central Atlantic Ocean, and most of the merchant vessels were sunk. This was one of the most successful attacks on Allied supply convoys throughout the entire war.[1] The convoy was defended by the destroyer HMS Havelock, and three Flower class corvettes, HMS Godetia, HMS Pimpernel and HMS Saxifrage. Seven tankers were sunk during the attacks, two surviving to reach Gibraltar.[2] Two U-boats were damaged during the attacks.

Battle

U-124 located HMS Godetia on 29 December 1942, escorting two tankers to join up with the main convoy. U-514 made contact with the convoy on 3 January and attacked and damaged the tanker MV British Vigilance, forcing her crew to abandon her though the ship remained afloat. By now aware that a large tanker convoy was headed through the Atlantic, presumably to deliver supplies to the allied armies in North Africa, Admiral Karl Dönitz, the German BdU (commander in chief of U-Boats) ordered wolf pack "Dolphin" to move into the area and attempt to intercept it.[2]

U-381 made contact with the convoy on 8 January, and the wolf pack launched their first attacks that evening. U-436 attacked and sank the SS Oltenia II and damaged the MV Albert L. Ellsworth.[2] HMS Havelock launched a counter-attack, damaging and driving off U-381, while Pimpernel and Godetia drove off U-571 and U-575 respectively.[3] U-522 returned the following morning and attacked the convoy, damaging two tankers, the MV Norvik, and MV Minister Wedel, while U-442 damaged the Empire Lytton. U-181 and U-134 made attacks, but failed to hit any targets. Godetia retaliated with depth charges, damaging U-134.[2]

U-620 kept in contact with the convoy, and in the evening of 9 January, U-522 attacked the two tankers she had damaged earlier in the morning, Norvik and Minister Wedel, and sank both of them. Meanwhile, U-442 returned to the damaged and abandoned Empire Lytton and finished her off with two torpedoes, while U-436 returned to the abandoned Albert L. Ellsworth and sank her with shells from her deck gun. The U-511 came across the MV William Wilberforce, a merchant ship sailing unescorted and not part of convoy TM 1, and sank her.[2]

The attacks resumed on the night of 10/11 January, with U-522 torpedoing the MV British Dominion. Her crew abandoned her, but the ship was only damaged and did not sink until U-620 arrived and sank her with a coup-de-grace torpedo and gunfire. Other attacks that evening and over the next two days, by U-571 and U-511, fail to score any successes. By now the convoy was approaching Gibraltar, and the destroyer HMS Quentin and the corvettes HMS Samphire and HMS Pentstemon were sent out to reinforce the escorts. Supported by allied air cover, the convoy reached Gibraltar without further loss on 14 January. Two tankers, the Cliona and the Vanja, survived from the original nine. The final action came on 24 January, when the abandoned hulk of British Vigilance, torpedoed by U-514 on 3 January, was discovered by U-105, and promptly sunk.[3]

Order of battle

Merchants

  This along with the * indicates that the ship was sunk

Escorts

Name[4]ClassNavyDate joined[4]Date departed[4]Notes
HMS GodetiaFlower-class corvetteRoyal Navy28 December14 January
HMS HavelockH-class destroyerRoyal Navy28 December14 January
HMS PentstemonFlower-class corvetteBelgian section, Royal Navy12 January14 January
HMS PimpernelFlower-class corvetteRoyal Navy28 December14 January
HMS QuentinQ-class destroyerRoyal Navy12 January14 January
HMS Samphire Flower-class corvetteRoyal Navy12 January14 January
HMS SaxifrageFlower-class corvetteRoyal Navy28 December14 January

U-boats

Wolf pack Dolphin

NameCommanderShips sunkNotes
U-134Rudolf Schendel0Damaged by Godetia
U-181Wolfgang Lüth0
U-381Graf Wilhelm-Heinrich Pückler und Limpurg0Damaged by Havelock
U-436Günther Seibicke2
U-442Hans-Joachim Hesse1
U-511Fritz Schneewind1Sank the unattached William Wilberforce
U-522Herbert Schneider2Also damaged British Dominion
U-571Helmut Möhlmann0
U-575Günther Heydemann0
U-620Heinz Stein1

Others

NameCommanderShips sunkNotes
U-105Jürgen Nissen1Sank abandoned British Vigilance on 24 January
U-124Johann Mohr0Made initial sighting of convoy on 29 December
U-125Ulrich Folkers0
U-514Hans-Jürgen Auffermann0Made contact with the convoy on 3 January and damaged British Vigilance

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Morison p.326
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Blair pp.145-147
  3. 1 2 Rohwer & Hummelchen p.184
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Convoy TMF.1". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
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