“Within two minutes of detecting the enemy submarine, Chambly released a pattern of five depth charges that damaged U-501, forcing her to the surface a mere 400 yards off Moose Jaw’s bow.”
By James Brun
IN THE LATE summer of 1941, one of the Second World War’s worst convoy disasters played out in the North Atlantic. Yet amidst the bloody chaos of that deadly crossing, which saw 16 merchant ships sunk by German U-boats over a three-day period, with another four damaged, there was one minor victory for the Allies: the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) managed to destroy its first German submarine of the Second World War — U-501.
It began in September, when 67 merchant ships comprising Slow Convoy 42 (SC-42) departed Sydney, Nova Scotia, bound for the British port of Liverpool. The convoy was escorted by His Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Skeena, Orillia, Kenogami and Alberni.
Skeena, a River-class destroyer under command of Lieutenant Commander James Hibbard, boasted an experienced crew, well adapted to convoy operations in the North Atlantic. Orillia, Kenogami, and Alberni were Flower-class corvettes, built quickly at the onset of war to bolster escort forces for the deadly North Atlantic run. As fate would have it, SC-42’s convoy routing across the ocean navigated them directly into the jaws of the fourteen-submarine Markgraf wolf pack.[1]
Early in SC-42’s transit, British intelligence decrypted intercepts from German U-boat high command detailing a massing of submarines that could attack SC-42. This intelligence was sent to Naval Headquarters in Ottawa. Reports of the convoy’s perilous position were also received by the Newfoundland Force in St. John’s.[2] In response to the threat, Western Approaches Command in Liverpool ordered a task group of British destroyers to detach from another well-guarded westbound convoy, refuel in Iceland, and reinforce the Canadian warships of the 24th Escort Group, supporting SC-42. Commander James “Chummy” Prentice, the officer commanding the Newfoundland Escort Force’s Training Group, was preparing to put to sea for a “work-up” program when he read reports detailing threats to SC-42.
Prentice sought permission from Commodore Leonard Murray, commander of the Newfoundland Escort Force, to reinforce the eastbound Canadian convoy. Prentice, in command of HMCS Chambly, sailed in company with HMCS Moose Jaw, under command of Lieutenant Fred Grubb, to strengthen the escort group.
On Sept. 9, SC-42 was sighted by U-85 which signalled the Allied convoy’s position to the other submarines in the wolf pack. Late that evening, U-432 engaged the convoy, firing torpedoes into the merchant ship Muneric. Under the weight of her heavy cargo, she sank almost immediately with all hands. The wolf pack closed for further attack, creating disorder amongst the merchantmen and their inadequate escort force. After the loss of Muneric, the destroyer Skeena and smaller corvettes collapsed their defensive screen around the merchant ships in an effort to protect them from the onslaught of enemy attacks. Notwithstanding, within hours four more merchant ships lay at the bottom of the North Atlantic.[3]
As the wolf pack of German U-boats pressed their attack, Lieutenant Commander Hibbard commanded Skeena through the convoy vessels, responding to merchant ship distress calls while the corvettes pulled sailors from the icy and unforgiving seas. SC-42’s escorts remained focused on rescue efforts rather than fighting the U-boats. That would change when Chambly and Moose Jaw entered the fray.
Upon their arrival at the scene, Chambly and Moose Jaw sighted signal rockets fired from the merchant ships being attacked, and closed them for action. Prentice commanded Chambly and Moose Jaw to approach in the darkness at top speed, with the moonlight on the far side of the beleaguered convoy.[4] Chambly’s anti-submarine detection equipment, known as ASDIC, identified a submarine contact closing her position from ahead, and Prentice ordered his ship to attack. Within two minutes of detecting the enemy submarine, Chambly released a pattern of five depth charges that damaged U-501, forcing her to the surface a mere 400 yards off Moose Jaw’s bow.[5]
Moose Jaw engaged the surfaced boat with her four-inch gun, before the weapon jammed. The crew then employed machine guns to press the attack. With its main gun out of action, Grubb pulled Moose Jaw alongside the U-boat, which was now dead in the water and rolling violently in the seas and yelled for the submarine to surrender.
U-501’s captain made a “magnificent leap” from his deck onto Moose Jaw’s waist, and members of his crew moved to follow.[6] Grubb quickly powered Moose Jaw away from the submarine, turned in a tight circle, and rammed the U-boat, managing a glancing blow, all while continuing to pepper the submarine with machinegun fire to prevent the German submariners from accessing its fitted deck gun.
Meanwhile, Chambly pulled close to the U-boat to launch an armed boarding party under the command of Lt Ted Simmons, Chambly’s first lieutenant.[7] The boarding party scrambled aboard the submarine and ordered the German sailors to return below decks. They refused, at which point, Simmons opened the hatch to see water surging through the control room below. Unable to salvage the sinking submarine, the Canadians went into the water along with the surviving enemy crew. Chambly plucked eight Germans from the water; Moose Jaw saved 29.[8] Eleven of the U-boat’s crew were killed during the action or drowned. One member of the boarding party also perished: Stoker William I. Brown was never seen again. He was thought to have been pulled under by the submarine as she sank.
At the time of her demise, U-501 had only been in commission for four months. The submarine was destroyed while attempting her first attack, during her first wartime patrol with an inexperienced crew. U-501 was the first submarine thought to be destroyed by a Canadian ship, until the British Admiralty reassessed an engagement that had occurred a year earlier, awarding HMCS Ottawa and HMS Harvester a kill for their attack on the Italian submarine Faa di Bruno.[9]
Ultimately, SC-42 was defended by a small RCN escort group. In all, the convoy faced 14 U-boats over a period of 66 hours until British surface and air support arrived to prevent further attacks. Despite the RCN’s best efforts, merchant losses were horrific, with 16 merchant ships being sent to the bottom.[10]
The battle for convoy SC-42 was one of the bloodiest battles of the Atlantic campaign, and led the Allies to strengthen future escort groups by adding British and American warships to reinforce RCN escorted convoys throughout the remainder of 1941.[11]
Despite the losses suffered by SC-42, masters of the convoy’s surviving ships communicated their unanimous appreciation of RCN escorts to defend them from “heavy and concentrated attacks made on the convoy by the enemy” to Admiral Noble, commander-in-chief, Western Approaches, upon their arrival in Loch Ewe on Sept. 17, 1941.[12]
U-501 was the first of four German submarines Commander James “Chummy” Prentice would sink throughout the war. For his actions during the battle, “Chummy” was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Lieutenant Ted Simmons, Chambly’s first lieutenant, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Later in the war, while commanding HMCS Port Arthur, Simmons would lead his crew in the destruction of the Italian submarine Tritone off the coast of Algeria. Lieutenant Fred Grubb was mentioned in despatches.
The RCN would ultimately destroy 33 enemy submarines during the Second World War.
James Brun is the commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Navy vessel HMCS Yellowknife and regular contributor to MilitaryHistoryNow.com. For his daily tweets of rare and fascinating World War Two photos, follow him at @lebrunjames81
[1] Douglas, W. A. B., Roger Sarty, Michael Whitby, Robert H. Caldwell, William Johnston, and William G. P. Rawling. No Higher Purpose: the Official Operational History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War, 1939-1943 Volume II, Part I. (St. Catharines, ON: Vanwell Publishing, 2002), 237.
[2] McKee, Fraser, and Robert A. Darlington. The Canadian Naval Chronicle: 1939-1945. (St. Catharines, ON: Vanwell Publishing, 996) 34.
[3] Milner, Marc. Canada’s Navy: The First Century (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999) 95.
[4] Schull, Joseph. The Far Distant Ships: An Official Account of Canadian Naval Operations in the Second World War. (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1961), 83.
[5] McKee and Darlington, Canadian Naval Chronicle, 35
[6] Douglas et al, No Higher Purpose, 246.
[7] McKee and Darlington, Canadian Naval Chronicle, 35.
[8] McKee and Darlington, Canadian Naval Chronicle, 35.
[9] Milner, Canada’s Navy, 88.
[10] Milner, Canada’s Navy, 96.
[11] McKee and Darlington, Canadian Naval Chronicle, 36.
[12] Douglas et al, No Higher Purpose, 256.
