Donald Macintyre ( Royal Navy officer ) Donald George Frederick Wyville Macintyre ( 26 January 1904 – 23 May 1981 ) was a Royal Navy officer during the Second World War and a successful convoy escort commander . Following the war , he was also an author of numerous books on British naval history . Early career . Macintyre joined the Navy in 1926 , serving in his first year in a destroyer with the Mediterranean fleet before transferring to the Fleet Air Arm ( FAA ) to train as a pilot . He served seven years with the FAA , first in , then on the China Station , then in with the Home fleet . In 1935 an accident left him unfit to fly , and he returned to surface vessels . He was given command of , an anti - submarine patrol vessel , and was attached to the Anti - Submarine School at Portland . < br > In 1937 he took command of his first destroyer , " Defender " , and was again stationed in the Far East , seeing action during the Amoy crisis in 1938 . In 1939 he returned to Britain to take command of the destroyer , joining a Channel flotilla as war broke out . Beginnings . In 1939 , not long after the declaration of war , Macintyre and " Venomous " were on escort duty in the English Channel with a destroyer flotilla led by ( Captain T Halsey ) , escorting troopship s from Britain to France . < br > In January 1940 he took command of the " Hearty " , which was commissioned and renamed " Hesperus " , ( to avoid confusion with another destroyer , the " Hardy " ) . " Hesperus " was very similar to other " H " - class destroyers , but had been modified with such peculiarities as unfamiliar markings on the gun - sights and no director sight ; being one of six vessels originally built for the Brazilian navy . His first operation with her was in conjunction with ( Commander Burnell - Nugent ) which was to assist in the occupation of the Faroe Islands . In April 1940 , he , with " Hesperus " , was involved in the Norwegian campaign , seeing action at Narvik and Mo . " Hesperus " suffered bomb damage from two near misses at the latter location ; after which she was docked in Dundee for repairs . Macintyre and " Hesperus " were transferred to the Atlantic , working alongside ; the two ships spent most of that year ' s winter battling severe weather , before Macintyre was moved to take command as SOE ( senior officer escort ) of " Walker " , handing " Hesperus " over to Commander AA Tait in March 1941 . " Walker " was lead ship and Macintyre was the senior officer of the 5th Escort Group in the North Atlantic . SOE ( Senior Officer Escort ) . Three U - boat commanders . Macintyre ' s first action as SOE , was with convoy HX 112 as part of a major battle which resulted in the destruction of two U - boat s , " U - 100 " and " U - 99 " commanded by Joachim Schepke and Otto Kretschmer , for the loss of five ships . " U - 100 " was destroyed by " Vanoc " , while MacIntyre in " Walker " sank " U - 99 " , though her captain and most of her crew were saved . Kretschmer , complete with his binoculars , was among the survivors of his boats ' sinking who were picked up by " Walker " . Macintyre ' liberated ' the binoculars and used them throughout the rest of the war . With the loss of " U - 47 " and her skipper Günther Prien earlier that month , the elimination of three leading U - boat aces saw the end of the " Happy Time " , a period of U - boat ascendancy ; for the rest of the year , the escorts would have the upper hand . Move . As a result of " Luftwaffe " attention , during which Macintyre ' s car was " written off " , it was decided to move the escort ships from Liverpool to the relative safety of Londonderry in Northern Ireland . On his first voyage up the River Foyle to the port , Macintyre was horrified to find that the pilot that he had embarked for the short trip would not use the conventional methods of navigation , preferring to steer instead for ' Mother Murphy ' s white cow ' or ' Paddy Monaghan ' s byre ' . Marriage and Iceland . Macintyre and EG 5 continued their escort duty for the rest of the year , serving on the North Atlantic and Gibraltar routes until the winter of 1941 , when both Macintyre and the group were exhausted ; EG 5 was disbanded . After a refit , which included the installation of radar , " Walker " was assigned to the Home Fleet at Hvalfjord in Iceland , as an escort to capital ships . It was during this period Macintyre married Monica Strickland , on 11 November 1941 at Brompton Oratory in South Kensington , London . In February 1942 , Macintyre was posted to the US Naval base at Argentia , near Placentia in Newfoundland , as British liaison officer . It was only after his arrival that he discovered Placentia had been the location for the first Roosevelt / Churchill meeting which had resulted in the Atlantic Charter . He encountered an example of American ' can - do ' as far as building the base was concerned . One night , on the return trip to his quarters following a ( ' dry ' ) mess dinner , he was astonished to find that the road from his accommodation to the mess had disappeared as it had out - lived its usefulness . Whilst in Iceland , the US Navy repair ship " Prairie " was badly damaged by a fire which had started on the wooden jetty to which she was moored . Macintyre ' s chief concern were the two British corvette s which were moored close to the " Prairie " and their deck armament of depth charges . The fire was extinguished and the " Prairie " was replaced . Back to sea . The " Hesperus " re - visited . In June Macintyre returned to destroyer operations , assuming command of " Hesperus " once more , and in charge of the Escort Group B2 , part of the re - organized Mid - Ocean Escort Force ( MOEF ) . For the rest of 1942 , the B - 2 Group was on North Atlantic escort duty . Unsuccessful attacks were carried out on two U - boats in October 1942 while escorting convoy ONS 138 . The boats were part of a pack of at least four . " U - 620 " was the first to be depth - charged , but without result . The other , " U - 301 " , evaded the escort group ' s attack by diving deep . The ships of the group spent two days keeping the U - boats under ( where they were less effective ) , allowing the convoy to escape . The Canadians . Macintyre was often frustrated by the inexperience and lack of training in the Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN ) . The gargantuan expansion of that service might explain the situation . On one occasion while still commanding " Walker " , an accompanying Canadian warship was unable to communicate when the battery on her signal lamp gave out and no spare was available . On another , a Canadian ship due to meet Macintyre in Argentia arrived with ' We Want Leave ' painted on her superstructure . More seriously , depth charges were found to be rusted into their housings , primed and armed . Tragedy and triumph . The autumn of 1942 saw near continuous gales around Iceland . It was in such weather that a crew member was swept overboard . The conditions were too bad to lower a boat , but an officer went over the side . Despite getting the man halfway up the ships ' hull , his strength gave out and the sailor slipped from his grasp , never to be seen again . Among a stream of official signals sent while the escort group was still at sea , Macintyre received a personal message informing him that he had become a father on Guy Fawkes Day ( 5 November ) . He beat his First - Lieutenant by " a short head " . " U - 357 " . On the next homeward - bound convoy in late December , Macintyre had sanctioned the loading of a large number of Christmas turkeys in the bow section of " Hesperus " , a decision he was to regret . On 26 December , while escorting convoy HX 219 , " Hesperus " and " Vanessa " engaged " U - 357 " . The encounter ran throughout the day with both ships firing patterns of depth charges without success . At one point Macintyre saw a periscope just 50 yards from his ship . Contact was nevertheless lost and then found again . With the onset of darkness , " Hesperus " received a message from " Vanessa " that the U - boat had surfaced and that she intended to ram it . But , following some frantic manoeuvring by both vessels , " Vanessa " could only manage a glancing blow on the German . " Hesperus " stepped in . Both the destroyer and the U - boat employed every trick in the book in an attempt to out - wit the other . " Hesperus " kept her two signal searchlights on the U - boat ' s conning tower which probably distracted the German skipper into making a fatal error , i . e . crossing the British destroyers ' bow . " Hesperus " rammed the U - boat , cutting it almost in half , leaving only a spreading pool of oil and a handful of survivors . The celebrations were somewhat tempered when it was discovered that " Hesperus " had sustained significant damage to her bows and her extra cargo had been reduced to a sodden mess . Repairs in dry - dock in Liverpool , lasting three months , were required . " U - 191 " . " Hesperus " returned to sea in April 1943 with a new weapon , ( Hedgehog ) and new officers , so a period of training was required . However , very little time was available . The northerly sailing convoy , ONS 4 , needed an escort ; that task fell to the B2 Group which now consisted of two destroyers , " Hesperus " and " Whitehall " and five corvettes . On 23 April " Hesperus " detected a U - boat on the surface less than 10 miles away . On closing the German ( which had crash - dived ) , it was decided to use Hedgehog . The order to fire was followed by an embarrassing silence as the safety - pins had not been removed ; this was soon realised and a pattern of depth charges were fired instead , including one that weighed considerably more ( one ton ) , than the standard weapon . Unfamiliar sounds were then heard via the ASDIC ( Sonar ) , Hedgehog was tried once more , this time with more success . " U - 191 " was sunk with all hands . Perilous journey , but the war goes on . Ice . Over the 29 April , on the way to Newfoundland , the convoy found itself negotiating icebergs with the help of " Hesperus " ' radar and searchlights . Miraculously , the ships did not suffer any casualties . Routine in harbour . " Hesperus " adopted two ports as her home base : Argentia and Liverpool . St Johns was also used occasionally . Macintyre always appreciated the opportunity of a hot bath and being able to sleep in a bunk that remained stationary once harbour was safely reached . Argentia was an all - male base ; American officers would visit from their ' dry ' ships . They would often be entertained by the " Hesperus " officers singing ( in the original German ) , ' Zumba Za ' . On one occasion in Liverpool , civilians in reserved occupations , who were visiting for their duty - free gin , were told quite seriously by the navigating officer that a passage had been arranged for them on the next convoy trip . The offer was not taken up . Macintyre could usually get away to his wife and child when his ship was in Liverpool between convoys . SC 129 . B2 Group left Argentia with the slow convoy SC 129 on 5 May 1943 . Six days later , two ships in the convoy were torpedoed in daylight by " U - 402 " , the first sinkings ( in nine months ) in a convoy that Macintyre was involved with . He was understandably very unhappy ( see para three of ' Successes ' below ) , but revenge had to wait until that night when " Hesperus " damaged " U - 223 " which only just managed to return to St Nazaire . " U - 186 " . Mcintyre left " U - 223 " thinking she was sinking , to another ship ; on his way back to the convoy , the ASDIC on " Hesperus " picked up another contact which turned out to be " U - 186 " . After a number of depth - charge attacks , the concussion of an underwater explosion was felt , oil and debris was seen reaching the surface . No more U - boats were confirmed sunk while Group B - 2 were escorting SC 129 , although there were several sightings , radar and ASDIC contacts . Macintyre in " Hesperus " was faced with a dilemma ; his own ship was very short of depth charges , the other destroyer in the escort group , " Whitehall " , was low on fuel . Other ships in the group ( the corvettes ) , could not catch a U - boat on the surface , but by 16 May , the convoy had moved out of the danger area . A new group . In April 1944 , Macintyre left " Hesperus " ( very reluctantly ) , to assume command of , an American - built ship . He would also take charge of the 5th Escort Group , then forming in Belfast . After a working - up period , the group began operations on 21 April , supporting the escort of convoy ONS 233 . Having found themselves under - used , the group was re - deployed , carrying out an abortive sweep for a single U - boat before joining the escort aircraft carrier " Vindex " and the 9th Escort Group on the 26th . " U - 765 " . In the early morning of 5 May , following a lengthy hunt , the half - group ( the other half were kept with " Vindex " ) , were sent to an area known to contain a U - boat which was on weather - reporting duty . With the use of direction - finding equipment and aircraft from " Vindex " , the search area was reduced . Having found his target , Macintyre then decided to use the ' creeping ' attack method pioneered by Captain ' Johnnie ' Walker . This involved the use of a second ship , ( in this case the frigate HMS " Bligh " ) , to do the actual attacking while the first ship ( " Bickerton " ) , controlled things such as the ASDIC tracking . A series of depth charge explosions were rewarded with the sight of a badly damaged U - boat breaking the surface . " Bickerton " moved in to administer the " coup - de - grace " , but she was beaten to it by a Swordfish from " Videx " which dropped two more depth charges on the hapless German vessel . A handful of survivors were taken prisoner . Upon questioning the prisoners , it was realised that " U - 765 " was to have been relieved , ( by , it was later discovered , " U - 736 " ) . It was decided to repeat the attack , but it was unsuccessful . D - Day . Before and after D - Day ( 6 June 1944 ) , Macintyre , " Bickerton " and the 5th Escort Group were part of the RN ' s contribution to the invasion of France by patrolling in the relatively shallow waters of the Western Approaches . On the 15th , the group were investigating the sighting of a U - boat using its " schnorkel " breathing device . HMS " Mourne " , a ship well known to Mcintyre , was the victim of an acoustic torpedo . After several hours of searching , there was no sign of the U - boat . The subject of the hunt could well have escaped retribution amongst the plethora of wrecks which litter the floor of the English Channel . " U - 269 " . On the night of 25 June , after investigating a contact which turned out to be another wreck , " Bickerton " was hurrying to catch up with the rest of the group when she detected an echo , subsequently identified as " U - 269 " . Mcintyre had been asleep in his cabin beneath the bridge and initially took some convincing that the target was genuine . All doubt was swept aside when , after a look at the plotting table , it became apparent that the target had moved some distance . " Bickerton " moved into the attack and fired a pattern of depth charges . The U - boat was forced to the surface where it was immediately engaged by " Bickerton " s guns . The crew abandoned ship - the U - boat sank . It was all over within 10 minutes . Sinking . " Bickerton " was sent north to Scapa Flow in July 1944 to join the Home Fleet once more . On 18 August she was acting as part of the screen for the cruiser " Kent " and two aircraft carriers , " Nabob " and " Trumpeter " in the southern Arctic Ocean . " Nabob " was torpedoed without warning ; Macintyre had just given the order for all screening ships to deploy their CAT noise - makers ( to seduce any acoustic torpedoes away from the ships ) , when " Bickerton " was also hit . Most of the stern , including the quarter - deck , had disappeared . Due to the importance attached to saving " Nabob " and the proximity of the German - held Norwegian coast , it was decided to sink " Bickerton " with a torpedo from a destroyer . Macintyre was transferred to the " Aylmer " . The end . Macintyre was taken off sea duty . With hindsight he acknowledged that he was " ready for this " . The change in the nature of anti - submarine warfare , with U - boats switching to lone - wolf attacks in coastal areas , required different tactics and was " best left to fresher men " . Macintyre sensed it was " Time to go " and returned to aviation , ending the war as commander of a Naval air station . Later career . Macintyre left the Navy after the war , forging a successful career as a historian and author . He published an autobiography , " U - Boat Killer " , in 1956 , and followed it with 15 books on various aspects of naval history . Successes . Macintyre was a highly successful U - boat killer , a soubriquet he took as the title of his autobiography . He was responsible for the destruction of six U - boats during the Second World War , making him one of the highest scoring ASW commanders . He was also an equally successful escort commander , taking seriously the " fateful instructions that " ' the safe and timely arrival of the convoy ' " was our main objective " . Over a two - year period with B - 2 , Macintyre commanded the escorts for 28 convoys , a total of 1100 ships , with the loss of just two . The vast majority ( 99 . 8 % ) , arrived safely , a record of which Macintyre was justifiably proud , although he was " in a fury " at the loss of the two ships when escorting SC 129 . Awards . Macintyre was also highly decorated for his service , winning the Distinguished Service Order with two bars and the Distinguished Service Cross .