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The Destruction of Convoy OA178-4/7/40 World Naval Ships Forums Archive

The Destruction of Convoy OA178-4/7/40

Posts 1 to 6

Convoy OA (Outbound Atlantic)178 left the Thames and pssed Dover safely on 3rd July 1940.It consisted of fourteen heavily laden merchantmen and was escorted through the Straits without loss.OA178 was to prove to be the last of the series. The passage of this convoy was known to the Germans in France.They kept it under survellance during that day and at night on their radar screens-they plotted the convoys course and speed and noted that it had no air cover.On the runway of an airfield were two Gruppen of Ju 87 Stukas ready to go.Each carried a 500lb bomb slung under the belly and 100lber hung on each wing.On the 4th the Stukas took off.The convoy was off Portland with only two destroyers for escort-the Stukas struck at 1300,coming down almost without warning,in waves of six at a time. [B][B]Four ships weresunk on the 4th-the Britsum(5255tons),Dallas City (4952tons), Kolga (3536tons) and Deucalion(1796tons).Six more were damaged including the Flimston,Antonio,Eastmoor,Argos Hill,Briarwood and Lijtland an average of 5000tons each.The Stukas then switched their attention to Portland Harbour,where they found many more freighters sheltering.They hit and sank the tug Silverdial and damagedv the East Wales (4358tons),William Wilberforce(5005tons),City of Melbourne (6630tons).As well as civilian losses,the AA ship Foylebank was bombed and sunk with a loss of sixty lives by Stukas the following morning at 0815.[/B][/B] [B][B]Nor was that the end of the story,the survivors were attacked at night by E boats,which torpedoed and sank the Elmcrest (4343tons) and damaged the British Corporal (6972tons) and the Hartlepool (5500tons)[/B][/B] Churchill was moved to order that future convoys must have a six plane escort. This applied to the CE and CW convoys of small colliers but no more big ships were to be risked in the Channel. jainso31

Further to the foregoing-It was not just OA 178 that was hit, although this had been by far; the most serious. All along the Channel coast German bombers had struck at shipping from Plymouth to Falmouth and from Portsmouth to Weymouth.At[B] Portland [/B]for example on 7th July HeIIIs sinking a mooring lighter and a ship (my father was serving in) -[B][B]the minesweeper Mercury[/B][/B] hitting her forward-[B]killing and wounding most of the 12pdr gun crew[/B]-(my father wound up in the Royal Naval Hospital at Deal-he never saw the ship again-she was sunk by one of her own mines off the coast of southern Ireland.[B])The British Inventor[/B] was near missed in the same attack and two men were killed and three wounded. On the 9th July,the Luftwaffe struck further to the east when a CE convoy was approaching the Downs at 1545.The coaster [B]Kenneth Hawksfield[/B] was vhit and substantially damaged which her being beached.She was patched up and subsequently made her way to London. jainso31

Jim, I am unsure just how much truth there is this, but I seem to reading many years ago that, apart from the value of sinking such ships, the main purpose of these attacks was to goad the RAF into responding. The idea being that the RAF fighters, having been lured over tha Channel, could then be attacked by stronger Luftwaffe fighter groups operating from France, thus weakening Britain's defences by attrition. Have you come across anything which would support this?

Quote Bill "The idea being that the RAF fighters, having been lured over the Channel, could then be attacked by stronger Luftwaffe fighter groups operating from France, thus weakening Britain's defences by attrition." Not IMHO, at this stage anyway Bill,as you know the BEF had been evacuated from Dunkirk.Boulogne and Cherburg by the the end of June.Fighter Command had had a thin time of it in Belgium/France and had to be rebuilt for the oncoming BoB-even covering convoys which they did but was stretching them-there is a famous newsreel showing a dogfight over a Channel convoy which I am sure you will have seen times many. From #1 "Churchill was moved to order that future convoys must have a six plane escort. This applied to the CE and CW convoys of small colliers but no more big ships were to be risked in the Channel". The Luftwaffe had attacked British shipping from the beginning of the war. In the first few days of July 1940 there were sharp encounters over the English Channel and North Sea as British coastal convoys came under increasingly heavy attack. This led to the biggest and most sustained action yet on 10 July and it is this day which the British later designated as the start of the Battle of Britain. By selecting shipping in the Channel, the Luftwaffe hoped to stretch Fighter Command's resources by forcing the British to commit valuable fighter aircraft to close escort of this important economic traffic. Some light raids were also made on south coast ports. [URL]http://archive.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/27/battleofbritain/phase1.htm[/URL] jainso31

The 10th July 1940 saw the Germans continuing their attacks on Channel shipping.The next convoy to be attacked was a CW convoy with thirty coasters under escort of destroyer HMS Versatile.Also involved in the attack was the destroyer HMS Gallant on patrol from Dover,and the 10th Minesweeping Flotilla. The convoy stretched out from Folkstone and Dungeness around 1300 on the 10th July,when the German aircraft were first sighted.The attacking force consisted of twenty Dornier Do17's of III/KG2 and Me110 fighters-the RAF sortied thirty or so fighters from four Squadrons of Spifires and Hurricanes.The bombers carried out their attack from a high level and in some haste. The only casualty was the Dutch schuit Bill S,which received a direct hit and sank very quickly-crew picked up safely On the 11th July the Stukas returned to Portland to finish the job they had started earlier.Ju87s from StG2 and StG77 were involved in the attack.Offshore at 0855 the patrol ship Warrior II was bombed and sunk quickly.In the harbour itself dive bombing started at 1155 and the City of melbourne was damaged for a second time,as was the Peru (6961tons).The small tanker Kylemount was bombed and sunk off Dartmouth and the steamer Eleanor Brooke was another casualty at Portland.HE IIIs attacked the city of Portsmouth. jainso31

On the 13th July-the Stukas were back in attacks all along the southern coast;with the chief effort by StG1 against a convoy off Dover,but with little effect. The following day their aim had improved,and their targets included convoy CW6 which they caught between Dover and Eastbourne at around 1500.Stukas from IV/LGI made a heavy attack with twelve aircraft.The only escort was the destroyer HMS Vanessa- which some of the attackers concentrated on- to good effect.Near misses disabled her main engines very quickly,although the damage to her hull was slight.HMS Gallant at Dover sailed to take her in tow.There had been reports of enemy minelaying during the night and the LL trawlers Athenium,Onetos,Rodino and Taipo were sent to sweep ahead of the towing party.It was not until the 15th at 0430 that the crippled destroyer was brought in. Meanwhile other Stukas had selected their targets and the coaster Island Queen had been hit and sank soon after whilst under tow by the trawler Kingston Alatite.The coaster Mons was near missed but suffered engine room damage but managed to get back to Dover.The Norwegian Dlader was hit aft,badly damaged and set on fire-she had dead and wounded aboard; but managed to extinguish the fire and she too made it back to Dover via the tug Lady Brassey.To help in the rescue work the destroyer HMS Griffin was called in from patrol,the destroyer HMS Boreas sailed to reform the convoy and escort as far as Portsmouth Command area where two MTBs, a trawler and two tugs were despatched.Despite Churchill's order there had been no air cover. jainso31

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