Convoy RS 3

Convoy RS 3
Part of the Battle of the Atlantic
North Atlantic ocean showing the west African coast
Date 22–31 March 1943 Location South-east of the Canary Islands Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany	United States United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Karl Dönitz	Convoy Commodore: Harold Milne
Strength
7 U-boats	1 Sloop 1 Corvette 3 Merchant ships 1 Cable layer 4 Seagoing tugs

Convoy RS 3 was a South Atlantic convoy from 22–31 March 1943 between Gibraltar and Freetown in Sierra Leone. The convoy was part of the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. The convoy lost its three biggest ships to U-boat attacks.

The three ships lost on Convoy RS 3 contributed to the fact that in March 1943 most of the ships sunk by U-boats were being convoyed. As convoying was the main tactic against U-boats, this led to a temporary crisis in Allied shipping.

Background

Kriegsmarine

Map of the Canary Islands (circled in red)

Wolfpack Unverzagt (Unshrinking) and Wolfpack Wohlgemut (Cheerful) were on the way to form patrol lines off the Azores to attack a UGS convoy (United States to Gibraltar Slow) a series of slow convoys run from the United States to Gibraltar beginning with Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942). The convoy had been revealed by B-Dienst a code-breaking department of the German Naval Intelligence Service (Marinenachrichtendienst [MND]). Before the expected convoy was spotted, U-130 found Convoy UGS 6 of 45 ships, protected by the US destroyers USS Wainwright, USS Trippe, USS Champlin, USS Mayrant, USS Rowan, USS Rhind and USS Hobby. Champlin detected the u-boat and sank it. With the sea so calm, it was difficult for the U-boats to close on the convoy because the destroyers had centimetric radar but lacked High-frequency direction finding (huff-duff) to pinpoint U-boat wireless broadcasts.

Late on 13 March, U-172 sank a straggler SS Benjamin Harrison (7,191 GRT) and Wolfpack Tümmler joined the attack. That day, attacks by U-513, U-167 and U-172 were defeated by the convoy escorts and the U-boats were forced to retire. On 14 September U-106, U-167 and U-513 were driven off and U-515 was damaged by depth charging. On 15 March. U-159 and U-524 attacked the convoy submerged in daylight and U-524 sank Wyoming (8,062 GRT). On 16 March U-106 directed nine U-boats to the convoy but the escorts thwarted their attempts to attack the convoy and U-524, with U-172, made a simultaneous submerged attack in the evening. On the evening of 17 March U-167 torpedoed Molly Pitcher (7,200 GRT) which was sunk later by U-521.

On the next day, the convoy received air cover; U-524 maintained contact but was unable to attack and the attack on the convoy was terminated. U-524 was caught on the surface and sunk by the depth-charges of a B-24 bomber from the 2nd Antisubmarine Squadron on 22 March. Karl Dönitz the commander of U-boats (Befehlshaber der U-Boote, BdU) sent the remaining seven U-boats to form a cordon from the west to the south-east of the Canary Islands to attack another UGS convoy No UGS convoys were found and BdU moved the U-boats into the area between the African coast and the islands, along with U-123 that was en route to Freetown in Sierra Leone with the name gruppe Seeräuber (Pirate) based on reports from B-Dienst.

Allied air power

The US Navy had established Fleet Air Wing 15 at Naval Air Station Port Lyautey in Morocco, in January, with the patrol squadrons VPB-73 and VPB-92, each with twelve Catalina flying boats. In March the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) 1st Antisubmarine Squadron and the 2nd Antisubmarine Squadron of the 2037th Antisubmarine Wing (Provisional) with twelve B-24 Liberator bombers each, joined the naval aircraft at Port Lyautey.

Convoy RS 3

Sierra Leone, the destination of Convoy RS 3

When Convoy RS 3 left Gibraltar for Freetown in Sierra Leone, it consisted of the merchant ships SS Lagosian, SS Moanda, MV Silverbeech, the cable layer Lady Denison-Pender, whose captain, Harold Milne, was the convoy commodore, the tugs HMS Alligator, HMS Crocodile, the Seagoing Tugs ST Empire Ace and ST Empire Oberon. Lady Denison-Pender was returning after laying a cable between Gibraltar and Casablanca for communications at the Casablanca Conference. The convoy was escorted by the Bridgewater-class sloop HMS Bridgewater and the Flower-class corvette HMS Burdock.

Prelude

U-513 made contact with the convoy on 28 March between the Canary Islands and Dakar. The Allied commanders did not know that the convoy was in danger and on the morning of 28 March, the convoy escorts Bridgewater and Burdock were diverted to reinforce the escort of a northbound convoy, leaving Convoy RS 3 to aircraft anti-submarine patrols.

Attacks on 28 March

Example of a Type IX U-boat, photographed later in the war

Shortly after the escorts left, U-159 attacked and torpedoed the 5,414 GRT, SS Lagosian at 31°12'N, 15°43'W, with seven crew killed and 39 survivors. The ship broke amidships and sank within seven minutes. Eleven survivors were rescued by the tugboat Empire Denis. The convoy started zigzagging and tried to increase speed but the tugs could not keep up and speed was reduced to seven kn (13 km/h; 8.1 mph). At 15:00 U-172 torpedoed the 5,311 GRT, MV Silverbeech which exploded and sank at 25°20'N, 15°55'W with 62 killed and 7 survivors. As the ships were in shallow waters, the convoy commodore was not sure whether they should run into a protective coastal minefield or fight the U-boats. A few minutes later U-172 launched a salvo of four torpedoes that missed. As night fell at 20:00 the zigzagging was stopped.

U-172 caught up with the convoy and its first attack with one torpedo missed but then U-167 torpedoed MV Moanda (4,511 GRT) with a second attack, firing two torpedoes. The ship sank at 02:00 the next morning at 24°44'N, 16°48'W with 29 killed and 27 survivors. Aircraft on convoy patrol attacked the U-boats and U-67 was sent out of control by a depth-charge attack, descending to 750 ft (230 m) before the crew regained control. After surfacing the crew found that six torpedo containers on deck and much of the superstructure were missing. U-159 was forced by air attack 698 ft (213 m) below the surface before the crew got the boat back under control. U-172 stayed with U-67 whilst it was inspected and when it was judged capable of returning to base; its captain gave surplus fuel to U-515, which took over the patrol to Dakar instead of U-159 which was diverted to a quiet spot off the Azores. On 29 March the U-boats lost contact and the attack was abandoned on 30 March.

Aftermath

Casualties

The crew of Lagosian suffered seven killed of 46 men, 63 of the 69 crew members of Silverbeech were killed and the loss of Moanda cost 29 killed with 27 survivors.

Subsequent operations

Map of the Canary Islands, showing Gran Canaria, centre

After gruppe Seeraüber was dissolved on 30 March, the U-boats operated individually off Freetown. U-124 attacked Convoy OS 45 on 2 April and sank two ships of 9,547 GRT but was then sunk by the 37th Escort Group. U-167 was attacked on 6 April by two Hudsons of 233 Squadron from Gibraltar and was scuttled after the crew disembarked, about fifty of the men getting ashore on Gran Canaria. An Italian U-boat, Giuseppe Finzi, sank two independently sailing ships of a total of 9,264 GRT. U-455 and U-117 planted mines off Casablanca on 10 and 11 April, that sank one ship and damaged two. The rest of the U-boats reached Freetown in early April.

Allied order of battle

Convoyed ships

Merchant ships

Ship	Year	Flag	GRT	Notes
HMS Alligator	1941	Royal Navy	395	Seagoing tug
HMS Crocodile	1940	Royal Navy	395	Seagoing tug
ST Empire Ace	1942	United Kingdom	275	Ministry of War Transport tug
ST Empire Oberon	1943	United Kingdom	244	Ministry of War Transport tug
SS Lady Denison-Pender	1920	United Kingdom	1,984	Cable layer
Lagosian	1930	United Kingdom	5,412	Sunk
Moanda	1937	Belgium	4,621	Sunk
MV Silverbeech	1926	United Kingdom	5,319	Sunk

Convoy escorts

Convoy escort

Name	Navy	Class	Notes
HMS Bridgewater	Royal Navy	Bridgewater-class sloop
HMS Burdock	Royal Navy	Flower-class corvette

U-boats

gruppe Seeraüber (25–30 March 1943)

Name	Flag	Class	Notes
U-67	Kriegsmarine	Type IXC submarine
U-123	Kriegsmarine	Type IXB submarine
U-159	Kriegsmarine	Type IXC submarine
U-167	Kriegsmarine	Type IXC/40 submarine
U-172	Kriegsmarine	Type IXC submarine
U-513	Kriegsmarine	Type IXC submarine
U-515	Kriegsmarine	Type IXC submarine
U-524	Kriegsmarine	Type IXC submarine	Sunk 22 March

Bibliography

• Blair, Clay (2000) [1998]. Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. Vol. II (pbk. repr. ed.). London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35261-6.
• Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945: Its Organisation, Defence and Operation. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
• Jordan, Roger W. (2006) [1999]. The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships (2nd ed.). London: Chatham/Lionel Leventhal. ISBN 978-1-86176-293-1.
• Kindell, Don (2024). "Convoy RS.3". Arnold Hague Convoy Database: Shorter Convoy Series. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
• Machielsen, Roger (1991). De Belgische koopvaardij in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (in Dutch). Antwerpen: Pattyn, Veurne. ISBN 90-74023-01-0.
• Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972]. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-257-7.

External links

• Arnold Hague convoy web
• Ships hit by U-172 uboat.net