Convoy TM 1

Convoy TM 1 was the code name for an Allied convoy during the Second World War. Nine tankers, escorted by Royal Navy warships, attempted to reach Gibraltar from Trinidad. The convoy was attacked by a U-boat wolf pack in the central Atlantic Ocean, and most of the merchant vessels were sunk. This was one of the most successful attacks on Allied supply convoys throughout the entire war.[1] The convoy was defended by the destroyer HMS Havelock, and three Flower-class corvettes, HMS Godetia, HMS Pimpernel and HMS Saxifrage. Seven tankers were sunk during the attacks, two surviving to reach Gibraltar.[2] Two U-boats were damaged during the attacks.

Convoy TM 1
Part of Atlantic Campaign of the Second World War
HMS Havelock in camouflage
Date 3–12 January 1943 Location mid-Atlantic Ocean Result German victory
Belligerents
Nazi Germany	United Kingdom  Belgium
Commanders and leaders
Rudolf Schendel	Cdr. Boyle
Strength
10 U-boats	1 destroyer 3 corvettes 9 tankers
Casualties and losses
2 U-boats damaged	7 ships sunk

Battle

U-124 located HMS Godetia on 29 December 1942, escorting two tankers to join up with the main convoy. U-514 made contact with the convoy on 3 January and attacked and damaged the tanker MV British Vigilance, forcing her crew to abandon her though the ship remained afloat. By now aware that a large tanker convoy was headed through the Atlantic, presumably to deliver supplies to the allied armies in North Africa, Admiral Karl Dönitz, the German BdU (commander in chief of U-Boats) ordered wolf pack "Dolphin" to move into the area and attempt to intercept it.[2]

U-381 made contact with the convoy on 8 January, and the wolf pack launched their first attacks that evening. U-436 attacked and sank SS Oltenia II and damaged MV Albert L. Ellsworth.[2] HMS Havelock launched a counter-attack, damaging and driving off U-381, while Pimpernel and Godetia drove off U-571 and U-575 respectively.[3] U-522 returned the following morning and attacked the convoy, damaging two tankers, MV Norvik, and MV Minister Wedel, while U-442 damaged Empire Lytton. U-181 and U-134 made attacks, but failed to hit any targets. Godetia retaliated with depth charges, damaging U-134.[2]

U-620 kept in contact with the convoy, and in the evening of 9 January, U-522 attacked the two tankers she had damaged earlier in the morning, Norvik and Minister Wedel, and sank both of them. Meanwhile, U-442 returned to the damaged and abandoned Empire Lytton and finished her off with two torpedoes, while U-436 returned to the abandoned Albert L. Ellsworth and sank her with shells from her deck gun. U-511 came across MV William Wilberforce, a merchant ship sailing unescorted and not part of convoy TM 1, and sank her.[2]

The attacks resumed on the night of 10/11 January, with U-522 torpedoing MV British Dominion. Her crew abandoned her, but the ship was only damaged and did not sink until U-620 arrived and sank her with a coup-de-grace torpedo and gunfire. Other attacks that evening and over the next two days, by U-571 and U-511, fail to score any successes. By now the convoy was approaching Gibraltar, and the destroyer HMS Quentin and the corvettes HMS Samphire and HMS Pentstemon were sent out to reinforce the escorts. Supported by allied air cover, the convoy reached Gibraltar without further loss on 14 January. Two tankers, Cliona and Vanja, survived from the original nine. The final action came on 24 January, when the abandoned hulk of British Vigilance, torpedoed by U-514 on 3 January, was discovered by U-105, and promptly sunk.[3]

Order of battle

Merchants

  This along with the * indicates that the ship was sunk

Name[4]	Nationality[4]	Tonnage[4]	Cargo	Fate	Date of attack	Survivors	Dead	Notes
Albert L. Ellsworth (1937)	Norwegian	8,309 gross register tons (GRT)	Furnace oil	Damaged by U-436 Sunk by U-436*	8 January 9 January	42	0
British Dominion (1928)	British	6,983 GRT	Aviation spirit	Damaged by U-522 Sunk by U-620*	11 January 11 January	16	37
British Vigilance (1942)	British	8,093 GRT	Clean petroleum products	Damaged by U-514 Sunk by U-105*	3 January 24 January	27	27
Cliona (1931)	British	8,375 GRT		Reached port safely
Empire Lytton (1942)	British	9,807 GRT	Aviation spirit	Damaged by U-442 Sunk by U-442*	9 January 9 January	34	14
Minister Wedel (1930)	Norwegian	6,833 GRT	Furnace oil	Damaged by U-522 Sunk by U-522*	9 January 9 January	38	0
Norvik (1938)	Panamanian	9,555 GRT	Furnace oil	Damaged by U-522 Sunk by U-522*	9 January 9 January	43	2
Oltenia II (1928)	British	6,394 GRT	Furnace oil, lubricating oil, military stores	Sunk by U-436*	8 January	43	17
Vanja (1929)	Norwegian	6,198 GRT		Reached port safely

Escorts

Name[4]	Class	Navy	Date joined[4]	Date departed[4]	Notes
HMS Godetia	Flower-class corvette	Royal Navy	28 December	14 January
HMS Havelock	H-class destroyer	Royal Navy	28 December	14 January
HMS Pentstemon	Flower-class corvette	Belgian section, Royal Navy	12 January	14 January
HMS Pimpernel	Flower-class corvette	Royal Navy	28 December	14 January
HMS Quentin	Q-class destroyer	Royal Navy	12 January	14 January
HMS Samphire	Flower-class corvette	Royal Navy	12 January	14 January
HMS Saxifrage	Flower-class corvette	Royal Navy	28 December	14 January

Wolf pack Dolphin

Name	Commander	Ships sunk	Notes
U-134	Rudolf Schendel	0	Damaged by Godetia
U-181	Wolfgang Lüth	0
U-381	Graf Wilhelm-Heinrich Pückler und Limpurg	0	Damaged by Havelock
U-436	Günther Seibicke	2
U-442	Hans-Joachim Hesse	1
U-511	Fritz Schneewind	1	Sank the unattached William Wilberforce
U-522	Herbert Schneider	2	Also damaged British Dominion
U-571	Helmut Möhlmann	0
U-575	Günther Heydemann	0
U-620	Heinz Stein	1

Others

Name	Commander	Ships sunk	Notes
U-105	Jürgen Nissen	1	Sank abandoned British Vigilance on 24 January
U-124	Johann Mohr	0	Made initial sighting of convoy on 29 December
U-125	Ulrich Folkers	0
U-514	Hans-Jürgen Auffermann	0	Made contact with the convoy on 3 January and damaged British Vigilance

Notes

1. Morison p.326
2. Blair pp.145-147
3. Rohwer & Hummelchen p.184
4. "Convoy TMF.1". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 24 August 2012.

References

• Blair, Clay Hitler's U-Boat War The Hunted 1942–1945 Random House (1998) ISBN 0-679-45742-9
• Darwin, Peter: A Day-By-Day History: World War II, 2007 ISBN 978-1-84999-045-5
• Morison, Samuel Eliot History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (Volume I) The Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943 Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1947)
• Rohwer, Jürgen; Hummelchen, Gerhard (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
• U-boat.net