Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Convoy OB 318
OB 318 was a North Atlantic convoy which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. During Operation Primrose Royal Navy convoy escorts HMS Bulldog, Broadway and Aubrietia captured U-110 with an intact Enigma machine and a wealth of signals intelligence, which led to the Allied breakthrough into cracking the German naval Enigma code.
By the spring of 1941 the battle of the Atlantic had started to increase German U-boat losses. This forced Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz to change his strategy and he now moved his wolf packs further west, in order to catch the convoys without their anti-submarine escort. OB 318 was a west-bound convoy of 38 ships, either in ballast or carrying trade goods, and sailed from Liverpool on 2 May 1941 bound for ports in North America. The convoy commodore was R.Adm. WB MacKenzie in SS Colonial. It was escorted by 7 EG, an escort group led by HMS Westcott (Cdr. Bockett-Pugh) and comprising ten warships; these were joined in mid-ocean by 3 EG, a force of eight warships led by HMS Bulldog (Cdr J Baker-Cresswell). Opposing them was a force of nineteen U-boats, though in the event only six were in a position to pose a threat. One of those was U-110 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp. Lemp notoriously had been in command of U-30 in 1939, which had controversially sunk the 13,581-ton passenger ship Athenia.
OB 318 was sighted on 7 May 1941 by U-94, which reported its position and commenced shadowing while U-boat Command (BdU) alerted other U-boats in the area. There were six U-boats within striking distance, and these were ordered to close with U-94's position. Meanwhile, during 7 May the escort force was joined by five ships from Iceland and the destroyers of 3 EG, which were to take over escort duties from the Western Approaches to a dispersal point at 34 West, a location south of Greenland. Three ships and the destroyers of 7 EG left for Iceland during 7 May, leaving the escort force still at ten warships.
At nightfall on 7 May U-94 attacked the convoy, sinking two ships. Her skipper, Herbert Kuppisch, was able to enter the convoy by submerging ahead of the convoy and letting the lead escorts pass. He was then able to fire at close range on the ships in the centre of the convoy, hitting Ixion and Eastern Star. However U-94 was found by the sloop Rochester and counter-attacked by her, Bulldog and Amazon for four hours. U-94 was damaged and forced to retire, though she was able to effect repairs later and continue her patrol.
On 8 May the remaining vessels of 3 EG, three corvettes and two trawlers, with the armed merchant cruiser Ranpura in company, joined the convoy, and the remaining ships of 7 EG departed.
On the evening of 8 May U-110 and U-201 also made contact, tracking the convoy until morning. In an unusual move, the two skippers made rendezvous in order to co-ordinate their attack; Lemp in U-110 would make a submerged attack from ahead, while Adalbert Schnee in U-201 would do the same from the rear. It was expected that the escort would have departed by this time, leaving the convoy vulnerable to their assault. During the morning of 9 May U-110 moved into position and commenced her attack. Lemp was surprised to encounter the escort still in place, but succeeded in penetrating the convoy, sinking two ships. Lemp was targeting a tanker with his fourth torpedo tube when Aubrietia spotted the periscope and then located U-110 with ASDIC. Aubrietia gave the alert to other ships while she unloaded and dropped a pattern of depth charges. U-110 performed a deep dive and managed to survive the initial onslaught. Aubrietia was joined by the destroyers Bulldog and Broadway, and the attack was delivered with such force that Lemp was forced to surface. As he came up a dozen men on U-110 rushed to man the guns but were shot by the waiting British ships. Lemp also saw that Bulldog was preparing to ram so Lemp gave the hurried order to abandon ship. Commander Joe Baker-Cresswell decided to try to capture the U-boat instead and hove to. The survivors went over the side including Lemp. It turned out that Lemp realising that Bulldog was not going to ram had decided to go back and try to destroy the equipment along with the code books but he failed and died in the attempt. U-110 itself survived the attack, but was seriously damaged and was taking on water.
Bulldog soon had pulled alongside and Sub-Lieutenant David Balme led a boarding party, and began stripping her of what they could find. Balme's team soon began to take off the valuables, and these turned out to be codebooks, charts, ciphers and most significantly, a complete and undamaged Enigma machine. The crew hadn't any idea what it was they had captured. Before they transferred the equipment Bulldog had to depart, leaving the U-boat with the prize crew as it had received a message of another submarine in the area. Balme and his men were left on board U-110 for over an hour before Bulldog returned.
Meanwhile, Schnee in U-201 made his attack, sinking one ship and damaging another. He was also counter-attacked, by Amazon, Nigella and St Apollo, and forced to retire. He was left damaged.
Hub AI
Convoy OB 318 AI simulator
(@Convoy OB 318_simulator)
Convoy OB 318
OB 318 was a North Atlantic convoy which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. During Operation Primrose Royal Navy convoy escorts HMS Bulldog, Broadway and Aubrietia captured U-110 with an intact Enigma machine and a wealth of signals intelligence, which led to the Allied breakthrough into cracking the German naval Enigma code.
By the spring of 1941 the battle of the Atlantic had started to increase German U-boat losses. This forced Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz to change his strategy and he now moved his wolf packs further west, in order to catch the convoys without their anti-submarine escort. OB 318 was a west-bound convoy of 38 ships, either in ballast or carrying trade goods, and sailed from Liverpool on 2 May 1941 bound for ports in North America. The convoy commodore was R.Adm. WB MacKenzie in SS Colonial. It was escorted by 7 EG, an escort group led by HMS Westcott (Cdr. Bockett-Pugh) and comprising ten warships; these were joined in mid-ocean by 3 EG, a force of eight warships led by HMS Bulldog (Cdr J Baker-Cresswell). Opposing them was a force of nineteen U-boats, though in the event only six were in a position to pose a threat. One of those was U-110 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp. Lemp notoriously had been in command of U-30 in 1939, which had controversially sunk the 13,581-ton passenger ship Athenia.
OB 318 was sighted on 7 May 1941 by U-94, which reported its position and commenced shadowing while U-boat Command (BdU) alerted other U-boats in the area. There were six U-boats within striking distance, and these were ordered to close with U-94's position. Meanwhile, during 7 May the escort force was joined by five ships from Iceland and the destroyers of 3 EG, which were to take over escort duties from the Western Approaches to a dispersal point at 34 West, a location south of Greenland. Three ships and the destroyers of 7 EG left for Iceland during 7 May, leaving the escort force still at ten warships.
At nightfall on 7 May U-94 attacked the convoy, sinking two ships. Her skipper, Herbert Kuppisch, was able to enter the convoy by submerging ahead of the convoy and letting the lead escorts pass. He was then able to fire at close range on the ships in the centre of the convoy, hitting Ixion and Eastern Star. However U-94 was found by the sloop Rochester and counter-attacked by her, Bulldog and Amazon for four hours. U-94 was damaged and forced to retire, though she was able to effect repairs later and continue her patrol.
On 8 May the remaining vessels of 3 EG, three corvettes and two trawlers, with the armed merchant cruiser Ranpura in company, joined the convoy, and the remaining ships of 7 EG departed.
On the evening of 8 May U-110 and U-201 also made contact, tracking the convoy until morning. In an unusual move, the two skippers made rendezvous in order to co-ordinate their attack; Lemp in U-110 would make a submerged attack from ahead, while Adalbert Schnee in U-201 would do the same from the rear. It was expected that the escort would have departed by this time, leaving the convoy vulnerable to their assault. During the morning of 9 May U-110 moved into position and commenced her attack. Lemp was surprised to encounter the escort still in place, but succeeded in penetrating the convoy, sinking two ships. Lemp was targeting a tanker with his fourth torpedo tube when Aubrietia spotted the periscope and then located U-110 with ASDIC. Aubrietia gave the alert to other ships while she unloaded and dropped a pattern of depth charges. U-110 performed a deep dive and managed to survive the initial onslaught. Aubrietia was joined by the destroyers Bulldog and Broadway, and the attack was delivered with such force that Lemp was forced to surface. As he came up a dozen men on U-110 rushed to man the guns but were shot by the waiting British ships. Lemp also saw that Bulldog was preparing to ram so Lemp gave the hurried order to abandon ship. Commander Joe Baker-Cresswell decided to try to capture the U-boat instead and hove to. The survivors went over the side including Lemp. It turned out that Lemp realising that Bulldog was not going to ram had decided to go back and try to destroy the equipment along with the code books but he failed and died in the attempt. U-110 itself survived the attack, but was seriously damaged and was taking on water.
Bulldog soon had pulled alongside and Sub-Lieutenant David Balme led a boarding party, and began stripping her of what they could find. Balme's team soon began to take off the valuables, and these turned out to be codebooks, charts, ciphers and most significantly, a complete and undamaged Enigma machine. The crew hadn't any idea what it was they had captured. Before they transferred the equipment Bulldog had to depart, leaving the U-boat with the prize crew as it had received a message of another submarine in the area. Balme and his men were left on board U-110 for over an hour before Bulldog returned.
Meanwhile, Schnee in U-201 made his attack, sinking one ship and damaging another. He was also counter-attacked, by Amazon, Nigella and St Apollo, and forced to retire. He was left damaged.