| Second World War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Operation Stonewall of the Atlantic campaign | |||||||
 The Bay of Biscay | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Germany Italy Japan |  United Kingdom United States Canada Australia New Zealand Czechoslovakia Brazil | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Karl Dönitz | Ralph Leatham | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Befehlshaber der U-Boote (Commander, U-boats) Marine-Gruppenkommando West (Naval Group West) Luftwaffe (Fliegerfuhrer Atlantik) | Royal Navy US Navy (ships and aircraft) Royal Canadian Navy Royal New Zealand Navy Royal Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force Royal Australian Air Force Brazilian Air Force Czechoslovak Air Force (in British service) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 blockade-runner 1 Destroyer 2 torpedo boats 1 U-boat | 2 destroyers | ||||||
| Neutral ships from Ireland and Spain rescued some German survivors | |||||||
Operation Stonewall was an Allied naval and air operation in theSecond World War from 26 to 27 December 1943, to intercept blockade-runners sailing toGerman-occupied France through theBay of Biscay. Operations Barrier and Freecar, by the Allied navies and theBrazilian Air Force, had taken place in the south- and mid-Atlantic. The ships were tracked byOP-20-G (US Navy) and British (Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) atBletchley Park) code-breakers, which decrypted Japanese machine cyphers and GermanEnigma machine transmissions to U-boats (Shark cypher) and blockade-runners (Sunfish cypher).
At the west end of the Bay of Biscay,Royal Navy and Allied ships, withCoastal Command aircraft of Operation Stonewall hunted the blockade-runners, assisted by convoyEscort Groups and support groups diverted from nearby convoys.Osorno andAlsterufer were the first two blockade-runners of the late 1943 – early 1944 season.Osorno evaded interception and was escorted into the estuary of theGironde by Germandestroyers andtorpedo boats (small destroyers).
On 27 December,Alsterufer was spotted by a fighter from an American escort carrier, then attacked by Australian, British and Canadian, Coastal Command,Sunderland flying boats but suffered little damage. At4:07 p.m.Liberator GR Mk V "H" of311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron made a low-altitude attack onAlsterufer with rockets and bombs, setting the ship on fire.Alsterufer sank the next day and 74 survivors were rescued 48 hours later by Canadian corvettes.
The German destroyers and torpedo boats that had escortedOsorno to port sailed to rendezvous withAlsterufer, the Germans being unaware of the bombing of the ship. Using Enigma decrypts of their positions, the German ships were bombed by US Liberators and then intercepted by the cruisersHMS Glasgow andEnterprise of Operation Stonewall. In theBattle of the Bay of Biscay one of the destroyers and two torpedo boats were sunk in battle during a severe storm. Sailings of blockade-runners from France were cancelled and three runners from Japan were sunk by the US Navy in the south Atlantic in January 1944.
From the start of the war on 3 September 1939, theAllies proclaimed ablockade of Germany to prevent the import of goods. Germany had norubber, oil, tin andtungsten. UntilOperation Barbarossa the German invasion of the Soviet Union, it evaded the blockade via theTrans-Siberian Railway. After the supply route was closed at the start of Barbarossa and after the Japanese entry into the war, German and Italian ships were stranded inJapan andJapanese-occupied Singapore. The ships were used asblockade-runners, sailing to ports in occupied France after mid-1940, when Germany had taken control of the European coast from Norway to the French–Spanish border. From April 1941 to May 1942, 32 ships tried to reach France and 14 succeeded.[1] In 1941 and 1942, German and Italian ships brought in 70,000 long tons (71,000 t) of commodities and exported 32,540 long tons (33,060 t) to Japan.[2] From August 1942 to April 1943 fifteen ships tried to run the blockade and four got through.[3]
After sailing from Japan, through the Pacific and the Indian Ocean to theCape of Good Hope, blockade-runners kept radio silence and passed rearranging points at planned times. When a ship was due, U-boats and aircraft were barred from attacking merchant ships in a 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) lane in the mid-Atlantic, to the north-east from a line level with the Canary Islands, east of the Azores and then east to Bordeaux. Escorts were laid on through the Bay of Biscay and the ships received occasional support further out from U-boats. After the cargo has been discharged, the ship was re-fitted for the next journey.[4]
More accommodation was built for crew and passengers, decks were reinforced, guns and ammunition stores were installed. A minimum of four scuttling charges of up to 165 lb (75 kg) were placed in the bottom of the hull and armed when the ship sailed with 7–9-minute fuzes; the crew kept their belongings ready in case they abandoned the ship. The vessel went into dry dock to have the hull cleaned to increase its speed and the ship underwent sea trials, sometimes incorporating the delivery of goods toBassens or to another Biscay port. When ready to sail, the ship waited in the Gironde for an escort of minesweepers. Early in the war, the sailing schedule was little different from a peacetime commercial service.[4]
U-boats were used to transport small amounts of commodities in 1943 while bigger transport submarines were built but by winter German industry would need several shiploads of rubber and other cargoes. Despite the risks several ships would have to be despatched from Japan. There were five motor vessels in Japan and it was thought that if they left at fairly frequent intervals, the Allies might be distracted by the hunt for one and let another slip through their blockades. The ships would be on their own on the voyage but the run through the Bay of Biscay could be assisted by surface ships and aircraft. The five ships would carry 33,095 long tons (33,626 t) of rubber and other goods and sail at intervals that would allow the Biscay escort forces to meet one about 400 nmi (460 mi; 740 km) out from Bordeaux, escort it to port and then sail to meet the next one. The best time for the attempts to run the blockade would be midwinter 1943–1944.[5][a]
MV Osorno (6,951 GRT, code-nameBernau,Kapitän Paul Hellmann) of theHamburg America Line (HAPAG) with 3,882 long tons (3,944 t) of rubber, 1,797 long tons (1,826 t) of tin and 177 long tons (180 t) of tungsten, sailed fromKobe on 2 October, disguised as the British shipProme, rounding the Cape of Good Hope on 15 November.[7]Osorno was followed by therefrigerated cargo ship (reefer)Alsterufer (2,729 GRT, code-nameTrave,Kapitän Piatek) of the Robert M. Sloman Jr. line of Hamburg, carrying 344 long tons (350 t) of tungsten, a year's worth of consumption in the German war economy.[8]Rio Grande sailed third on 4 October 1943 from Yokohama;Weserland andBurgenland departed later in the month. Allied spies reported the arrival of the first three ships at Saigon (nowHo Chi Minh City), raising the alarm.[9]
The defeat of the German U-boat offensive in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1943 was followed by the last attempt by the Germans to pass blockade-runners through theBay of Biscay to and from the Japanese empire. From May 1943 decrypts of Japanese diplomatic wireless traffic revealed to the Allies that the losses of the 1942–1943 season had not deterred the Axis from making another attempt in the autumn. Seven merchant ships were to sail from Europe carrying 50,000 long tons (51,000 t) of exports and that the Germans were building special U-boats to import 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) of goods from Japan in 1943. In July and August, photographic reconnaissance and agent reports from the French Atlantic ports that sailings for the far East were being prepared and by 6 September it was clear that seven ships were close to sailing.[10]
On 4 October, after the blockade-runnerKulmerland had been hit by Allied bombers, a signal from the Japanese Ambassador in Berlin showed the Allies that the export programme had been cut to 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) because of the bombing.[10] On 18 July the British and Portuguese reached a basing agreement for the Azores, which came into force on 8 October and which had the potential to deter the Axis from trying to run the blockade.[11] On 23 October, the Germans introduced new W/T methods for signalling between U-boats and blockade-runners in the Bay of Biscay and in early NovemberDresden, thought to be a blockade-runner, struck a mine. The British thought that five ships were preparing to leave the Bay and that four ships were preparing to return from the Far East. Later in November, another decrypt from the Japanese Ambassador revealed that the German export programme had been reduced again, to 29,000 long tons (29,000 t). US Navy patrols in the South Atlantic were increased.[12]
TheMinistry of Economic Warfare in London knew that the winter would be the best time for blockade-runners and photographic reconnaissance revealed that the number of German warships in the French Biscay ports had been increased. Enigma decrypts and agent reports from the Far East alerted the Allies.[5] Evidence that the new round of departures from the Far East had begun was found in an Ultra decrypt of 16 November, prohibiting U-boat attacks west of a line in the south Atlantic. The Naval and air commanders were told that a northbound blockade-runner and possibly another eight were approaching, includingOsorno andAlsterufer.[13] Little was revealed byOP-20-G, theUS Navy (USN) code-breaking organisation, until 26 November, that on the day before the U-boat restrictions ("Kammerarrest") in the south Atlantic had been imposed further north on 1 December.[14][b] On 26 November the Italian shipPietro Orseolo sailed fromBordeaux toConcarneau on the south Brittany coast and was attacked by aircraft from Coastal Command on 1 December to no effect.[15]
Operation Barrier began withTask Force 41 (TF.41) comprising five task groups, of a cruiser and a destroyer each, three of which were permanently at sea and USN aircraft patrols fromNatal in Brazil, withBrazilian Air Force patrols fromRecife (at war with Germany and Italy since 22 August 1942) and flights by USN patrol bombers fromAscension Island on 1 December.[14] More information was received by the Allies on 5 December that the restrictions were in force north of theequator from the next day.[16]Osorno was spotted on 8 December by Liberator B-8 ofVPB-107 from Ascension but TG.41.4 (the cruiserUSS Marblehead and the destroyerWinslow) were chasing another contact which turned out to be a Greek independent, then began a hunt for a U-boat andOsorno escaped.[14][c] TheAdmiralty signalled the importance given to preventing the arrival of blockade-runners on 12 December and theRoyal Navy light cruiserHMS Glasgow left on patrol from the Azores.[16] Searches to the north-west found nothing butOsorno had been sighted byU-510 whose report was decrypted by OP-20-G on 13 December.[14]
Freecar began soon after Barrier withHMS Corfu andCilicia botharmed merchant cruisers, the French cruiserSuffren and the Italian cruisersAbruzzi andd'Aosta. Barrier and Freecar were suspended, lettingAlsterufer pass unseen.[14] On 18 December, a Sunfish message sent on 13 December toOsorno andAsterufer was decrypted and on 22 December a decrypt of the U-boat Shark cypher showed that the U-boat restrictions were in force west of the Bay of Biscay.[16]
Coastal Command preparedHalifax andLiberator bombers to attack the blockade-runners as they crossed the Bay of Biscay. TheRoyal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) light cruiserHMNZSGambia, recently refitted, arrived at Plymouth from Scotland on 5 December 1943.Gambia was to joinGlasgow andEnterprise under the command of the Commander-in-Chief Plymouth (AdmiralRalph Leatham) for operations against blockade runners.[18] U-boats were sailing in distant waters which required more signals from AdmiralKarl Dönitz (Befehlshaber der U-Boote, BdU, Commander, U-boats) about blockade-runners. The Shark cypher for U-boats was often being decrypted quickly by theGovernment Code and Cypher School which then broke the Sunfish Enigma key used by the blockade-runners.[12]
| Code | Route |
|---|---|
| CU | Curaçao/New York to UK (tankers) |
| GUS | Port Said to US Slow |
| HX | Halifax to UK |
| KMF | UK to Mediterranean Fast |
| KMS | UK to Mediterranean Slow |
| MKS | Mediterranean to UK Slow |
| ON | Outward North (UK to US) |
| OS | Outbound South (UK to Freetown) |
| SC | Sydney/Halifax/New York to UK |
| SL | Freetown to UK |
| UGS | US to Port Said/Gibraltar |
AfterOsorno managed to pass the Natal–Freetown narrows, Leatham began Operation Stonewall.Gambia andGlasgow sailed from Plymouth toHorta in theAzores taking turns to patrol, fuelling from a tanker at Horta.Osorno turned eastwards at theGrand Banks of Newfoundland. From 16 to 17 December,Osorno (Bernau) crossed the US to Gibraltar convoy route undetected.[20][13] On 18 DecemberOsorno passed itself off as the BritishLandsman en route from Cape Town to Liverpool to a Sunderland flying-boat that investigated it. During the night a British destroyer passed close by and warnedOsorno that a U-boat was in the vicinity before beginning a depth-charge attack on the suspected submarine;Osorno managed to steal away.[17]
Coastal Command attacked the outboundPietro Orseolo on 18 December, with six Torbeau torpedo-bombers of254 Squadron and sixBeaufighters of248 Squadron for Flak suppression, escorted by eightTyphoon fighters, hitting it amidships twice with torpedoes; the ship exploded and sank offLorient the next morning.[21] On 19 DecemberOsorno passed through the US–UK route near Convoy ON 215, following a day behind Convoy HX 270 and a day in front of Convoy SC 149.[22] From 21 to 22 December,Osorno turned east for the Bay of Biscay and crossed the paths of Convoy KMF 27 and Convoy MKS 33/SL 142, which was accompanied byEscort Group B4 and a support group based onHMS Fencer. The Germans were as ignorant of the position ofOsorno as the Allies andWolfpackBorkum was formed from the southernmost boats of WolfpackCoronel to attack Convoy MKS 33/SL 142 to cover the return ofOrsorno.[22][d]
German signals to establish WolfpackBorkum were decrypted by the Allies and TG.21.15, comprising the escort carrierUSS Core with the destroyers,USS Greene,Belknap,George E. Badger andGoldsborough detached from Convoy GUS 24 to hunt the U-boats. TG.21.14, with the escort carrierCard and the destroyersLeary,Schenck andDecatur joined the hunt and WolfpackBorkum was assisted by fiveFW 200Kondor bombers flying by day, aBV 222 flying boat flying on the night of 20/21 December and more aircraft during the next day but no ships were sunk.[22] German aircraft reported the escort carrier groups three times on 22 and 23 December.[22]Gambia andGlasgow were behindOsorno.[20] On 23 December, aF4F fighter fromCard sighted a ship about 500 nmi (930 km; 580 mi) south-west ofUshant;Osorno failed to give the right answer to the challenge, despite flying theRed Ensign. The destroyers of TG.21.14 were too short of fuel and could not leaveCard when U-boats were known to be close.Card had to close its flight-deck after accidents then the Task Group was distracted by the attacks of WolfpackBorkum which had the benefit of aircraft flying from land bases.[23][e] During the evening of 24 December, Convoy OS 62/KMS 36 from the north with Escort Group B1 and the support group of the escort carrierHMS Striker ran into WolfpackBorkum.U-415 sankHMS Hurricane with a T5 torpedo.[25]
At noon on 24 December, the8. Zerstörerflotille (8th Destroyer Flotilla, Captain Erdmenger)Z 27,Z 23,Z 24,Z 32,Z 37 andZH 1 were sent to escortOsorno The4. Torpedobootsflottille (4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla,Korvettenkapitän Franz Kohlauf) withT 22,T 23,T 24,T 25,T 26 andT 27 also took part inUnternehmen Bernau, departing from the Biscay ports to rendezvous withOsorno and escort it to port. From dawn on 25 December,Sunderland flying boats from201 Squadron RAF,422 Squadron RCAF and461 Squadron RAAF were in contact withOsorno and one was claimed shot down byOsorno after it came too close and appeared to crash into the sea. At noon on a cloudy day, when about 450 nmi (520 mi; 830 km) west of the French coast, the lookouts onOsorno spotted destroyers with characteristic German funnel caps.[23]
An hour later,Osorno was encircled by eleven destroyers and torpedo boats. The ships had an array of 207 guns from 20 mm to 150 mm and 76 torpedoes; long-rangeJu 88 fighters sent byFliegerführer Atlantik flew overhead.[23] Despite the air cover, Halifax GR.Mk.II bombers, including eight from502 Squadron attacked from4:20 to 7:15 p.m., "Q" claiming a hit one a ship. As night fell, 58 Mosquitos and Torbeau torpedo-bombers of19 Group Coastal Command failed to find the German ships.Osorno reached the swept channel of the Gironde estuary, then ran into the wreck ofSperrbrecher 21 and had to be beached atLe Verdon-sur-Mer at the entrance to the estuary.[26] Bomber Command sent fiveStirling mine-layers on the night of 29/30 December and the waters around the ship were mined to obstruct the unloading of its cargo of rubber but the Germans got most of it ashore.[27]
Alsterufer passed the South Atlantic narrows undetected and crossed the US–Gibraltar route on 20 December, not far from TG.21.16, which included the carrierUSS Block Island and four destroyers.Alsterufer was behind the westbound Convoy GUS 23 and near the eastbound Convoy UGS 27. By 23 DecemberAlsterufer was distant from Convoy CU 9 to the east, TG.21.16 to the south-east and Convoy SC 149 to the north.[28] The 8th destroyer Flotilla (8.Zerstörerflotille) and the 4th Torpedo boat Flotilla (4.Torpedobootflottille), less ZH 1, which had engine-trouble, sailed into the Bay of Biscay again onUnternehmen Trave (Operation Beam) on 26 December to meetAlsterufer and escort it into the Gironde.[29]Alsterufer was spotted at10:15 a.m. on 27 December about 500 nmi (580 mi; 930 km) north-west ofCape Finisterre and kept Sunderland "T" of 201 Squadron at a distance with anti-aircraft fire. The Sunderland circled the ship for 2 1/2 hours, being joined by "Q" from 422 Squadron RCAF and "U", also from 201 Squadron. When "T" had to turn for home it attacked but missed,Alsterufer making 15.5 kn (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph).[30]
Piatek was concerned about discipline amongst the crew, because they had hoped to make port before Christmas and he had refused to allow them to sample any of the 6,000 bottles of beer on board to avoid the rigours of the Bay of Biscay crossing "with a tipsy crew". During the morning,Alsterufer was attacked by Sunderland "Q" of 422 Squadron RCAF and "U" of 201 Squadron flown by Leslie Baveystock who wrote later,
By the time we had spotted the ship we were down to 200 feet with our quarry dead ahead in what should have been an ideal position. If I released our bombs we just couldn't miss, but their forward speed, being the same as that of our aircraft, would have resulted in explosions directly under us, with the consequent dire damage to ourselves. This I could not risk.[31]
the gunners strafedAlsterufer and the Sunderland climbed to 1,000 ft (300 m), bombing and depth-charging by radar, to little effect. Baveystock "cursed the stupid Armaments Office for not giving us delay fuses on our bombs, as he should have done".[31][f]
Fliegerführer Atlantik promised aircraft butMarinegruppe West could offer no ships until the next morning.[32] The light cruiserEnterprise to the east ofAlsterufer andGlasgow 300 nmi (560 km; 350 mi) to the west, were ordered to make their best speed to a point 300 nmi (560 km; 350 mi) north-west of Cape Finisterre.[29] At4:07 p.m.Liberator GR Mk V "H" of311 (Czech) Squadron, sightedAlsterufer.[33][g] The Liberator made a diving attack through the anti-aircraft fire ofAlsterufer and fired its eight wing-mounted, semi-armour piercing (SAP60) rocket projectiles. Five of the rockets hit the ship above the waterline and a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb and a 250 lb (110 kg) bomb hitting the ship aft of the funnel, killing two sailors and setting the ship on fire.[33]Alsterufer had opened fire with anti-aircraft guns and parachute-and-cable rockets, hitting the Liberator's starboard outer engine but the aircraft returned to base atRAF Beaulieu in England. Four hours later, two Liberators of86 Squadron finished off the ship.Alsterufer sank on the afternoon of 28 December. Four lifeboats with 74 survivors were picked up two days later by four Canadian corvettes.[34][h]
Gambia departed fromFaial Island in the Azores on 27 December, its Captain, William Powlett, being made commander of Force 3, the ships already at sea, the light cruiserPenelope and the fastminelayerAriadne from Gibraltar and theFree French large destroyers,Le Fantasque andLe Malin from the Azores.[29]The Allied cruiser captains were told that about a dozen German destroyers could be on the way to rendezvous with the blockade runner.[29] Naval Group West did not find out about the loss ofAlsterufer until morning on 28 December and cancelledUnternehmen Bernau, ordering the ships to return. The flotilla was spotted by a US Liberator ofVPB-105 and attacked by fifteen more Liberators from that squadron andVPB-103, which enabledGlasgow andEnterprise to intercept them at noon.[36]
The eleven ships of the flotilla had twenty-five150 mm and twenty-four105 mm guns against the nineteen 6-inch and thirteen 4-inch guns of the cruisers. The German flotilla tried to attack the cruisers from both flanks but the stormy seas prevented the ships from sailing at their maximum speed. Z 27 (Captain Günther Schultz, with the flotilla commander, Captain Erdmenger, aboard), T 25 and T 26 were sunk. Shortage of ammunition onGlasgow and mechanical defects inEnterprise led them to break off the action rather than pursue the other ships.[37] Z 24, T 23, T 24 and T 27 returned to Brest; Z 32, and Z 37 got to the Gironde and Z 23 with T 22, which had turned south, made port at St Jean de Luz. Sixty-four survivors were rescued by Royal Navy minesweepers, 168 by theIrish coaster,Kerlogue, six bySpanish destroyers and 55 byGerman submarine U-505 andGerman submarine U-618.Glasgow,Enterprise andAriadne returned toPlymouth under glider-bomb attack andPenelope,Le Fantasque andLe Malin toGibraltar.Gambia andMauritius patrolled north of the Azores for blockade-runners until 1 January.[38]
Morale in theKriegsmarine was depressed further with the news that the battleshipScharnhorst had been sunk on 26 December at theBattle of the North Cape.[39]Osorno was the last blockade-runner to reach port, its cargo of rubber meeting German needs until November 1944.[40] In 1984,Harry Hinsley wrote in the official history of British intelligence in the war that the defeat of the German destroyer flotilla, like the sinking ofScharnhorst, could only have happened because the Admiralty was receiving decrypts of Enigma messages almost as quickly as their German addressees. The engagement also finally made the Admiralty admit that the GermanType 1936A destroyers (Narvik-class to the British) carried 6 in (150 mm) guns.[41]
Three men onAlsterufer were killed and 74 were rescued.[42] Of the 672 men on the three German warships, 93 were rescued fromZ27, 100 fromT25 and 90 fromT26.[43] About 62 survivors were picked up by British minesweepers, 168 were rescued byKerlogue a small Irish steamer and four by Spanish destroyers.[44] In 2003, Gerhard Koop and Klaus-Peter Schmolke wrote that there were 740 men in the three ships and that 293 men survived, 21 rescued by U-618, 34 by U-505, six by Spanish destroyers, 64 by British minesweepers and 168 by an Irish merchant ship.[45]
The last three blockade-runners,Weserland,Burgenland andRio Grande were known to the Allied through decrypts of their sailings from the Far East. US naval forces intercepted them in the south Atlantic from 3 to 5 January 1944. After another nine days, Sunfish decrypts revealed that the Germans did not know of the interceptions and had ordered two of their blockade-runners to prepare to sail. On 21 January it was discovered that all four blockade-runners preparing for the voyage top the Far East had been ordered to stand down because of the risk of interception.[41][i]
| Sqn | Flag | Type | No. | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP-94 |  United States Navy | PBY-5A Catalina | 14 | Based atNatal, Brazil |
| VP-127 | United States Navy | PV-1 Ventura | 12 | Based atNatal, Brazil |
| VB-107 | United States Navy | PB4Y-1 Liberator | 12 | Based atNatal, Brazil |
| VB-129 | United States Navy | PV-1 Ventura | 12 | Based atRecife, Brazil |
| VP-74 | United States Navy | PBM-3 Mariner | 12 | Based atBahia, Brazil |
| VB-130 | United States Navy | PV-1 Ventura | 12 | Based atFotaleza, Brazil |
| VB-145 | United States Navy | PV-1 Ventura | 12 | Based atNatal, Brazil |
| VB-203 | United States Navy | PBM-3 Mariner | 14 | Based atBahia, Brazil |
| VP-211 | United States Navy | PBM-3 Mariner | 12 | Based atRio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| VB-143 | United States Navy | PV-1 Ventura | 12 | Based atRecife, Brazil |
| Name | Flag | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Card | United States Navy | Bogue-classescort carrier | Task Group.21.14 |
| USS Decatur | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.14 |
| USS Leary | United States Navy | Wickes-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.14 |
| USS Schenck | United States Navy | Wickes-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.14 |
| USS Core | United States Navy | Bogue-classescort carrier | Task Group.21.15 |
| USS Belknap | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.15 |
| USS George E. Badger | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.15 |
| USS Goldsborough | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.15 |
| USS Block Island | United States Navy | Bogue-classescort carrier | Task Group.21.16 |
| USS Bulmer | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.16 |
| USS Barker | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.16 |
| USS Paul Jones | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.16 |
| USS Parrott | United States Navy | Clemson-classdestroyer | Task Group.21.16 |
| Name | Flag | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Omaha | United States Navy | Omaha-classcruiser | Task Group 41.1 |
| USS Jouett | United States Navy | Somers-classdestroyer | Task Group 41.1 |
| USS Cincinnati | United States Navy | Omaha-classcruiser | Task Group 41.2 |
| USS Davis | United States Navy | Somers-classdestroyer | Task Group 41.2 |
| USS Milwaukee | United States Navy | Omaha-classcruiser | Task Group 41.3 |
| USS Moffett | United States Navy | Porter-classdestroyer | Task Group 41.3 |
| USS Marblehead | United States Navy | Omaha-classcruiser | Task Group 41.4 |
| Winslow | United States Navy | O'Brien-classdestroyer | Task Group 41.4 |
| USS Memphis | United States Navy | Omaha-classcruiser | Task Group 41.5 |
| USS Somers | United States Navy | Somers-classdestroyer | Task Group 41.5 |
| Name | Flag | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMS Fencer |  Royal Navy | Attacker-classescort carrier | |
| HMS Striker | Royal Navy | Attacker-classescort carrier | |
| HMS Hurricane | Royal Navy | H-classdestroyer | Sunk byU-415 |
Royal Navy Escort Group B1[49] Royal NavyEscort Group B4[49] Royal Canadian Navy 4 Corvettes[49]| Name | Flag | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMS Glasgow | Royal Navy | Town-classcruiser | |
| HMNZSGambia | Royal Navy | Fiji-classcruiser | |
| HMS Enterprise | Royal Navy | Emerald-classcruiser | |
| HMS Penelope | Royal Navy | Arethusa-classcruiser | |
| HMS Ariadne | Royal Navy | Abdiel-classminelayer | Fast minelayer |
| French destroyer Le Fantasque |  Free French Naval Forces | Le Fantasque-classdestroyer | Later reclassified as a light cruiser |
| French destroyer Le Malin | Free French Naval Forces | Le Fantasque-classdestroyer | Later reclassified as a light cruiser |
| Sqn | Flag | Group | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86 Squadron |  Royal Air Force | 19 Group | Liberator | Very Long RangeASW |
| 201 Squadron | Royal Air Force | 15 Group | Sunderland | Flying boatASW |
| 248 Squadron | Royal Air Force | 19 Group | Beaufighter | Heavy fighter |
| 254 Squadron | Royal Air Force | 19 Group | Torbeau | torpedo-bomber |
| 311 (Czech) Squadron | Royal Air Force | 19 Group | Liberator GR Mk V | Very Long RangeASW aircraft 'H' |
| 422 Squadron |  Royal Canadian Air Force | 15 Group | Sunderland | Flying boatASW |
| 461 Squadron |  Royal Australian Air Force | 19 Group | Sunderland | Flying boatASW |
| 502 Squadron | Royal Air Force | 19 Group | Halifax GR.Mk.II | Long range reconnaissance |
Royal Air Force Fighter Command Royal Air Force Bomber Command
IrelandKerlogue[49]
Spanish Navy 6 destroyers[49]| Name | Year | Flag | GRT | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MVOsorno | 1938 | Nazi Germany | 6,951 | Scuttled Gironde Estuary |
| MVAlsterufer | 1939 | Nazi Germany | 2,729 | Hit by rockets, 27 December 1943, NW Cape Finisterre, scuttled 46°40'N, 19°30'W |
| Unit | Type | Role |
|---|---|---|
| II./Kampfgeschwader 40 | Heinkel He 177 | Anti-shipping |
| III./Kampfgeschwader 40 | Focke-Wulf Fw 200 | Anti-shipping |
| 5./Kampfgeschwader 40 | Junkers Ju 88 C-6 | Anti-shipping |
| 2./Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5Atlantik | Junkers Ju 290 | Long-range reconnaissance |
| 1.(F)./Seeaufklärungsgruppe 129 | Blohm & Voss BV 222 | Flying boat |
