Convoy TM 1 sailed with [[Escort Group|Escort Group B5]] (Commander Richard Boyle) in the destroyer {{HMS|Havelock|H88|6}} and the corvettes {{HMS|Godetia|K226|6}}, {{HMS|Pimpernel|K71|2}} and {{HMS|Saxifrage|K04|2}}. Escort Group B5 had been on detachment to the Caribbean for six months. The US [[Eastern Sea Frontier]] commander had asked for the ships to be painted grey and there was no time to re-paint the ships in [[Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches|Western Approaches Command]] camouflage. ”Havelock” and ”Saxifrage” carried high-frequency direction finding apparatus ([[Huff-Duff]]) but the set on ”Havelock” was unserviceable. The radar on ”Godetia” failed on 2 January 1943 and after 8 January the set on ”Pimpernel” lost efficiency.{{sfn|Woodman|2004|p=577}}
Convoy TM 1 sailed with [[Escort Group|Escort Group B5]] (Commander Richard Boyle) in the destroyer {{HMS|Havelock|H88|6}} and the corvettes {{HMS|Godetia|K226|6}}, {{HMS|Pimpernel|K71|2}} and {{HMS|Saxifrage|K04|2}}. Escort Group B5 had been on detachment to the Caribbean for six months. The US [[Eastern Sea Frontier]] commander had asked for the ships to be painted grey and there was no time to re-paint the ships in [[Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches|Western Approaches Command]] camouflage. ”Havelock” and ”Saxifrage” carried high-frequency direction finding apparatus ([[Huff-Duff]]) but the set on ”Havelock” was unserviceable. The radar on ”Godetia” failed on 2 January 1943 and after 8 January the set on ”Pimpernel” lost efficiency.{{sfn|Woodman|2004|p=577}}
The convoy sailed from [[Port of Spain]], Trinidad on 28 December for [[Gibraltar]] but without ”Godetia” that was escorting two tankers that were catching up with the convoy. The convoy was escorted by a [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|Catalina]] flying boat and early on 29 September, the crew reported a surfaced U-boat about {{cvt|20|nmi}} behind the convoy.{{sfn|Woodman|2004|p=577}} {{GS|U-124|1940|2}} located HMS ”Godetia” on 29 December 1942, {{GS|U-514||2}} made contact with the convoy on 3 January and damaged the tanker ”British Vigilance”, forcing her crew to abandon ship, though it remained afloat. By now aware that a large tanker convoy was in the Atlantic, Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]], [[BdU]], (commander in chief of U-boats) ordered [[Wolfpack (naval tactic)|wolf pack]] {{lang|de|gruppe Delphin}} (Dolphin) to intercept it.{{sfn|Blair|2000|pp=145–147}}
The convoy sailed from [[Port of Spain]], Trinidad on 28 December for [[Gibraltar]] but without ”Godetia” that was escorting two tankers that were catching up with the convoy. The convoy was escorted by a [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|Catalina]] flying boat and early on 29 September, the crew reported a surfaced U-boat about {{cvt|20|nmi}} behind the convoy.{{sfn|Woodman|2004|p=577}} {{GS|U-124|1940|2}} located HMS ”Godetia” on 29 December 1942, {{GS|U-514||2}} made contact with the convoy on 3 January and damaged the tanker ”British Vigilance”, forcing her crew to abandon ship, though it remained afloat. By now aware that a large tanker convoy was in the Atlantic, Dönitz ordered wolf pack {{lang|de|gruppe Delphin}} (Dolphin) to intercept it.{{sfn|Blair|2000|pp=145–147}}
==Battle==
==Battle==
Convoy during naval battles of the Second World War
Convoy TM 1 was the code name for an Allied convoy during the Second World War. Nine tankers, escorted by Royal Navy warships, attempted to reach Gibraltar from Trinidad. The convoy was attacked by a U-boat wolf pack (Delphin) in the central Atlantic Ocean and seven of the nine tankers were sunk. This was one of the most successful attacks on Allied supply convoys of war. The convoy was defended by the destroyer HMS Havelock and three Flower-class corvettes, HMS Godetia, Pimpernel and Saxifrage. The two surviving tankers reached Gibraltar. Two U-boats were damaged during the attacks.
British oil shortages
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Aruba outlined in red
In 1942 1,664 Allied ships of 7,790,697 GRT had been sunk, 1,160 of the ships (6,266,215 GRT) by U-boats. Imports into Britain had been reduced by a third of the peacetime rate to 34,000,000 long tons (35,000,000 t) a year. The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, formed and chaired a cabinet Anti-U-boat Warfare Committee on 4 November. By the end of the year there were only 300,000 long tons (300,000 t) of bunker fuel in Britain with monthly consumption at 130,000 long tons (130,000 t). The Admiralty had a reserve of 1,000,000 long tons (1,000,000 t) but this was for emergencies.
The unexpected delay in the capture of Tunisia after Operation Torch added to the drain on British fuel stocks as despatches of petroleum products to Tunisia for British forces in the theatre came from Britain. The need to begin convoys in US waters caused delays to taker sailings across the Atlantic and between 1 January and 31 December 1942, 218 tankers were sunk. Exceptionally stormy weather during the autumn and winter of 1942 was particularly damaging to tankers and by the end of the year, 1,700,000 DWT (25 per cent) of the British tanker fleet of 7,600,000 DWT was being repaired or out of service.
Churchill was told by Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord, that “An ample reserve of fuel on this side of the Atlantic is the basis of all our activities”. The convoy cycle in the Atlantic was lengthened from eight to ten days and the saving in escorts was diverted to the Caribbean to escort 18 CU and UC tanker convoys from Aruba to Britain on a twenty-day cycle, to deliver1,200,000 long tons (1,200,000 t) of petrol products in 1943. A new convoy route direct to the Mediterranean (OT–TO) was organised to limit the drain on stocks of oil in Britain. The OY–TO convoys were to consist only of “Greyhounds” capable of at least 14.5 kn (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) and be escorted by modern USN destroyers; other Greyhounds were to sail independently to Britain.
U-boats in the Americas
[edit]
German Type IX and Type VIID (Minelays) U-boats operating in American waters had sufficient endurance but were not suitable for convoy attacks or crash-diving. Admiral Karl Dönitz the Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU, commander of U-boats) sent six Type VII U-boats to patrol off Natal in Brazil to attack the new convoy routes. The boats sailed from 17 to 22 December as Wolfpack (gruppe) Delphin to rendezvous with U-463 a Milchkuh supply submarine. B-Dienst, the code-breaking branch of the German Naval Intelligence Service notified Dönitz of a new UGS convoy route to the south of the Azores and gruppe Delphin was diverted to search to the south-west of the Azores. The search found nothing and on 2 January the boats were ordered to refuel from U-463 and resume the voyage to Natal.
Convoy TM 1 sailed with Escort Group B5 (Commander Richard Boyle) in the destroyer HMS Havelock and the corvettes HMS Godetia, Pimpernel and Saxifrage. Escort Group B5 had been on detachment to the Caribbean for six months. The US Eastern Sea Frontier commander had asked for the ships to be painted grey and there was no time to re-paint the ships in Western Approaches Command camouflage. Havelock and Saxifrage carried high-frequency direction finding apparatus (Huff-Duff) but the set on Havelock was unserviceable. The radar on Godetia failed on 2 January 1943 and after 8 January the set on Pimpernel lost efficiency.
The convoy sailed from Port of Spain, Trinidad on 28 December for Gibraltar but without Godetia that was escorting two tankers that were catching up with the convoy. The convoy was escorted by a Catalina flying boat and early on 29 September, the crew reported a surfaced U-boat about 20 nmi (37 km; 23 mi) behind the convoy. U-124 located HMS Godetia on 29 December 1942, U-514 made contact with the convoy on 3 January and damaged the tanker British Vigilance, forcing her crew to abandon ship, though it remained afloat. By now aware that a large tanker convoy was in the Atlantic, Dönitz ordered wolf pack gruppe Delphin (Dolphin) to intercept it.
U-381 made contact with the convoy on 8 January and the wolf pack launched their first attacks that evening. U-436 attacked and sank Oltenia II and damaged Albert L. Ellsworth. Havelock damaged and drove off U-381, while Pimpernel and Godetia drove off U-571 and U-575 respectively. U-522 returned the following morning and damaged two tankers, Norvik and Minister Wedel, while U-442 damaged Empire Lytton. U-181 and U-134 attacked, but failed to hit any targets. Godetia damaged U-134 with depth charges.
U-620 kept in contact with the convoy and on the evening of 9 January, U-522 attacked the two tankers she had damaged earlier in the morning, Norvik and Minister Wedel and sank both. U-442 returned to the damaged and abandoned Empire Lytton and finished her off with two torpedoes, while U-436 returned to the abandoned Albert L. Ellsworth and sank her with shells from her deck gun. U-511 came across William Wilberforce, a merchant ship sailing independently and sank her.
The attacks resumed on the night of 10/11 January, with U-522 torpedoing British Dominion. Her crew abandoned her but the ship was only damaged and did not sink until U-620 arrived and sank her with a torpedo and gunfire. Other attacks that evening and over the next two days, by U-571 and U-511, failed. The convoy was approaching Gibraltar and the destroyer HMS Quentin and the corvettes HMS Samphire and HMS Pentstemon were sent out to reinforce the escorts. Supported by Allied air cover, the convoy reached Gibraltar without further loss on 14 January. Cliona and Vanja, survived from the original nine. The final action came on 24 January, when the abandoned hulk of British Vigilance, torpedoed by U-514 on 3 January, was discovered by U-105 and sunk.
| Name | Year | Flag | GRT | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Convoy TM 1 | ||||
| RFA Albert L. Ellsworth | 1937 |  |
8,309 | 8 January, U-436, 27°59′N, 28°50′W, 9 January sunk 0†, 42 surv. |
| MV British Dominion | 1928 |  |
6,983 | 11 January, U-522, 30°30′N, 19°55′W, sunk U-620 38†, 15 surv. |
| MV British Vigilance | 1942 | |
8,903 | 3 January, U-514, 24 January sunk U-105, 27†, 27 surv. |
| MV Cliona | 1931 | |
8,375 | |
| MV Empire Lytton | 1942 | |
9,807 | 9 January, U-442, sunk, 28°08′N, 28°20′W 14†, 34 surv. |
| MV Minister Wedel | 1930 |  |
6,833 | 9 January, U-522 sunk, 28°18′N, 27°20′W 0†, 38 surv. |
| MV Norvik | 1938 |  |
9,555 | 9 January, U-522, sunk U-575, 28°08′N, 28°20′W, 2†, 43 surv. |
| MV Oltenia II | 1928 | |
6,394 | 8 January, U-436, sunk, 27°59′N, 28°50′W, 17†, 43 surv. |
| MV Vanja | 1929 | |
6,198 | |
| Independent sailing | ||||
| MV William Wilberforce | 1930 | |
4,013 | 9 January, sunk, U-511 29°20′N, 26°53′W, 3† 60 surv. |
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