Chapter 72 Volume Two, Chapter Thirty, Disasters at Sea

Disguised surface raider HMS Scheer's voyage HMS Jarvis Bay rescues convoy HMS Scheer raids HMS Hipper again Accidental discovery of unbalanced pressure Submarine danger dominates the situation in the Northwest Passage Increased obstruction of divers Anxiety of distressing loss necessitated moving command of Western Passage from Plymouth to Liverpool Imports plummeted at Brody Flanders loss of sea near Flanders cancellation of grants to Ireland I addressed the President on December 13th The Admiralty's proposal stated that the situation is not good, laying a carpet of mines under the water as reinforcements and encouraging the Air Force and Coastal Forces to counter their counterattacks to win the final victory.

In December 1939, the Graf Spee was wrecked in battle off the mouth of the Platte, bringing to an abrupt end the first German attack on our ships on the open ocean.The fighting in Norway, as we have seen, temporarily crippled the German Navy in its own waters, and the remaining ships had to be retained for the execution of plans to attack Britain.Admiral Raeder was technically correct about German naval warfare, but he had difficulty getting his opinion adopted in the conference called by the Führer.He even once had to rebel against a proposal by the Army to disarm all his heavy ships and mount the cannon on remote batteries on the coast.During the summer he outfitted many of the merchant ships into disguised raid ships.Compared with our armed merchant cruisers, these ships are better equipped with weapons, generally faster, and have reconnaissance aircraft.Between April and June 1940, five such ships evaded our patrol ships into the Atlantic, while a sixth entered the Pacific through the treacherous Northeast Passage along the northern coasts of Russia and Siberia .With the assistance of a Russian icebreaker, the ship completed the voyage within two months and emerged in the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Sea in September.Admiral Raeder specified three purposes for the actions of these ships: first, to destroy or capture enemy ships; second, to disrupt the movement of enemy ships; Ships used for escort and patrol.These well-thought-out tactics have left us at a loss which is difficult to deal with.During the first two weeks of September, these five disguised raiders haunted our trade lanes.Two of them were in the Atlantic Ocean, two in the Indian Ocean, and the fifth entered the Pacific Ocean after laying mines in Auckland and New Zealand.Only played against them twice in the whole year.On 29 July, Raider E was attacked by the armed merchant ship Alcantara in the South Atlantic and escaped after a fruitless battle.In December another armed merchant ship, the Castle Caernarfon, attacked her off the mouth of the Platte River, but she escaped with a little damage.By the end of September 1940, these five raiders had sunk and captured thirty-six of our ships, totaling 235,000 tons.

At the end of October 1940, the pocket battleship Scheer was finally ready for commissioning.While plans to attack Britain were shelved, the ship left Germany on October 27 and entered the Atlantic through the Denmark Strait north of Iceland.A month later, the cruiser Hipper, armed with eight-inch guns, followed.The Scheer was ordered to attack the transport convoy in the North Atlantic, and the warships escorting this line had withdrawn to the Mediterranean for reinforcements at that time.Captain Crank determined that a convoy of convoys bound for England had left Halifax on October 27th, and he hoped to intercept this convoy around November 3rd.On the 5th, his plane reported that eight ships had been spotted in the southeast, and he set off in pursuit.At 2:27 p.m. he spotted a lone ship, the Maupan, which he sank after he had taken sixty-eight crew members aboard his man-of-war.

He threatened to prevent the Maupan from sending radio reports.At 4:50 in the afternoon, while they were busy with the Maupan, the masts of the thirty-seven-ship convoy H.X.Eighty-four appeared on the horizon. Among the convoy was the sea escort, the armed merchant cruiser HMS Jarvis Bay.The ship's commanding officer, Captain Fagan of the Royal Navy, immediately realized that the encounter was far from ominous.After radioing the report of encountering the enemy, his only thought was to prolong the circle with the enemy's pocket battleships as long as possible, so as to buy time for the transport fleet to disperse.As night fell, many ships had a chance to escape.When the convoy dispersed, the Jarvis Bay fired up to meet her mighty adversary.Scheer fired at a distance of eighteen thousand yards.

Shells from HMS Jarvis Bay's old six-inch guns fell short of the enemy ship.This kind of battle, which was helpless against the enemy, continued until 6:00 pm. The fire on the Jarvis Bay was blazing and completely out of control, so the enemy ship abandoned it and left. It finally sank around 8 o'clock, with the loss of more than 200 officers and soldiers.Among those killed was Colonel Fagan, who sank with his ship.He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in recognition of his gallantry, which is an honorable page in the history of the Royal Navy. The Scheer pursued the convoy without waiting for the battle to be over, but by this time the winter night was approaching.The ships had scattered, and it caught and sank only five before dark.Since its position has been exposed, it can no longer stay in this sea area. It expects that the powerful British fleet will immediately concentrate on this sea area.Thus, the great majority of this valuable convoy was saved by the heroic devotion of the Jarvis Bay.The spirit of a merchant mariner is not inferior to that of an escort ship.One ship, the oil tanker San Demetrius, carrying 7,000 tons of oil, was abandoned because it caught fire.The next morning, however, a part of the crew re-boarded the ship, put out the fire, and, after a heroic effort, put her, without compass or nautical equipment, into an English port, with the ship's valuable stores.However, a total of 47,000 tons of ships and 206 merchant marine crews were lost this time.

The Scheer made up her mind to leave her pursuers as far behind as possible, and galloped south; ten days later she encountered a German supply ship, where she replenished her fuel and stores.On November 24, it appeared in the West Indies, sank the Hobart Harbor bound for Curacao, and then turned back to the Cape Verde Islands.Thereafter, its activities spread to the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, until returning to Kiel after successfully crossing the Denmark Strait in April 1941.The results of her five-month cruise were: sixteen ships totaling 99,000 tons were sunk or captured. From June onwards, the army convoy fleet (codenamed W‧S‧【1】) sailed around the Cape of Good Hope every month under the protection of powerful escort ships, bound for the Middle East and India.At the same time, the traffic of many troop convoys between the ports in the Indian Ocean and the continuous flow of Canadian troops to England via the Atlantic also placed a great burden on the Navy, which was struggling to cope.Therefore, we cannot again form a search party like the one that went to several seas to search for the Graf Spee in 1939.Our cruisers are all deployed in the waters near the convergence points of the major shipping routes, and solo ships must navigate erratically and use the vastness of the ocean to protect themselves.

【1】I didn't know until after the war that the two words I used so many times were the words of the British Admiralty, which means Winston's special number. (W‧S‧is the abbreviation of Winston Specials. Translator) On Christmas Day 1940, the convoy W.S.5A, consisting of twenty troop transports and supply vessels bound for the Middle East, was received by the Scheer at about the time it reached the Azores. A month later followed the attack of the cruiser Hipper, which left Germany.Visibility was very low at that time, and the Hipper suddenly discovered that there were cruisers Berwick, Fortune and Dunedin among the escort ships.Hipper and Berwick engaged in a brief but violent fight, both sides were wounded.The Hipper escaped, and in spite of the best efforts of our Home Fleet and the H-Fleet which came to intercept her from Gibraltar, she fled in the fog to Brest; the only convoy was the imperial cavalry carrying over 30,000 men The ship must be sailed to Gibraltar for repairs.

We cannot but feel uneasy about ocean voyages.We know that there are countless enemy disguised merchant ships looting in the southern ocean.The pocket battleship Scheer is haunted and has gone into hiding.Hipper could sail from Brest at any moment, and the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would soon be on the move. The great disparity in strength between the number of enemy raiding ships and the ships placed by the Admiralty for defense against enemy ships and for the defense of wide sea routes has been shown in the first volume of this work.The Admiralty needs to be prepared at many vertices to protect thousands of merchant ships, so that, except for the convoys of troops, there is no guarantee that some lamentable disaster will not happen now and then.

Beyond these problems, there is a more serious danger.In war, it's the submarine hazard that really scares me.The enemy's invasion, even before the aerial combat, I decided would not be successful.After the victory in the air battle, the war is in our favor.We are able to drown or kill a loathsome enemy when it is to our advantage that the enemy clearly knows it is not to them.In such a cruel situation, we should be satisfied if we can fight this kind of war.But now our lifelines, even the ocean routes, especially the gateway to the British Isles, are threatened.I am far more apprehensive about the battle at sea than I am about the glorious air combat of the so-called Battle of Britain.

The Admiralty, with whom I had always been in close friendship and close connection, was equally apprehensive, especially since it was their first duty to keep our coasts inviolate, and our lifelines abroad open.The Navy has always regarded this as their highest, sacred, and inescapable duty.So let's weigh and think about that together.Not in the form of brilliant campaigns and brilliant achievements.It is expressed through statistics, charts and curves that are unknown to the people of the country and the public. How much will submarine warfare reduce our imports and ships?Will it reach a level that will destroy our existence?This is no place for posturing or sensationalism, just the slow, cool lines drawn on a chart that suggest we might be strangled.A brave army ready to attack the enemy, or a good plan for desert warfare, mean little in comparison.Nor is the noble and faithful spirit of the people helpful in this gloomy realm.Either we bring food, munitions and arms across the ocean from the New World and the colonies of the British Empire, or they don't come.Now that the entire French coastline, from Dunkirk to Bordeaux, was in German hands, they established bases for their submarines and their cooperating aircraft in the encroached territory without delay.From July onwards we were forced to abandon the sea lanes south of Ireland, where of course we would not be allowed to station fighters.All ships need to circumnavigate Northern Ireland to come in.Thank God, Northern Ireland has become a very faithful and reliable sentinel here.The Mersey and the Firth of Clyde became our lungs.On the east coast and in the English Channel, small boats continued to ply under increasing attack by enemy aircraft, fast torpedo boats, and mines.Since the route on the east coast cannot be changed, the transport fleet sailing between the Firth of Forth and London is equivalent to fighting almost every day.Very few big ships ventured on the east coast, not even one in the English Channel.

[1] German fast torpedo boats are equal to British coastal light patrol boats. During the twelve months from July 1940 to July 1941, the losses to our ships were severe, and by July 1941 we could say that the Great Britain in the Atlantic The battle has been won.After the United States entered the war, the loss was particularly severe before the convoy system was established on the east coast.But by then, we were no longer alone.Losses in the last six months of 1940 were very heavy, only slightly bettered by the high winter winds, and not many submarines were sunk.We have gained some advantage by expanding our depth charge arrangements and by changing our course from time to time; but, because of the threat of invasion, we must concentrate a strong navy in the strait, and the arrival of a large number of newly built antisubmarine ships is a great opportunity for land. successively.That shadow hangs over the Admiralty and others with knowledge of the situation.In the week leading up to September 22, the highest rate of losses since the war began was achieved, in fact exceeding our losses during the same period in 1917. As many as 27 ships were sunk, nearly 160,000 tons, many of which were ships of the transport fleet from Halifax.In October, while Scheer was still very active, another convoy of Atlantic convoys was attacked by submarines, sinking twenty of thirty-four ships. As November and December approached, the bends at the mouths of the Mersey and Clyde were far more important than any other factor in the war.At this time, of course, we can attack de Valera's Ireland and retake the southern ports with new weapons. I have often said that there is no reason for me to do so except to preserve my own existence.Just in case, the situation where you need to protect your own survival finally arrives.That's the only way to do it.But even such drastic measures can only be eased for a while.The only effective way is to guarantee free access to the Mersey and Clyde rivers. The few people who understand the situation, when they meet every day, you look at me and I look at you.Everyone knows that a diver who goes deep into the water cannot do without his snorkel every minute. If he sees a large group of sharks biting his snorkel, how will he feel?Especially when he has no hope of being pulled to the surface of the sea, he is even more anxious!For us, there is no sea.The 46 million divers who live on this very crowded island are engaged in extensive combat operations around the world, and the island is held to the bottom of the sea by nature and gravity.What would the shark do with his snorkel?How can I disperse or kill the shark? As early as the beginning of August, I had considered it impossible to control the Western Passage from the Mersey and Clyde Rivers by the headquarters at Plymouth. Prime Minister to Admiralty and First Sea Lord August 4, 1940 The repeated severe losses in the Northwest Passage are of great concern, and I hope that the Admiralty will work vigorously to try to address this problem, as it did with magnetic mines.In controlling these waterways, it seems that the efficiency is very insufficient.No doubt this was due to the lack of destroyers for defense against invasion.Please advise immediately of all available and used Destroyers, Submarine Clippers, Submarine Finder Trawlers, and Aircraft in this area.Who is responsible for the activities of the above ships?Was it commanded by the headquarters at Plymouth and by Admiral Naismith's staff?You have moved the entrance from the south to the north, and this raises the question: Is it proper to place the headquarters at Plymouth?Should a new first-line command be established on the Clyde, or should Admiral Naismith (commander in chief at Plymouth) be relocated there?In any case, we cannot go on like this.How is the southern mine-laying going?Is it possible to change these arrangements after a while, and use this short gap time to drive in several batches of transport fleets?This is just a suggestion in passing. With only one channel system, the danger is always greater.This danger cannot be overcome unless intensified efforts are made to concentrate more ships than the enemy for protection.Soon, the enemy will know that all forces should be concentrated here.This is very similar to the situation in Murray Firth after the minefields were laid earlier on the east coast.I have no doubt that the Admiralty will deal with it in good time, but it is clear that a new and great impetus is needed.Hope to see you again. I'm running into resistance.The Admiralty accepted my suggestion in September to move the headquarters from Plymouth to the north, quite rightly replacing the Clyde with the Mersey, but it took several months to bring the organization of the headquarters and Its war rooms and elaborate communications network were in place, and many temporary changes had been made.The new command, headed by Admiral Sir Percy Noble, who took office at Liverpool in February 1941, was large and growing.Since then, Liverpool has become almost our most important naval port.The need and benefits of the move were by now recognized. By the end of 1940, I was becoming more and more worried about the unfavorable sharp drop in imports. This is another consequence of being attacked by enemy submarines.Not only have we lost ships, but the precautions we have taken to avoid them have affected our entire merchant traffic.By this time, the few ports we could rely on were already overcrowded.The ports of entry and exit of all ships, and their voyages, are extended in time.Importing is the final test.During the week ending June 8, when the Battle of France was at its height, we imported 1,201,535 tons, not including oil.From this peak import figure fell to less than 750,000 tons per week by the end of July.Although there was a considerable increase during August, the weekly average was still down, and was just over 800,000 tons per week in the last three months of the year. Prime Minister to Admiralty and First Sea Lord December 3, 1940 The new calamity upon the Halifax shipping fleet should be carefully investigated.About a week ago we had heard that as many as thirteen submarines were ambushing these passages.Wouldn't it be nice to divert the transport fleet to the Minch Strait?Since the export convoy was delayed due to bad weather, and the escorts of the import convoy were therefore unable to reach the dangerous waters in time, wouldn't it be more prudent to divert to the Minch Strait? Prime Minister to Chancellor of the Exchequer December 5, 1940 As many of our ships are sunk off the coast of Ireland, and our inability to use Irish ports imposes a burden on our shipping and finances; call a conference to discuss what steps can be taken to lighten these burdens.The following ministers shall be invited to the meeting: Trade, Shipping, Agriculture, Food and Dominions.If everyone agrees in principle, a general plan should be drawn up so that action can start as soon as possible, together with a schedule and a program of progress.At this stage, there is no need to consider the issues of foreign affairs and defense.These issues will be dealt with later.An essential first step is to formulate practical and sound plans, thoughtful in content, so that we suffer less than others. Prime Minister to Transport Secretary December 13, 1940 Thank you very much for your letter of December 3rd concerning steel.I hope to take the necessary steps to implement your proposal. Under the current circumstances, the company has been unwilling to unload the goods for a long time, resulting in a backlog of trucks. I think this is intolerable, and of course measures should be taken to prevent this kind of thing. The example shows that the average time of entry, loading, unloading, and departure at Liverpool for all ships not carrying oil has increased from twelve and a half days in February to fifteen and a half days in July and nineteen and a half days in October.At Bristol it increased from nine and a half to fourteen and a half days, but at Glasgow it remained twelve.Improving the situation appears to be the most crucial aspect of the whole situation. Prime Minister to Transport Secretary December 13, 1940 I found that the import of oil in September and October is only half of that in May and June, and only two-thirds of our consumption.I know that there is no shortage of tankers, and that the decrease in imports is the result of parts of the south and west coasts where tankers are not allowed to enter port. Therefore, many tankers are temporarily moored on the Clyde River, and others are in Harbin, Nova Scotia. Lyfax Harbour.Until recently, some tankers were allowed to sail to the south and east coasts, so oil imports increased in November. From your predecessor [1]'s reply to my August 26th memorandum, I understand that he was satisfied with the preparations for the import of oil from West Coast ports.His hopes didn't seem to come true. [1] Sir John Lees.He later became Lord Lees and became Secretary of State for Works and Building on 3 October 1940. In order to deal with this situation, two approaches can be followed.Either increase our current imports by putting tankers at greater risk by importing from ports on the south and east coasts, or we continue to use our stocks and replenish them when future west coast facilities are ready to handle oil , while tolerating the resulting inconvenience.I hope to discuss with the Secretary of the Navy how to adopt these two approaches. A copy of this Memorandum has been sent separately to the Secretary of the Admiralty. prime minister to secretary of the navy December 14, 1940 Please send me a detailed report on the American destroyers, showing their many shortcomings and the little help we have been able to get so far.Hope to send the report in the near future for consideration. Prime Minister to Admiralty and First Sea Lord December 27, 1940 What arrangements have you made regarding the launch of expendable aircraft from ships in the export convoy?I have heard that there is a plan to catapult such aircraft from tankers, and there are almost always several tankers in each convoy.They could attack the Fokker/Ulf aircraft, land at sea and rescue the pilot, depending on the situation. What are your thoughts on this plan? As we shall see in the next volume, this plan was very fruitful.As early as early 1941 ships capable of launching fighter jets to attack Fokker/Ulf aircraft had been built. Prime Minister to Transport Secretary December 27, 1940 It is said that the loss of two-fifths of our shipping capacity is due to the time wasted in the ports of England when ships enter, leave, and load their cargo.Now that we have so many ships on the Mersey and Clyde, and must expect increasing enemy attacks on them, this question appears to be the most dangerous aspect of our whole line. Please write to explain: (A) Facts. (b) What are you doing now and what are you going to do about it. (c) How would you like others to help. prime minister to secretary of the navy December 29, 1940 These (ships luring submarines)[1] have so far been a great disappointment in the war.The Admiralty should consider the question of whether to repurpose them for other purposes.I imagined that there must be many skilled sailors on these ships.Please make a list of the names of these ships, their tonnage, speed, etc.When they cruise, can they carry troops, or carry munitions? [1] A new type of vessel, equivalent to the Q-boat used in 1914-1918: the Q-boat was effectively used in the 1914-1918 war to lure submarines so that wreck it.In this war, the situation has changed so much that they are not as effective as they used to be. Under these pressures, I could not have been more indignant at the denial of our use of the southern ports of Ireland. Prime Minister to Chancellor of the Exchequer December 1, 1940 Ireland's actions have put us in a tight spot and forced us to rethink our grants (to Ireland).We can't say we're going to subsidize them until we die.We should use this money to build or buy more ships from the United States, because we have sunk too many ships off Brody Flanders. Please tell me how these grants will be stopped, and what retaliation the Irish will take financially, knowing that we are not worried about them cutting off our food supply, because it saves our help in de Valera through Germany. Large quantities of manure and fodder were brought into Ireland through the blockades established there.At present, it is not necessary to list all the pros and cons, but only to explain what we can do financially and what the consequences will be.Hope to see you tomorrow. Prime Minister to General Ismay, Transfer to the Chiefs of Staff Committee December 3, 1940 I am sending you and each of the Chiefs of Staff of the three services a paper on Ireland.The Chancellor of the Exchequer also agreed, and there could be no doubt that the grant could cease shortly after notification. Now we have to consider the military response.If they invite the Germans to their ports, they will divide the Irish people, and we must stop the Germans.They will try to remain neutral, and they will bring war to themselves. What does it matter if they take down all the telecommunications and police installations, since we can cut off the telecommunications link between England and Southern Ireland?Will this situation be serious?Since the submarine can sail for about 30 days at a time, the limiting factor is not the need to replenish fuel and supplies but the crew is eager to go home and the submarine needs to be repaired, so they let the German submarine go to the port on the west coast of Ireland to replenish fuel and supplies. What a big deal ?Please let us know your thoughts on these issues and any other issues that come to your mind. I think the president should also be made aware of and agree to this policy. former navy personnel to president roosevelt December 13, 1940 North Atlantic shipments remain our greatest concern.Hitler will undoubtedly increase submarine and air attacks on our shipping, and the range of attacks will be deeper and deeper into the Atlantic Ocean.Our difficulties, owing to our inability to use the ports and airfields of Ireland, have overwhelmed our small fleet.So far, only a few of your fifty destroyers have been able to participate in the battle, because they have been out of service for a long time, and of course there will be many problems when encountering Atlantic storms.I am arranging to make a very detailed technical report on how the old destroyers should be repaired and improved in order to make them fit for present duty, and this report may be of use to your own older destroyers. At the same time, we were so overwhelmed at sea that we could no longer, as before, risk the enemy's attack by sending 400,000 tons of fodder and manure to Ireland.We need these tonnages to ship our own supplies, and at the same time we don't need the grain that Ireland sends us.We must concentrate on what matters most.The Cabinet proposes to inform de Valera that in the present situation we cannot continue to supply him.Of course, he would have plenty of food to feed his people, but he would not be able to maintain the prosperous trade as it is now.I'm sorry for this, but we also have to think about our own survival, and use our hard-earned freight for matters of life and death.In this way, we can breathe a sigh of relief, but also make him more willing to consider the common interests.Let me know in the utmost secrecy how you would react if we were compelled to concentrate our tonnage on the supply of Great Britain.We also believe that, under the present circumstances, it is no longer possible to give Irish agricultural producers substantial subsidies as in the past.You also understand that while de Valera stood by and watched us being trapped by the enemy, we risked plane and submarine attacks to supply and subsidize Ireland, our merchant mariners and the general public The public opinion is very disapproving of this. One evening in December I held a meeting downstairs in the operational command room, with only the Admiralty and sailors present.The dangers and difficulties, all too familiar to those at the meeting, had suddenly intensified.I think back to February and March 1917, when the curve in the number of submarines sinking my ships was on the rise, and despite the Royal Navy's efforts to cope, it was doubted that the Allies would be able to fight for a few more months.There is no more convincing illustration of the present danger than the plan suggested by the admirals.We must place an overwhelming priority on focusing our efforts on opening a way out to the ocean at any cost.To this end, they proposed laying a layer of mines like a carpet from the seaward end of the northern strait connecting the Mersey River and the Clyde River to the line at a depth of 100 fathoms in the northwest of Northern Ireland.From the waters near these coasts to the ocean, lay underwater minefields three miles wide and sixty miles long.Assuming there is no other way, then, even if it seriously affects field operations or the need to rearm our troops, all present explosives should be concentrated on this task, laying this layer of mines like a carpet. Let me talk about this approach.Tether thousands of trigger mines to the bottom of the sea so that they stay within thirty-five feet of the surface.On this channel, cargo ships coming to Britain or ships going overseas to fight can come and go without the keels of the ships touching the mines.But submarines that trespass into this minefield will be blown up immediately; before long, they will find out that it is not for the better.This is the best defense.In any case, it's better than being helpless.This is the last resort.That night, I gave preliminary approval and instructions to the proposed detailed plan.This policy means that the diver then has nothing to worry about other than his snorkel, but he has other things to do. At the same time, we also ordered RAF Coastal Command to control the mouths of the Rivers Mersey and Clyde and the surrounding areas of Northern Ireland.In carrying out this task, there must be no compromise.It should be implemented as an overriding priority.Bombing Germany came second.All applicable aircraft, pilots, and equipment should be concentrated on counterattacking the enemy, with fighters attacking enemy bombers, and in these important strait areas, surface ships with the assistance of bombers attacking enemy submarines.Many other important projects have been pushed aside, postponed or not undertaken.We must seek breath at all costs. In the coming months we shall see to what extent the Navy and RAF Coastal Command have succeeded in executing this counterattack plan; Enemy Heinkel III bombers, how we smothered enemy submarines in those seas where they tried to suffocate us.Suffice it to say here that the success of the RAF Coastal Command eliminates the need for a carpet of mines under the water.Before the event had any serious effect on our wartime economy, unhealthy defensive thinking and planning had evaporated, and we had once again cleared the way to our island with sharp weapons.