Evening star., 1942-01-04
Large British Convoy
Fights Off U-Boats
5 Days, Sinking ;
Two Worships Are Lost
In Atlantic Fight, Two
In Mediterranean
By the Associated Press.

IN meOItSTIQneON
By the Associated Press.
LONDON, Jan. 3.-Britain told
the story today of this winters first
great engagement in the battle of
the Atlantic-how the Royal Navy,
with sea and aircraft units made in
America, brought q great convoy to
port over 80 per cent intact after
blowing at least three Nazi U-boatS
to bits in a flve-day fight.
The convoy's protectors lost
H. NJ S. Stanley. which was the tor-
n1er U. S. destroyer McCalla, and
an auxiliary catapult warship which.
ironically enough. was converted
from the eX-German merchantmen
Hanover, salvaged and taken as
prize by naval patrol in the West
Atlantic in March OF 1910 after her
crew had tried to scuttle her.
These were not the only losses
which the Admiralty announced to-
day. 1t disclosed also chat the 7,l75-
ton British cruiser Neptune and the
1600-ton destroyer Kendahar had
been destroyed in a Mediterranean
minefield.
Four Warships Lost
Thus the British acknowledged
the sinking of a total of four of
their warshipS: a cruiser, two de-
stroyerS and a converted prize of
war.
OF the convoy's more than 80
merchantmen, two, totalling but
6,l93 tons, were sunk in the Atlantic
battle.
Added to the three German sub
marines known to have been sunk
In the convoy fight-priSoners were
taken from each-was the destruc-
ton Of two German Focke-Wulf
bombers and serious damage to a
third. The Admiralty said also that
American-made Liberator (Consoli-
dated) bOmbers of the British
Coastal Command joined the naval
escort in the last of its counter
attacks, during which more U-boats
may have been sunk.
The converted auxiliary that was
sunk had been renamed the Auda-
city. The Germans, in reporting
Its destruction the day before
Christmas, first referred to it as
33,000-ton aircraft carrier, then as
the 14,500-ton naval air supply ship,
Unicorn. Never, apparently. did
they recognize it as their own former
freighter, or at least they did not
want to tell the German people so.
Battle Began December II.
The Admiralty, recalling that the
Germans claimed that nine mer-
chant ships totalling $1,000 tons
were sunk out of the convoy, re-
marked that this was better than
600 per cent exaggerated.
Its communique, rejecting the
confidence which Prime Minister
Churchill and other leaders have ex-
pressed in the favorable allied posi-
tion on the Atlantic bridge of ships,
began with the sentence: Week
after week our conveys continue to
arrive, bringing vital supplies to our
shores"
1t did not give the actual scene
OF the fight. save to indicate that
IL ended within bomber range of
British shores. The Germans, earlier,
said the convoy was attacked be-
tween Gibraltar and Britain.
The battle began on December II,
on the morning of which the first
E-boat was sunk on the surface by
gunfire. 1t was December 81, the
Admiralty said, when the last at
tackers were routed.
Destroyer Rams U-Boat.
The convoy was under a veteran
commodore, Vice Admiral Raymond
Fitzmaurice, who now is Sir Ray
mond, since he was knighted in the
New Year honors list. The senior
officer of the convoy escorts was
Comdr. F. J. Walker, in H. M. S.
Stork, 1.190-ton escort sloop.
Comdr. Walker was given the Dis
tinguished Service Order for his part
In the battle
On the afternoon of the 18th,
after the first U-boat had been
forced to the surface and then
blown apart by destroyers' guns,
two Focke- -Wulf bembers were driven
of by naval planes from the Auda-
city.
The next day the U-boats came
back to their work. A second was
forced to the surface by depth
charges and sunk.
A few hours later the Stanley.
which had aided in the destruction
of the second submarine, was tor
pedoed and went to the bottom.
The other members of the escort
blasted away again below the sea
and finally a third U-boat bobbed
up. H. NJ. S. Stork came about
swiftly and rammed the submarine
head-on, breaking her up.
Liberator Bombers Aid.
On December 10 the Focke- Wulfs
came back, and the Audacity's Naval
Planes again took to the battle.
Two of the German bombers plunged
into the sea; third, said the
Admiralty, limped away badly hurt.
For two more days, then, U-boats
came again and again to the attack,
and finally the Audacity was sunk.
Throughout these two days, the
remaining U-boats were relentlessly
hunted and heavily depth-charged
by convoy escorts" said the COM
munique. "On December 81 the
attack was finally driven of. Ameri-
can-built Liberator aircraft of the
Coastal Command of the R. A. F.
joined the convoy at this stage and
played a conspicuous part in the
final series of counter-attacks which
eventually freed the convoy from
futher pursuit"
Cruiser Lost in Mediterranean.
There was no estimate of the
number of men lost in the sinkings
of the British ships.
A. >F