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German wolfpack logo1/8/2024 ![]() ![]() was allowing more and more vessels to hit the waters with radar and sonar that would find the U-boats wherever they hid. The technological and industrial might of the U.S. The tables were, slowly, shifting in the Atlantic, though. Even counting the probable loss of U-132, Germany sacrificed three submarines in this pursuit. But 15 ships were already sunk and more damaged. The next day, November 5, the convoy reached the range of anti-submarine planes and those, combined with the increased naval escort, finally drove off the German vessels. Navy dispatched two destroyers to guard the convoy, but SC 107 would lose one more ship in the closing hours of November 4. Now near Iceland, ships laden with rescued survivors broke north for Iceland to disembark those still alive while the rest of the convoy continued east. Approximately 30 minutes after it was attacked, the fires resulted in a massive explosion that shook the waters, damaged nearby ships, and likely sank the German boat U-132. ![]() One of the ships hit was a large ammo ship filled with munitions. The USS Schenck was one of the destroyers sent to protect SC 107 from further attacks on November 4. As night fell, the subs hit four more ships and sank them, including the "commodore ship," where the top merchant mariner of the fleet sailed and commanded. On November 3, 10 submarines made attempted attacks, resulting in the sinking of one tanker. Another destroyer was added to the bleeding convoy. The next day, November 2, a new escort corvette joined the convoy, but it couldn't stop the sinking of a ninth convoy ship. After the first ship was finished off, another seven were hit and destroyed by simultaneous attacks from multiple U-boats.įour submarines succeeded in sinking enemy ships that first night, and three others had taken shots. One U-boat made it past the escorts and hit a ship with a torpedo. The escorts spent the first hours performing desperate passes around the convoy to keep the U-boats at bay, but after midnight the subs made their move. German submarines were equipped with deck guns that allowed them to slaughter undefended convoys, but they used their massive torpedoes to kill convoys when surface combatants were in the water. But it was 42 ships protected by only five ships, only one of which was a destroyer. On October 31, two submarines were driven off.īut, by November 1, the Western Local ships were at the edge of their range and had to turn back. Two German U-boats were sunk, and another sub attack was interrupted. ![]() They worked together with land-based planes and bombers to smack the submarines down, hard. This made for three destroyers and a few smaller escorts. So the thin escort was buttressed by the British destroyer HMS Walker and Canadian destroyer HMS Columbia. Luckily, this first contact came within range of the Western Local Escort, ships assigned to protect convoys near the Canadian and American coasts as the convoys were still forming and starting east. The German radio traffic tipped off the convoy that it was about to come under attack, and its escort deployed to protect it. Allied bombers helped sink two German U-boats at the start of the fight over SC 107, but the convoy soon moved out of their range. ![]()
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