Map -
Fleet Air Arm
Attack on Taranto (see November 1940)
...1940
SEPTEMBER 1940
ATLANTIC - SEPTEMBER 1940
United States -
After months of negotiations, an agreement was announced
on the 5th for the transfer of 50 old but valuable US
destroyers to the Royal Navy in exchange for British
bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, the West lndies and
British Guiana. The first of the "flushdeckers"
arrived in Britain towards the end of the month.
1st - Cruiser
Fiji was torpedoed by "U-32" out
in the North Atlantic off Rockall as she escorted troop transports for
the Dakar expedition. Her place was taken by Australian heavy cruiser
Australia.
6th - Escorting
convoy 0A205, corvette "GODETIA" was rammed and sunk by merchantman
"Marsa" north of Ireland, the first 'Flower'
class lost.
15th -
"U-48" attacked convoy SC3 northwest of Ireland
and sank sloop "DUNDEE". Both "Dundee" and
"Penzance", lost the previous month, were long
endurance ships used as anti-submarine (A/S) ocean
escorts for the slow and vulnerable SC convoys.
23rd-25th, Dakar Expedition, Operation
'Menace' - Because
of Dakar's strategic importance to the North and South
Atlantic shipping routes, an expedition was mounted to
acquire the port for Allied use. Free French troops led
by Gen de Gaulle were carried in ships escorted
and supported by units of the Home Fleet and Force H
under the command of Vice-Adm John Cunningham. They included battleships
Barham and
Resolution, carrier
Ark Royal,
three heavy cruisers and other smaller ships including
Free French. Naval forces at Dakar included the
unfinished battleship "Richelieu" and two
cruisers recently arrived from Toulon (see below).
Attempts to negotiate on the 23rd soon failed and as Vichy French
ships tried to leave harbour, shore batteries opened fire, damaging
heavy cruiser Cumberland
and two destroyers. Shortly afterwards, the Vichy
submarine "PERSEE" was sunk by gunfire and
large destroyer "L'AUDACIEUX" disabled by cruiser
Australia and beached. A Free French
landing was beaten off. Next day, on the 24th,
Dakar was bombarded by the warships and
"Richelieu" attacked by "Ark Royal's"
aircraft. Vichy submarine "AJAX" was sunk by
destroyer "Fortune". The bombardment continued
on the 25th, but battleship
"Resolution"
was torpedoed and badly damaged by submarine
"Beveziers", and "Barham" hit by
"Richelieu's" 15in gunfire. At this point the
operation was abandoned and the Anglo-Free French forces
withdrew.
Battle
of the Atlantic - Early
in the month the first wolf-pack attacks were directed by
Adm Doenitz against convoy SC2. Five of the 53 ships were
sunk. A similar operation was mounted two weeks later
against the 40 ships of HX72. The U-boats present
included those commanded by the aces Kretschmer, Prien
and Schepke. Eleven ships were lost, seven to Schepke's
"U-100" in one night. The German B-Service was
instrumental in directing U-boats to the convoys, where
they held the advantage as they manoeuvred on the surface
between the merchantmen and escorts. Radar was urgently
needed so the escorts could detect the U-boats, force
them to dive and lose their speed advantage, and then
hunt them with ASDIC.
Monthly Loss Summary: 53 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 272,000 tons in the Atlantic from
all causes; 2 escorts; no German losses
EUROPE - SEPTEMBER 1940
Battle of Britain -
By now heavy units of the Home Fleet had come south from
Scapa Flow ready to oppose the expected German invasion.
The Blitz on Britain got under way on the 7th when major
raids were launched against London. An attack on the 15th
- subsequently known as Battle of Britain Day - led to
heavy Luftwaffe losses, although no where near the
claimed 185 aircraft: the Luftwaffe lost around 60 in
exchange for 26 RAF fighters. Operation 'Sealion' was
shortly postponed until further notice and invasion
shipping started to disperse. The Blitz did not let up.
9th - Cruiser
Galatea was damaged by an acoustic mine in
the Thames Estuary. 18th - Major bombing raids on
Clydeside, Scotland badly damaged heavy cruiser "Sussex" as she refitted.
Axis Powers -
Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact
in Berlin on the 27th. They agreed to jointly oppose any
country joining the Allies at war - by which they meant
the United States.
Monthly Loss Summary: 39 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 131,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN - SEPTEMBER 1940
Royal Navy in the
Mediterranean - Reinforcements were sent to the
Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria right through until the
end of the year. They were covered from Gibraltar by Adm
Somerville's Force H, met in the central basin by Adm Cunningham and
then escorted the rest of the way. The opportunity was usually taken to
carry in supplies of men and material to Malta. Early in September new
fleet carrier Illustrious
with its armoured flight deck, battleship
Valiant and two cruisers were
transferred in this way in Operation ''Hats'. On passage with the new
arrivals, aircraft from Force H's
Ark Royal attacked
Sardinian targets. After joining up with carrier
Eagle and now in the
eastern Med, "Illustrious" sent aircraft
against Rhodes. The Italian Fleet sortied during these
operations, but failed to make contact. The arrival of
"Illustrious" allowed Adm Cunningham to go
ahead with plans to attack the Italian battlefleet at
Taranto.
("The Supply
of Malta 1940-1942", including the Malta
Convoys)
Vichy France -
Three French cruisers with accompanying destroyers sailed
from Toulon and, on the 11th, passed through the Strait
of Gibraltar bound for French West Africa. All but one of
the cruisers arrived at Dakar just as Operation 'Menace'
(above) was about to get underway. Adm Sir Dudley North,
Flag Officer, North Atlantic, at Gibraltar was somewhat
unfairly held responsible for allowing them passage. He
was relieved of his command and never officially cleared.
North Africa - From
bases in Libya, Italy invaded Egypt on the 13th.
Sollum just over the border was occupied and Sidi Barrani
reached on the 16th. There the Italian advance stopped.
Neither side made a move until December.
17th - Units of the Mediterranean
Fleet including battleship Valiant
sailed with Illustrious
for a raid on Benghazi. Swordfish biplanes torpedoed
destroyer "BOREA" and mines laid by them off the port sank "AQUILONE".
On the return to Alexandria, heavy cruiser
Kent was detached to bombard Bardia, but
torpedoed by Italian aircraft and badly damaged.
22nd - British
submarine "Osiris" on patrol in the southern
Adriatic attacked a convoy and sank Italian torpedo boat "PALESTRO".
30th - As Italian
submarine "GONDAR" approached Alexandria carrying human
torpedoes for an attack on the base, she was found by a
RAF Sunderland of No 230 Squadron and sunk by Australian
destroyer "Stuart".
Monthly Loss Summary: 2 ships of 6,000
tons
OCTOBER 1940
ATLANTIC - OCTOBER 1940
22nd -
Canadian destroyer
MARGAREE escorting Liverpool-out convoy
OL8, was lost in collision with merchantman "Port
Fairy" to the west of Ireland. This was the last of
the short-lived fast OL's sailing from Liverpool. 30th
- Destroyers "Harvester" and
"Highlander" sank "U-32" northwest of Ireland during a
convoy attack. Two days earlier, the U-boat had finished
off the damaged 42,000-ton liner "Empress of
Britain" (below).
German Surface Warships
& Raiders - Pocket battleship "Admiral
Scheer" sailed from Germany for the Atlantic and
later Indian Oceans. She returned home in March 1941.
Meanwhile German raider "Widder" arrived in
France after six month's operations in the central
Atlantic where she sank or captured 10 ships of 59,000
tons.
Battle
of the Atlantic - Focke-Wulf
Kondor bombers continued to range the waters off Ireland
and on the 26th, bombed and damaged the "Empress of
Britain", later sunk by "U-32" (above).
The Luftwaffe's long-range aircraft were now flying from
bases in Norway as well as France. Inter-service rivalry
between the Luftwaffe and Navy meant the Kondor would
never be fully integrated into the Gerrnan effort in the
Battle of the Atlantic. Escort limits were only now
pushed out to 19ºW. In a series of wolf-pack attacks on
lightly-defended Canada/UK convoys, U-boats sank more
than 30 ships from SC7 and HX79 between the 17th and
20th, a rate of loss that would soon have brought Britain
to her knees. Fortunately, a number of measures were
being taken to ease the dire situation and provide some
of the foundations from which Britain and her Allies
would go on to hold the U-boat threat in check: (1) the
old US destroyers were coming into service and the
British building programme starting to deliver the
escorts needed; (2) the need for permanent escort groups
to develop and maintain expertise was being accepted, and
greater emphasis given to A/S training and (3)
co-operation between RAF Coastal Command and Western
Approaches Command was steadily improving. But there was
still a long way to go, and vast areas of the Atlantic
were without air or sea anti-submarine cover.
Monthly Loss Summary: 56 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 287,000 tons in the Atlantic from
all causes, 1 destroyer; 1 German U-boat.
EUROPE - OCTOBER 1940
Britain -
Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester joined London as
targets for German bombers in the Blitz. On the 12th
the planned invasion of Britain was postponed until the
following Spring.
18th - The old
submarine H-49, on anti-invasion patrol off the
Dutch coast, was lost to German A/S trawlers. 19th -
Destroyer VENETIA also of World War 1 vintage was
sunk by a mine in the Thames Estuary while on patrol. 30th
- Destroyer STURDY, local Western Approaches escort
for Halifax/UK convoy SC8, ran aground off the west coast
of Scotland, on Tiree Island. She was a total loss.
Eastern Europe - German
troops occupied the Rumanian oilfields.
Monthly Loss Summary: 43 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 132,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN - OCTOBER 1940
2nd - Mediterranean
Fleet destroyers "Havock" and "Hasty"
sank Italian submarine "BERILLO" off Sollum, the border town between
Libya and Egypt.
12th/14th,
Attacks on Malta Convoy - From
Alexandria a convoy safely reached Malta covered by the Mediterranean
Fleet with four battleships and carriers
Illustrious and
Eagle. As the
Fleet returned on the 12th, attacks were made by Italian light
forces southeast of Sicily. Cruiser Ajax sank Italian torpedo boats "AIRONE" and "ARIEL" and badly damaged destroyer "ARTIGLIERE"
which was finished off by heavy cruiser
York. Later heading back east, the
carriers launched air strikes against Leros island in the
Dodecanese. On the 14th as the Med Fleet headed for Alexandria,
cruiser Liverpool (right
- NavyPhotos) was badly damaged by a torpedo hit
from Italian aircraft.
15th - On patrol
off Calabria, south west Italy in the Ionian Sea,
submarine RAINBOW was lost in a gun action with the
Italian submarine "Enrico Toti". At about this
time TRIAD was probably mined off the Gulf of
Taranto.
18th - Air and sea
patrols accounted for two Italian submarines to the east
of Gibraltar. On the 18th "DURBO" went down to attacks by destroyers
"Firedrake" and "Wrestler" working
with RAF London flying boats of No 202 Squadron. 20th
- Two days later, Gibraltar-based destroyers
"Gallant", "Griffin" and
"Hotspur" accounted for the "LAFOLE".
21st - Red Sea
convoy BN7 was attacked by Italian destroyers based at
Massawa in Eritrea. The escorts, including New Zealand cruiser
Leander and the destroyer Kimberley,
drove "NULLO" ashore with their
gunfire, where she was destroyed next day by RAF Blenheim
light bombers.
Balkans - On the
28th, the Italians invaded Greece from points in
Albania, but were soon driven back. Fighting continued on
Albanian soil until April 1941.
Monthly Loss Summary: 1 ship of 3,000
tons
NOVEMBER 1940
ATLANTIC - NOVEMBER 1940
United States - Franklin
D. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented third term
of office as President of the United States.
2nd - Attacking a
convoy northwest of Ireland, "U-31" was sunk for the second and final
time, on this occasion by destroyer "Antelope"
in co-operation with shore-based aircraft of RAF Coastal
Command. RAF Bomber Command first sank her in March 1940.
3rd - Two armed
merchant cruisers returning from patrol were sunk west of
Ireland by Kretschmer's "U-99". The first was "LAURENTIC" on the 3rd.
4th - Next day,
"PATROCLUS" was lost west of Ireland to an
attack by "U-99". A third AMC was sunk next
day.
5th, Loss of the "Jervis Bay" - Halifax/UK convoy HX84 with 37
ships and its solitary escort, armed merchant cruiser
"Jervis Bay" (Capt Fegen) was attacked by
11in-gunned pocket battleship "Admiral Scheer"
in mid-Atlantic. The convoy was ordered to scatter as "JERVIS
BAY" headed for
the "Scheer", guns firing. The end was in no
doubt and she went down, but her sacrifice saved all but
five of the merchant ships. Capt Edward Fegen RN was
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. It was in this action that tanker
"San Demetrio" was damaged by gunfire and
abandoned. Later re-boarded by a few of her crew, they
got her into port in spite of the greatest difficulties
and privations. "Admiral Scheer" headed for the
central and later the South Atlantic.
Battle
of the Atlantic - Outward-bound
OB244 and UK-bound SC11 were attacked by two groups of
U-boats west of North Channel. Fifteen merchant ships
were sunk, including seven from SC11 by Schepke's
"U-100" on the night of the 22nd/23rd. In
separate North Atlantic operations, German submarine "U-104" and the Italian "FAA DI
BRUNO" were lost.
In both cases the circumstances were uncertain, but
"U-104" was claimed by corvette
"Rhododendron" and the Italian by destroyer
"Havelock". "U-104" was the last
German U-boat lost until March although the Italians
suffered casualties. By the end of the month they had 26
submarines operating out of Bordeaux, but were never as
successful as their Axis ally. Important steps were taken
in the air war when an RAF Sunderland equipped with 1.5m
wavelength anti-surface vessel (ASV) radar located a
U-boat. This was the first success of its kind with a
system that was mainly effective by day; contact was lost
within two miles of the target. It was the addition of
the Leigh light that turned it into a powerful night-time
weapon as well. Now Coastal Command was using depth
charges instead of ineffective A/S bombs.
Monthly Loss Summary: 38 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 201,000 tons in the Atlantic from
all causes; 3 armed merchant cruisers; 2 German and 1 Italian U-boats.
EUROPE - NOVEMBER 1940
Britain - The Blitz
continued with a particularly damaging raid on Coventry
on the night of the 14th. Night-time attacks on London
and other ports and cities carried on through to May.
German cities were also targets for the RAF. Former Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain died on the 9th.
7th - A planned
attack by German torpedo boats (small destroyers) off the
coast of Scotland ended when "T-6" was mined on the British East
Coast barrage and went down.
16th - Submarine
SWORDFISH, setting out on Bay of Biscay
patrol, struck an enemy mine off the Isle of Wight,
southern England and sank.
Eastern Europe -
Hungary and Rumania joined the Axis Tripartite
Pact on the 20th and 23rd. Only Yugoslavia and Bulgaria
held out against German pressure to become members, the
only countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans not
completely dominated by the Axis or Russia.
Monthly Loss Summary: 48 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 93,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN - NOVEMBER 1940
11th, Fleet Air Arm Attack on Taranto,
Operation 'Judgement'
(see map above)
- Early in the month, a complex
series of reinforcement and supply moves (1-5) mounted from both ends of the
Mediterranean led to the classic air attack (6) on the Italian battlefleet at
Taranto. (1) From Alexandria, Adm Cunningham, with battleships
Malaya,
Ramillies,
Valiant and
Warspite, carrier
Illustrious, cruisers and
destroyers, sailed to cover west-bound convoys to Crete and Malta.
Aircraft carrier Eagle had to be left behind because of
defects caused by earlier bombing. (2) From Gibraltar, Force H
in a separate operation called "Coat" supported the east-bound passage
of battleship Barham, two
cruisers and three destroyers to reinforce the
Mediterranean Fleet. (3) Troop reinforcements were also carried to
Malta at this time from Gibraltar. (4) Still in the eastern half of the
Med, Adm Cunningham's Fleet met its new members and
covered the return of an empty ship convoy from Malta. (5) On the
11th a cruiser force
was detached for a successful attack on Italian shipping
in the Strait of Otranto at the entrance to the Adriatic
Sea. (6) "Illustrious" meanwhile, escorted
by cruisers and destroyers, headed for a position in the
Ionian Sea 170 miles to the southeast of Taranto. All six
battleships of the Italian Navy were at anchor there.
That night she launched
two waves of Swordfish biplanes, some belonging to
"Eagle". Under the command of Lt-Cdrs K.
Williamson and J. W. Hale, the total of no more than 20
aircraft of Numbers 813, 815, 819 and 824 Squadrons hit "CONTE DI
CAVOUR" and "CAIO
DIULIO" (right - Maritime Quest) with one
torpedo each and the brand new "LITTORIA" with three. All three
battleships sank at their moorings and "Cavour"
was never recommissioned, all for the loss of just two Swordfish. The Japanese Navy carefully
studied the attack as Pearl Harbor learnt to its cost
just a year later.
27th, Action off Cape Spartivento,
Southern Sardinia - A fast convoy under the codename Operation
'Collar' sailed eastward from Gibraltar with ships for Malta and
Alexandria. Cover as usual was provided by Force H with battlecruiser
Renown, carrier
Ark Royal, cruisers
Despatch and
Sheffield. Meanwhile, units
of the Mediterranean Fleet including
Ramillies and cruisers
Newcastle,
Berwick and
Coventry headed west for a
position south of Sardinia to meet them. Other ships accompanied the two
Mediterranean Fleet carriers in separate attacks on Italian targets -
Eagle on Tripoli, Libya, and
Illustrious on Rhodes off the southwest
Turkish coast. These moves took place on the 26th.
Next day, on the 27th, south of Sardinia, aircraft
of Force H's "Ark Royal" sighted an Italian
force with two battleships and seven heavy cruisers.
Force H, now joined by the Med Fleet's
"Ramillies", sailed to meet them. In an
hour-long exchange of gunfire "Renown" and the
cruisers were in action, during which time "Berwick" was damaged and an Italian
destroyer badly hit. The slower "Ramillies" had
not come up by the time the Italians turned back for
home. Adm Somerville pursued, but as he approached
Italian shores had to turn back himself. The convoys
arrived safely. Adm Somerville was later subjected to a
board of enquiry for not continuing the pursuit of the
Italian force, but soon exonerated.
Balkans - As the
Greek Army pushed back the Italians into Albania,
RAF squadrons were sent from Egypt to Greece and
the Royal Navy carried over the first Australian, British
and New Zealand troops by cruiser. Mediterranean Fleet
established an advance base at Suda Bay on the north
coast of Crete.
Monthly Loss Summary: There are no
British or Allied shipping losses in November 1940.
DECEMBER 1940
ATLANTIC - DECEMBER 1940
German Raiders - "Kormoran"
was the first of the second wave of raiders to leave for
operations. She started in the central Atlantic and later
moved to the Indian Ocean, where she was lost in November
1941. Much further afield in the South West Pacific,
"Komet" and "Orion" shared in the
sinking of five ships near the phosphate island of Nauru.
Later in the month "Komet" shelled the
installations on Nauru. 1st - Armed merchant
cruiser "Carnarvon Castle" was badly damaged in action with
raider "Thor" off Brazil, the German ship's
second and equally successful fight with an AMC.
2nd - Cdr
Kretschmer and "U-99" claimed a third armed
merchant cruiser when "FORFAR" was sent to the bottom west of
Ireland; the others were "Laurentic" and
"Patroclus" a month earlier. At the same time
nearby convoy HX90 was attacked just before the Western
Approaches escorts arrived. Eleven ships were lost to the
U-boats.
15th - Italian
submarine "TARANTINI" returning from North Atlantic patrol was
torpedoed and sunk by submarine "Thunderbolt"
in the Bay of Biscay.
German Heavy Warships -
Earlier in the month the 8in heavy cruiser "Admiral Hipper" left Germany
and passed into the Atlantic through the Denmark Strait. On Christmas
Day the 25th December, 700 miles to the west of Cape Finisterre,
northwest Spain she encountered Middle East troop convoy WS5A, one of
'Winston's Specials', escorted by cruisers. They were accompanied by
carrier Furious
ferrying aircraft to Takoradi in West Africa. In an
exchange of gunfire the heavy cruiser "Berwick" and two merchantmen were slightly
damaged. "Hipper" retired and soon reached
Brest. She was the first of the Gerrnan big ships to
reach the French Biscay ports. From there she and her
companions posed a major threat to the Atlantic convoy
routes right up until the Channel Dash of February 1942.
Monthly Loss Summary: 42 British, Allied and neutral ships of
239,000 tons in the Atlantic from all causes, 1 armed
merchant cruiser; 1 Italian U-boat
EUROPE - DECEMBER 1940
Royal Navy - Adm
Sir John Tovey succeeded Adm Forbes as
Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet.
5th - The
ex-American destroyer
CAMERON undergoing refit in Portsmouth
harbour was bombed and badly damaged. Not worth
repairing, she was used for experimental purposes. 17th
- Following repairs to bomb damage, destroyer
ACHERON was carrying out
trials off the Isle of Wight, southern England when she
detonated a mine and went to the bottom.
Eastern Europe - Hitler
ordered detailed planning for Operation 'Barbarossa' -
the invasion of Russia.
Monthly Loss Summary: 34 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 83,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN - DECEMBER 1940
Late November/early
December - Submarines
REGULUS and
TRITON were lost in late November or
early December, possibly mined in the Strait of Otranto
area at the southern end of the Adriatic Sea.
Alternatively "Regulus" may have been sunk by
Italian aircraft on 26th November.
3rd - At anchor in the poorly
defended Suda Bay, cruiser Glasgow was hit by two torpedoes
from Italian aircraft and badly damaged.
North Africa - Gen
Wavell launched the first British offensive on the 9th
against the Italian forces in Egypt. Sidi Barrani was
captured on the 10th and by the end of the month British
and Dominion troops had entered Libya for the first time.
The offensive continued until February by which time El
Agheila, half way across Libya and well on the way to
Tripoli, had been reached. Italian losses in men and
material were considerable. Units of the Mediterranean
Fleet including the small ship Inshore Squadron
and the Australian Destroyer Flotilla played an important
part in supporting and supplying the North African land
campaign. On the 13th, cruiser
Coventry was torpedoed by Italian submarine
"Neghelli", but remained operational. 14th - Also operating in support of
the land campaign, destroyers "Hereward" and
"Hyperion" sank Italian submarine "NAIADE" off Bardia, Libya just over the
Egyptian border.
Mediterranean
Operations - Another series of convoy and offensive operations were
carried out by the Mediterranean Fleet with battleships
Warspite,
Valiant and carrier
Illustrious. On the 17th
carrier aircraft attacked Rhodes and on the night of the 18th/19th
the two battleships bombarded Valona, Albania. At the same time,
battleship Malaya passed through
to the west for Gibraltar. On the way, escorting
destroyer HYPERION hit a mine near Cape Bon,
northeast tip of Tunisia on the 22nd and had to be
scuttled. "Malaya" carried on to meet up with
Force H. The German Luftwaffe's X Fliegerkorps -
including Ju87 Stuka dive-bombers - was ordered to Sicily
and southern Italy to bolster the Italian Air Force.
|
Mediterranean
Theatre after Seven Months
A total of nine Royal Navy
submarines had
been lost since June in the Mediterranean, a poor
exchange for the sinking of 10 Italian
merchantmen of 45,000 tons. Most of the
submarines were the large, older boats
transferred from the Far East and unsuited to the
waters of the Mediterranean. In the same time the
Italians lost 18 submarines from all causes
throughout the Mediterranean and Red Sea areas.
Mussolini's claimed domination of the
Mediterranean had not been apparent. In spite of
the loss of French naval power, Force H and the Mediterranean
Fleet more
than held the Italian Navy in check. Malta had
been supplied and reinforced, and the British
offensive in North Africa was underway.
Elsewhere, the Greeks were driving the Italians
back into Albania and away to the south the
Italian East African Empire was about to be wound
up. However, it was now only a matter of months
and even weeks before the Luftwaffe appeared in Sicily, Gen Rommel in North Africa and the German Army in Greece, followed by
their paratroops in Crete
|
Monthly
Loss Summary: There were no British or Allied shipping
losses in December.
DEFENCE OF TRADE - April to December 1940
U-boats and now long-range
aircraft had taken a heavy toll of British, Allied and
neutral shipping in the Atlantic, mainly in the
North Western Approaches to the British Isles. Further
afield surface raiders had sunk, captured and disrupted
shipping as far away as the Pacific. U-boats also
operated with success off West Africa. In UK waters,
attacks by aircraft and E-boats had added to the
continuous threat from mines. Over half the ships and 40
percent of tonnage had been lost close to home. Vital as
the Battle of the Atlantic was, there could be no let up
in the equally important battle for the coastal convoy
routes once the ships reached UK waters. Only heavily
escorted transports used the Mediterranean until
1943. The monthly loss rate in these months was twice
that of the first seven months of the war, and each form
of attack required a different technical and operational
response by the Royal Navy and its Allies. The 1940
patterns of assault against the trade routes continued
throughout 1941, although the U-boats moved further out
into the Atlantic. By year's end they had reached the
coasts of America.
Total Losses = 878 British, Allied and
neutral ships of 3,441,000 tons (382,000 tons per month)
By Location
|
Location |
Number
of British, Allied, neutral ships |
Total
Gross Registered Tonnage
|
|
North
Atlantic |
321 |
1,683,000
tons |
|
South Atlantic |
8
|
55,000 tons |
|
UK waters |
497 |
1,367,000 tons |
|
Mediterranean |
13
|
64,000 tons |
|
Indian Ocean |
24
|
173,000 tons |
|
Pacific Ocean |
15
|
99,000 tons |
By Cause
Causes in
order of tonnage sunk
(1. 4. ... -
Order when weapon first introduced) |
Number
of British, Allied, neutral ships |
Total
Gross Registered Tonnage
|
|
1.
Submarines |
363 |
1,842,000
tons |
|
4. Aircraft |
172 |
546,000 tons |
|
6. Raiders (new cause) |
54
|
367,000 tons |
|
2. Mines |
151 |
342,000 tons |
|
5. Other causes |
99
|
201,000 tons |
|
3. Warships |
16
|
95,000 tons |
|
7. Coastal forces (new cause) |
23
|
48,000 tons |
