Convoy OA 178

Map of the Kent coast

Luftwaffe attacks on shipping were made much easier by the capture of bases in France and the Low Countries; in the North Sea, the Grimsby fishing fleet had been attacked twice in June. Air attacks increased and in July, ship losses off the east coast exceeded those by naval mines. Attacks on minesweepers, escort vessels and anti-invasion patrols rapidly increased and was made worse by a lack of light anti-aircraft guns and the concentration of the air defence effort in the south-east of England, against a possible invasion. The Admiralty reserved the right for ships to fire on aircraft on an apparently attacking course because it had been found that a high volume of prompt, accurate fire could reduce the accuracy of bombing and sometimes shoot down the attacker.[1] Hurried training and lack of experience in aircraft recognition among navy crews led to many RAF aircraft being taken for hostile and fired on, even when escorts for the ships. While demanding close escort, the Admiralty required ships to engage unidentified aircraft within 1,500 yd (1,400 m), a practice the RAF considered irresponsible. More training in aircraft recognition and pilots not flying towards to ships on tracks similar to bombing runs were obvious remedies and with experience, navy gunners made fewer mistakes.[1]

OA convoys (Outbound Atlantic) from the Thames Estuary were a convoy series which was convoyed to the Western Approaches whence they joined convoys to their destinations. OA convoys incorporated coasters from the Thames to Southampton, Poole, Plymouth, Fowey and Falmouth along the south coast. The convoys continued to sail along the south coast after the Fall of France on 22 June 1940 and on 1 July twenty ships of Convoy OA 177G sailed from Southend-on-Sea. Next morning German aircraft attacked SS Baron Ruthven, two men being killed by machine-gun fire. Later on the 10,000 gross register ton (GRT) Aeneas was bombed and abandoned. Most of the coasters left the convoy for local ports before another ten ocean-going ships joined the convoy from Plymouth and Falmouth and eighteen ships joined when it merged with an OB convoy from Liverpool on 2 July, parts of the convoy then turned away for Bilbao, Lisbon and Casablanca; only two ships remained when the convoy reached the Atlantic dispersal point.[2]

Example of a Ju 87 dive-bombing

At 8:41 a.m. 33 Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers of III./StG51 attacked Portland, escorted by Bf 110 heavy fighters (destroyers) of V./(Zerstörer) Lehrgeschwader 1 and two Staffeln of Bf 109s from 1./LG1.[3] The auxiliary anti-aircraft ship HMS Foylebank (Captain H. P. Wilson Rtd) had been commissioned on 6 June 1940 and carried four twin high-angle 4-inch turrets, two quadruple 2-pounder pom-pom guns and several Vickers .50 machine guns. Foylebank had been based at the harbour for anti-aircraft defence since 9 June. When the Stukas bombed, they dived at angles of up to 90° towards the stern of the ship; at 1,500 ft (460 m) the dive-bomber eased to 45°, the pilot aligning the gun sight on the stern of the ship and opening fire, the bullets moving forwards from the stern to the stem of the ship. The pilot released the bombs as he saw the machine-gun fire pass beyond the bows and hit the water. The pilot had also set the altimeter to the local altitude above mean sea level and a siren blared to warn him to bomb and begin to pull out of the dive. As the Stuka recovered from its dive, the rear-gunner opened fire to keep heads down; the raid took four minutes.[4]

As gunners were running along the decks of Foylebank to reach their action stations, many where hit by bullets or caught by bomb blasts.[5] Two sailors ran for their action station at X gun and a bomb blew one of them across the canteen, wounded and dead lying everywhere. The two sailors headed aft along the port side of the ship towards X gun and a bomb fell down the funnel which blew open the side of the ship facing the docks and they had to turn around. At the rear of the ship the sailors passed through the sick bay for a ladder to the deck but a bomb hit the sick bay, killing everyone there and the second sailor, lower on the ladder. The survivor got on deck to find that his gun had been hit and the crew dead or wounded. The sailor saw other crewmembers firing a pom-pom, matting around it on fire. An officer ordered him forward as the ship was going to be abandoned and he jumped 10 ft (3.0 m), damaging his back, although he was unaware of this for several hours. At the pom-pom guns on the starboard side a pile of bodies blocked the way and he had to clamber through them. A petty officer called out that "Mantle's still firing and when he's finished we'll have to get him down".[6]

Acting leading seaman Jack Mantle had been severely wounded in the left leg by a bomb explosion but continued to operate his pom-pom gun, despite it being damaged, hitting a Stuka, which also hit him with machine-gun fire. Mantle was helped away from the gun as the ship was about to be abandoned.[6] The Stukas dropped 104 250 kg (550 lb) and 50 kg (110 lb) bombs, many of which hit the ship and others near-missed. Some of the gunners on Foylebank managed to fire sixty shells from Y turret.[5] Civilians had sailed their craft over to Foylebank and received the survivors as they slid down ropes from the fo'c'sle, taking the men to Boscawen, where sixty men were found to have been killed, many more later dying of wounds, including Mantle.[6][lower-alpha 1] The German fighters circled overhead but no RAF fighters appeared, the only Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft in the area being a Fairey Battle bomber from RAF Warmwell on a training sortie near Chesil Beach. When the pilot saw the raid, he dived for home at full speed. Two Stukas of 7./StG51 were shot down by ground fire, one into the Channel off Portland, the crew being killed and the other crew rescued off the Cotentin Peninsula; a Bf 109 crashed on landing at Théville near Cherbourg.[7] The tug Silverdial was also sunk and the steamers City of Melbourne, East Wales and MV William Wilberforce were damaged by bombs in Portland Harbour.[8]

Soon after the bombing of Portland harbour, a Junkers Ju 88 reconnaissance aircraft of 1.(Fernaufklärungsgruppe)/123 (1 Squadron, Long Range Reconnaissance Wing 123) signalled that OA 178 was south-west of Portland and 24 Ju 87s of I./StG2 from Falaise, escorted by a Staffel of I./JG1 took off, followed by 23 Ju 87s of III./StG51 as soon as they had refuelled and rearmed. At about 1:00 p.m. the Stukas attacked Flimstone whose master watched the Stukas pull out of their dives at 300–250 ft (91–76 m) and the bombs fall close astern, shaking the ship. The attack lasted for about two hours, Clarkia engaging the Stukas with its 4-inch gun and four machine-guns. The chief officer of Deucalion wrote later that the sky seemed full of aircraft which hit the ship with nine bombs and began to sink. The captain and the carpenter were seriously wounded by machine-gun fire and as soon as a lull occurred, the crew abandoned ship. The gunner on Dallas City fired at the Stukas as they began to pull out of their dives, their machine-gun fire hitting the ship around him. Three bombs hit Dallas City, one through the skylight to the engine room, one down the funnel and one into number 3 hold, two crew being wounded. Flimstone, already damaged, tried to avoid Dallas City by increasing speed and putting the helm hard to starboard but was hit on the port side by Dallas City, which smashed a lifeboat. It took Flimstone fifteen minutes to manoeuvre free and set course for Portland. Captain Norman Shalton got the crew of Dallas City into the two portside lifeboats and abandoned the ship at about 5:00 p.m., which sank at 50°09′N 02°01′W. (The crew was rescued about three hours later by Antonio).[9]

Antonio was machine-gunned and near-missed by German bombing 20 nmi (37 km; 23 mi) south south-west of Portland Bill; the rudder and propeller shaft stanchions being damaged; the crew had to slow the ship and found it difficult to steer, the ship following an erratic ourse. Antonio rescued 67 shipwrecked mariners and eventually anchored at Weymouth at 11:00 p.m.[10] The Dutch steamer Deucalion was bombed and sunk 20 nmi (37 km; 23 mi) south south-west of Portland, 27 survivors being amongst those picked up by Antonio. Britsum, also Dutch, was sunk by bombers off Selsey at 50°04′N 01°55′W and the Estonian Kolga was bombed and sunk at 50°13′N 02°00′W with the loss of one crewman. The British Fairwater was hit and damaged by bombs at 50°16′N 02°14′W; Argos Hill, Briarwood and TS Lifland were damaged by bombs off Portland. Eastmoor was bombed 12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) off Portland Bill and King Frederick suffered bomb damage at 50°10′N 02°33′W, Irene Maria was damaged by bombs at 50°30′N 02°00′W.[8] Flimstone reached Portland Harbour and the rest of the convoy was reduced to a disorganised condition.[11] The convoy commodore, R. P. Galer, ordered the remnants of the convoy to run for the shelter of the Portland Harbour defences but these had been attacked in the morning. When OA 178 came into sight of Portland, three merchant ships in the harbour had already been damaged and the confined space of the harbour would have been a death-trap for the forty ships left in the convoy and it was turned away.[6] No RAF Fighter Command aircraft had appeared to protect the convoy and during the evening, Schnellbooten S 19, S 20, S 24 and S 26 (E-Boats to the British) of 1. Schnellbootflotille (commanded by Kapitänleutnant Birnbacher in S 24) sailed.[12][11]

Map of the English south coast, showing Portland Bill

Near midnight, the E-Boat S 19 torpedoed Elmcrest 13 nmi (24 km; 15 mi) south of Portland which took on a list as the crew abandoned ship. The S-boot fired its other torpedo at the starboard side as the lifeboat was being rowed clear; the torpedo passed underneath the lifeboat before hitting the ship and the lifeboat capsized, sixteen men being drowned; survivors were rescued by destroyer HMS Sabre.[12][8] Soon afterwards, S 20 (Götz von Mirbach) and S 26 hit the tanker British Corporal with two torpedoes at 50°13′N 02°35′W. Two crewmen were killed and the ship was abandoned but did not sink and was later towed into port. Hartlepool was torpedoed by S 26 and abandoned,16 nmi (30 km; 18 mi) south, south-west of Portland, apparently in a sinking condition, the survivors being rescued by destroyer HMS Scimitar; the ship was later beached at Weymouth.[13][12]

On 5 July, OA 178 was reinforced by the destroyer HMS Broke until 6 July when the surviving ships of OA 178 dispersed in the Southwest Approaches and joined oceanic convoys.[8]

In 2008, Nick Hewitt wrote that hitherto, 3,404 ships had sailed the Channel with eight losses, which was some explanation for British complacency.[2] In 2013, the historian Andy Saunders wrote that the convoy was too far from the English coast for fighters easily to have protected it and when the Stukas attacked. If Fighter Command squadrons had been scrambled from RAF bases they would have not arrived before the raid was over. Saunders called the losses inflicted on OA 178 a British failure, which showed the Germans that the Royal Navy and the RAF were incapable of protecting Channel convoys. After OA 178 local CE and CW coal convoys proved equally vulnerable to the combination of Stukas and S-boote. The British prime minister, Winston Churchill, issued an Action this Day memo to the Admiralty inquiring about the measures to defend convoys along the south coast, particularly the matter of air cover. The severity of the losses to OA 178 was such that henceforth OA convoys were assembled at Methil in Fife and sailed northabout Scotland to avoid the English Channel.[14]

Temporary Lieutenant Commander (E) B. Nish RNR, Temporary Lieutenant (E) J. R. Bissett RNR, Temporary Sub/Lieutenant (E) J. W. McMullan RNR, Lieutenant W. G. P. Brigstocke RNVR, Probationary Temporary Surgeon Lt E. I. Smith, MB, ChB RNVR and one hundred and seventy one ratings (total 176) were killed on Foylebank; thirteen officers and one hundred and forty-four ratings (total 157) were rescued. Sixteen men of Elmcrest were killed and one man was killed on Kolga, a total of 193 men were killed.[8] One Stuka crew was shot down and killed by antiaircraft fire from HMS Foylebank during the attack on Portland Harbour.[15]