Convoy SC 118 Convoy SC - 118 was the 118th of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney , Cape Breton Island to Liverpool . The ships departed New York City on 24 January 1943 and were met by Mid - Ocean Escort Force Group B - 2 consisting of V class destroyer s " Vanessa " and " Vimy " , the USCG Treasury Class Cutter " Bibb " , the Town class destroyer , Flower class corvette s " Campanula " , " Mignonette " , " Abelia " and " Lobelia " , and the convoy rescue ship " Toward " . Background . As western Atlantic coastal convoys brought an end to the second happy time , Admiral Karl Dönitz , the " Befehlshaber der U - Boote " ( " BdU " ) or commander in chief of U - Boats , shifted focus to the mid - Atlantic to avoid aircraft patrols . Although convoy routing was less predictable in the mid - ocean , Dönitz anticipated that the increased numbers of U - boats being produced would be able to effectively search for convoys with the advantage of intelligence gained through " B - Dienst " decryption of British Naval Cypher Number 3 . However , only 20 percent of the 180 trans - Atlantic convoys sailing from the end of July 1942 until the end of April 1943 lost ships to U - boat attack . On 2 February " U - 456 " sank three ships from convoy HX 224 . A survivor of one of the sunken ships was picked up by " U - 632 " and told his rescuers a slower convoy was following behind HX - 224 . Battle . A careless merchant seaman of convoy SC - 118 accidentally fired a pyrotechnic snowflake projector aboard SS " Annik " in the pre - dawn darkness of 4 February . " U - 187 " observed the snowflake display , reported sighting the convoy , and was promptly sunk by " Beverly " and " Vimy " after " Bibb " and " Toward " triangulated her location from the sighting report , using High - Frequency radio Direction - Finder ( HF / DF or Huff - Duff ) . The destroyers rescued 44 of the submarine ' s crew . The Polish freighter " Zagloba " was torpedoed on the unprotected side of the convoy by " U - 262 " and " U - 413 " torpedoed the straggling American freighter " West Portal " . On 5 February the convoy escort was reinforced by the USCG Treasury Class Cutter " Ingham " and the Wickes class destroyer s " Babbitt " and " Schenck " from Iceland . The reinforced escort damaged " U - 262 " and " U - 267 " . In the pre - dawn hours of 7 February , U - boat Ace " Kapitänleutnant " Siegfried von Forstner ' s " U - 402 " torpedoed the British freighter " Afrika " , Norwegian tanker " Daghild " , Greek freighter " Kalliopi " , American tanker " Robert E . Hopkins " , American cargo liner , and Convoy rescue ship " Toward " . " Henry R . Mallory " was capable of 14 knots but had been straggling well astern of the convoy for several days and was not zig - zagging in that exposed position . " Mallory " would normally have been assigned to one of the faster HX convoys , but there had been no Iceland section of the preceding convoy HX - 224 . No commands came from the bridge after " Mallory " was torpedoed , no flares were sent up , no radio distress message was sent out , and no orders were given to abandon ship . There were heavy casualties from " Mallory " s crew of 77 , 34 Navy gunners , and the 136 American soldiers , 172 American sailors , and 72 American Marines she was transporting to Iceland . " U - 614 " sank the straggling British freighter " Harmala " while " Lobelia " sank " U - 609 " . B - 17 Flying Fortress J of No . 220 Squadron RAF sank " U - 614 " on 7 February . " U - 402 " sank British freighter " Newton Ash " that night . On 9 February " Kapitänleutnant " von Forstner was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross for ships sunk by " U - 402 " from this convoy and from Convoy SC - 107 on the previous patrol . SC - 118 reached Liverpool without further loss on 12 February .