Convoy SC 2
Part ofWorld War II
Date 6–9 September 1940 Location North Atlantic Result German tactical victory
Belligerents
Germany	United Kingdom Canada
Commanders and leaders
AdmiralKarl Dönitz	Comm: EK Boddam-Whitham SOE:
Strength
3 U-boats	54 ships 7 escorts
Casualties and losses
none	5 ships sunk 110 killed

SC 2 was anAlliedNorth Atlanticconvoy of theSC series which ran during theBattle of the Atlantic inWorld War II. It was attacked by awolfpack ofGermanU-boats, losing five merchant ships.

SC 2 was an east-bound convoy of 54 ships which sailed fromSydney, Cape Breton inNova Scotia on 25 August 1940 bound forLiverpool. It carried war materials and was led by Commodore EK Boddam-Whitham in SSHarpoon.

For the Atlantic crossing SC 2 was escorted byHMSScarborough, a pre-warsloop that had seen previous service as asurvey vessel.At this stage of the campaign escorts againstU-boat attack could only be provided in theWestern Approaches; the Ocean escort, in this case a sloop, but usually anArmed Merchant Cruiser, was provided to give some protection against surface raiders.

SC 2 was opposed by a patrol line of three U-boats, positioned at the limit of endurance to intercept east-bound convoys before the Western Approaches escort had joined.

U-boat Command (BdU) had been informed of SC 2's passage byB-Dienst, the German signals intelligence branch, which had cracked the Royal Navy's codes. BdU had just five U-boats on station in the Atlantic, and orderedU-47 to intercept and shadow while the other boats homed in on his directions. One of these,U-124, was unavailable, being on weather reporting duty; while another,U-28 was short of fuel and unable to head further west. The remaining two,U-65 andU-101, moved west to join the search.

U-47 headed west to find SC 2; on the way she met convoy OB 207, which she attacked on 3 September, sinking a freighter.

On 4 September the three U-boats formed a patrol line at Longitude 20 West, on the fringe of theWestern Approaches.

On 6 September 1940U-65 sighted the convoy and notified BdU and the others, but was unable to attack in heavy seas.U-101 fell out of the chase with engine trouble, leaving onlyU-47 to join the attack.

In the early hours of 7 SeptemberU-47 made a series of attacks, and succeeded in sinking three ships, the freightersNeptunian,Jose de Larrinaga and the Norwegian,Gro.

On the same day SC 2 was joined by its Western Approaches escort, a mixed bag of 2 destroyers, a sloop, acorvette and 2trawlers, which arrived from other duties at various times during the day. As was common at this point in the campaign this force was an ad hoc formation, with no background of having worked or exercised together; command was exercised by the senior officer present, and could change with each new arrival. All told the arrivals were: the destroyerWestcott; the sloopLowestoft and two trawlers; and the destroyerSkeena and corvettePeriwinkle.

U-47 continued to shadow but was unable to mount a further attack until the night of 8/9 September when she sank the Greek freighterPossidon, at a point west of theHebrides. Before dawn on 9 SeptemberU-28 also made contact, and attacked, sinkingMardinian.

With this the assault on SC 2 ended; the pack had sunk five ships without suffering loss or damage. Later that day the convoy met its local escort, and, entering theNorth Channel arrived without further loss inLiverpool on 10 September 1940.

This was one of the first occasions where theU-boat Arm had carried out a successfulwolf pack attack. Previous attempts to form wolf packs, with control exercised at sea by a senior U-boat commander, had met with failure. Following thefall of France and BdU's move toKerneval on the French Atlantic coast, a new approach was being tried, with Donitz micro-managing operations from headquarters. This was a success, and set the pattern for wolf pack operations throughout the rest of the Atlantic campaign.

For Britain, the loss of five ships was unpleasant, as was the failure of the escort to inflict any damage on the attackers. However the safe arrival of forty nine ships was an overall success.

Date	Name	Nationality	Casualties	Tonnage(GRT)	Sunk by...
7 September 1940	Neptunian	United Kingdom	36	5,155	U-47
7 September 1940	Jose de Larrinaga	United Kingdom	40	5,303	U-47
7 September 1940	Gro	Norway	11	4,211	U-47
9 September 1940	Possidon	Greece	17	3,840	U-47
9 September 1940	Mardinian	United Kingdom	6	2,434	U-28

• Clay Blair :Hitler's U-Boat War Vol I (1996)ISBN 0-304-35260-8
• Arnold Hague :The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945 (2000) .ISBN 1-55125-033-0 (Canada) .ISBN 1-86176-147-3 (UK)
• Stephen Roskill :The War at Sea 1939–1945 Vol I (1954) ISBN (none)

• SC 2 at convoyweb
• SC 2 atwarsailors.com
• SC 2 at uboatnet

• North Atlantic convoys of World War II
• Naval battles of World War II involving Canada

• Use dmy dates from June 2017