Newfoundland Escort Force

A U-boat on the surface

The adoption of wolfpack and motor torpedo boat tactics solved two problems the U-boat fleet had against the convoy system the Allies had adopted. Locating the convoy and then setting up a concerted attack. The German adoption of these tactics forced the Allies to alter their own strategy by extending the range of the escorts into the Atlantic.^[1]

In early 1941, escorts based out of the United Kingdom escorted convoys to 22° west longitude at which point outbound convoys dispersed and inbound convoys were picked up by the escorts. To get around the escorts, the German submarines pushed further out into the Atlantic, setting up their attacks in areas where the close escort was provided by battleships, cruisers or submarines to ward off surface raiders.^[1]

To extend the range of their escorts, the United Kingdom occupied Iceland and Canadian-based escorts extended their coverage to the edge of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. By May 1941, the gap had been closed to roughly 700 nautical miles (1,300 km; 810 mi). However, the U-boats continued to attack just beyond the range of the escorts, forcing the Allies to cover the gap.^[1] By this point three merchant ships were being sunk for every one being built and eight U-boats were being launched for every one that was sunk.^[2]

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U-boat

U-boat

U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic-warfare role and enforcing a naval blockade against enemy shipping. The primary targets of the U-boat campaigns in both wars were the merchant convoys bringing supplies from Canada and other parts of the British Empire, and from the United States, to the United Kingdom and to the Soviet Union and the Allied territories in the Mediterranean. German submarines also targeted Brazilian merchant ships during both World Wars and, twice over, precipitated Brazil's decision to give up its neutral stance and declare war on Germany.

Wolfpack (naval tactic)

Wolfpack (naval tactic)

The wolfpack was a convoy attack tactic employed in the Second World War. It was used principally by the U-boats of the Kriegsmarine during the Battle of the Atlantic, and by the submarines of the United States Navy in the Pacific War. The idea of a co-ordinated submarine attack on convoys had been proposed during the First World War but had no success. In the Atlantic during the Second World War the Germans had considerable successes with their wolfpack attacks but were ultimately defeated by the Allies. In the Pacific the American submarine force was able to devastate Japan’s merchant marine, though this was not solely due to the wolfpack tactic. Wolfpacks fell out of use during the Cold War as the role of the submarine changed and as convoys became rare.

Motor torpedo boat

Motor torpedo boat

A motor torpedo boat is a fast torpedo boat, especially of the mid 20th century. The motor in the designation originally referred to their use of petrol engines, typically marinised aircraft engines or their derivatives, which distinguished them from other naval craft of the era, including other torpedo boats, that used steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines. Later, diesel-powered torpedo boats appeared, in turn or retroactively referred to as "motor torpedo boats" for their internal combustion engines, as distinct from steam powered reciprocating or turbine propulsion.

Battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.

Grand Banks of Newfoundland

Grand Banks of Newfoundland

The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordfish, haddock and capelin, as well as shellfish, seabirds and sea mammals.

Newfoundland (island)

Newfoundland (island)

Newfoundland is a large island off the east coast of the North American mainland and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It has 29 percent of the province's land area. The island is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and from Cape Breton Island by the Cabot Strait. It blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary. Newfoundland's nearest neighbour is the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

Nautical mile

Nautical mile

A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute of latitude. Today the international nautical mile is defined as exactly 1,852 metres. The derived unit of speed is the knot, one nautical mile per hour.

HMCS Chambly, one of the Canadian Flower-class corvettes assigned to the NEF

On 20 May 1941, Canada was formally requested by the United Kingdom to base its new Flower-class corvettes at St. John's to cover the gap.^[2] Canada had accepted responsibility for the defence of Newfoundland early in the war.^[1] The position of St. John's moved the forward base of the Canadian escorts nearly a full quarter of the way closer to Iceland. This was the only way shorter-ranged destroyers and smaller escorts could be incorporated into the escort scheme.^[2] Changes to the initial corvette design had been made in the United Kingdom, but had yet to be instituted in Canadian construction. This, the lack of essential equipment and lack of training were reasons for the Canadians not to accept the request. However, on 23 May, the first Canadian warships left Halifax, Nova Scotia for St. John's.^[3]

This was the establishment of the Newfoundland Escort Force. Commodore Leonard W. Murray arrived on 13 June to command the NEF, which was under the overall command of Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches in the United Kingdom.^[4] However, Murray had complete autonomy over his zone and with Royal Canadian Navy ships at its core, would incorporate the warships of several navies.^[2] This was the first foreign operational command the Royal Canadian Navy ever took.^[5]

Under the NEF, convoys would sail from Halifax under local escort until reaching the point where the NEF escort groups would take over. The local escorts would leave to refuel at St. John's before returning to Halifax. The NEF escorts would escort the convoy to Iceland, where they would turn it over to British-based escorts. The NEF escorts would refuel at Iceland and return to St. John's with a westbound convoy.^[2]

Composition

As a subordinate command of the Western Approaches Command, NEF used their tactics.^[6] The NEF was a series of escort groups usually composed of up to four ships with two to three corvettes and one destroyer. The groups were given numeric designations between 14 and 25.^[7] As part of its creation, the United Kingdom agreed to return Canadian destroyers operating in European waters. Also augmenting Canadian vessels were ten Royal Navy corvettes that were handed over to the Royal Canadian Navy for use in the NEF, and additional Royal Navy V and W-class destroyers.^[5][8] The senior officer in the escort group automatically became the Senior Officer Escort and took charge of convoy defence along with commanding his own ship.^[8]

The command was planned to have sixty or more units at its disposal. However, the command never operated with more than roughly 50. This led to a further lack of training and deterioration of vessels. The missing vessels were mainly destroyers, which were the most capable of escorts. Their places in the convoy escort groups were often filled by corvettes, the weakest.^[9] The lack of properly equipped and trained vessels rotating through the command led to a lack of quality in the escort groups. There was very little reserve force that could be sent to augment convoy battles and vessels delayed their refit schedules, making those ships out on escort less capable.^[8]

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Flower-class corvette

Flower-class corvette

The Flower-class corvette was a British class of 294 corvettes used during World War II by the Allied navies particularly as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the Battle of the Atlantic. Royal Navy ships of this class were named after flowers.

Corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop-of-war.

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.

Destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. Halifax is one of Canada's fastest growing municipalities, and as of 2022, it is estimated that the CMA population of Halifax was 480,582, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.

Leonard W. Murray

Leonard W. Murray

Rear Admiral Leonard Warren Murray, CB, CBE was an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy who played a central role in the Battle of the Atlantic, and was the only Canadian to command an Allied theatre of operations during World War II.

Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches

Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches

Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsible for the safety of British shipping in the Western Approaches.

V and W-class destroyer

V and W-class destroyer

The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the 9th, 10th, 13th and 14th of fourteen War Emergency Programmes during the First World War and generally treated as one class. For their time they were among the most powerful and advanced ships of their type in the world, and set the trend for future British designs.

Initially, the NEF was composed of fifteen Royal Navy warships; seven destroyers, four sloops and four corvettes, and twenty-three Royal Canadian warships; six destroyers and seventeen corvettes.^[10] NEF's first convoy operation began on 2 June 1941. The first significant convoy battle erupted around convoy HX 133. Six merchant vessels were lost in exchange for two U-boats sunk by British reinforcements to the convoy escort.^[7]

In August, United States Navy escorts began escort fast convoys (ON and HX designations) between North America and Iceland under the Argentia Agreement. The NEF was restricted to escorting slow convoys (SC and ONS designations).^[7] Following the introduction of the US destroyers, German tactics changed, moving concentrations of U-boats around the Atlantic in response to battle and circumstance. In September the U-boats shifted north and encountered convoy SC 42. Escorted by one of NEF's groups and heavily augmented during the ensuing battle, it became the worst loss of the period by Allied escorts with 15 merchant vessels sunk. During the battle, the Canadian escorts were able to sink one U-boat U-501.^[11]

Following the SC 42 loss, the British requested that the NEF increase the number of escorts per group to six. The NEF was capable of doing so only because of the American escort of HX convoys. In September and October, the Germans began targeting SC convoys at the same time as the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point was moved five degrees further east in order to free British warships for escort duties in other theatres.^[12] In October, the NEF was removed as a subordinate unit of Western Approaches Command and placed under the supervision of an American commander, even though the United States was still officially neutral.^[10][13]

This decision soon began to affect NEF's capability to operate. In October, Royal Canadian Navy vessels were averaging 28 out of every 31 days at sea. Both US and British concerns over the force's effectiveness became apparent that month. To ease the strain in mid-October, every ocean-going escort of the Royal Canadian Navy was deployed to the NEF.^[14] The area of sea which became known as the "Black Pit" coincided with the gap between land-based air cover. This area, coupled with the slow speed of SC convoys became so dangerous to the convoy system that in November, convoy SC 52 returned to Canada after it was intercepted by U-boat packs shortly after beginning its trans-Atlantic voyage.^[15] In mid-November the NEF gained respite as the Germans abandoned the North Atlantic and re-directed their efforts elsewhere.^[16]

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Sloop-of-war

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term sloop-of-war encompassed all the unrated combat vessels, including the very small gun-brigs and cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fireships were classed as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the sloop role when not carrying out their specialised functions.

Convoy HX 133

Convoy HX 133

Convoy HX 133 was the 133rd of the numbered series of World War II HX convoys of merchant ships from HalifaX to Liverpool. The ships departed Halifax on 16 June 1941, and were found on 23 June by U-boats of the 1st U-boat Flotilla, operating out of Brest, France. U-boats sank six ships before the convoy reached Liverpool on 3 July. There was strong criticism of the RCN corvette's signalling capabilities as borne out by the number of collisions that occurred.

United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of its active battle fleet alone exceeding the next 13 navies combined, including 11 allies or partner nations of the United States as of 2015. It has the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, two new carriers under construction, and five other carriers planned. With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve, the United States Navy is the third largest of the United States military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 290 deployable combat vessels and more than 2,623 operational aircraft as of June 2019.

ON convoys

ON convoys

The ON convoys were a series of North Atlantic trade convoys running Outbound from the British Isles to North America during the Battle of the Atlantic.

HX convoys

HX convoys

The HX convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. They were east-bound convoys and originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia from where they sailed to ports in the United Kingdom. They absorbed the BHX convoys from Bermuda en route. Later, after the United States entered the war, HX convoys began at New York.

SC convoys

SC convoys

The SC convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys that ran during the battle of the Atlantic during World War II.

Convoy SC 42

Convoy SC 42

Convoy SC 42 was the 42nd of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool. SC 42 was attacked over a three night period in September 1941, losing 16 ships sunk and 4 damaged. This was the worst Allied loss following the attack on convoy SC 7 the previous year. Two attacking U-boats were destroyed.

German submarine U-501

German submarine U-501

German submarine U-501 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The submarine was laid down on 12 February 1940 at the Deutsche Werft yard in Hamburg, launched on 25 January 1941 and commissioned on 30 April 1941 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Hugo Förster. The boat served with 2nd U-boat Flotilla until she was sunk on 10 September 1941.

By December 1941, 78% of the Royal Canadian Navy's strength was allocated to the NEF. With the entry of the United States into the war in an official capacity in December, command over the western Atlantic was altered.^[17] Initially there was a flood of United States Navy vessels into the Atlantic. However, with the conflict with Japan in the Pacific needing more escorts, the United States began withdrawing from the battle in the Atlantic.^[18] The US contribution further diminished after German attacks on shipping off the US East Coast and in the Caribbean Sea. Canadian warships were withdrawn from North Atlantic service and sent south to counter the threat.^[19] In January 1942, the NEF and British-based escorts were amalgamated into the new Mid-Ocean Escort Force command.^[20] In order to free up extra escorts to fill out American escort groups, Iceland was abandoned as a route point, with escorts instead beginning in Derry, Northern Ireland or sites in Newfoundland and sailing directly for the other.^[18]