Monthly
Loss Summary: 34 British, Allied and neutral ships
of
86,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN
- JUNE 1941
Malta - With
German
forces now in Greece and Crete, the problems of
supplying
Malta were even greater. From airfields in Crete
as well
as Libya, the Luftwaffe and Italian Air force were
as
close to the eastern convoy routes from
Alexandria, as
Sardinia and Sicily were to the western ones
through the
Strait of Gibraltar. Nevertheless the men and
material
were fought through for the defence of Malta and
its use
as an offensive base. In the one month of June
alone,
carrier
Ark
Royal
once on her own, at other
times accompanied by
Furious
or
Victorious,
flew off more than 140 aircraft
for Malta. Meanwhile submarines carried in
urgently
needed fuel and stores.
Middle East -
Concerned about German influence in Vichy French
Lebanon and Syria, British, Dominion
and Free
French forces invaded on the 8th from points in
Palestine, Jordan and later from Iraqi territory.
The
Free French entered Damascus on the 21st, but
strong
resistance continued into July. During the
campaign a
Royal Navy cruiser and destroyer force, including
cruisers Australian
Perth
and New Zealand
Leander,
provided close support on the Army's
flank. They also fought a series of actions with
Vichy
French warships as well as German aircraft. A
number of
British destroyers were damaged, but a French
destroyer
and submarine sunk. 16th - Fleet Air Arm
torpedo-bombers flying from Cyprus sank the large
destroyer "CHEVALIER PAUL".
25th
- Submarine "Parthian" torpedoed submarine
"SOUFFLEUR".
North Africa -
Another unsuccessful British offensive to relieve
Tobruk
started from Sollum on the 15th (Operation
'Battleaxe').
Within two days the operation was called off. A
heavy
price had to be paid for the supply of besieged
Tobruk by
the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships
involved.
All trips took place under continual threat of
German and
Italian aircraft attack. 24th - Sloop
"AUCKLAND" was lost off Tobruk.
30th -
Australian destroyer
"WATERHEN"
was bombed and sunk off Bardia.
27th - Submarine
"Triumph" on patrol off the Egyptian coast sank
the Italian submarine "SALPA".
Monthly Loss Summary: 3
British or Allied
merchant ships of 9,000 tons
JULY 1941
ATLANTIC
- JULY 1941
Iceland - US
forces
landed in Iceland to take over the defence of the
island
and surrounding seas from Britain.
Battle
of the Atlantic - Continuous
escort was now being provided for convoys to North
America and from West Africa. Three new convoys
were
introduced: (1) UK/North America Fast, ONF, (2)
UK/North
America Slow, ONS - the two replacing the Outward
Bound,
OB convoys, and (3) UK/Sierra Leone, OS. Air cover
from
Ireland, Iceland and Newfoundland was improving,
but RAF
Coastal Command lacked the aircraft to cover the
mid-Atlantic gap. It was in this area, some 800
miles
long that U-boats were now concentrating. Between
January
and June 1941, North Atlantic merchant shipping
losses
had averaged 300,000 tons per month. From July to
December 1941 they were considerably down at an
average
level of 104,000 tons. The reasons were varied -
evasive
convoy routing and more effective aircraft
deployment
from the 'Ultra’ work, introduction of radars and
high frequency
direction finding (HF/DF), the
availability of more escorts, and continuous
escort.
Losses due to German aircraft were also well down
as many
were transferred to the Russian front.
Monthly Loss Summary:
23 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 98,000 tons in the Atlantic
from all
causes
EUROPE
- JULY 1941
Eastern Front -
German forces advanced in all sectors, and in the
Centre
captured Minsk, capital of Byelorussia and
surrounded
Smolensk on the road to Moscow. Russian losses in
men and
material were immense. On the 12th, an
Anglo-Soviet
Mutual Assistance Pact was signed in Moscow. Both
countries agreed not to seek separate peace
negotiations
with the Axis powers.
19th - Submarine
"UMPIRE",
working up and on passage north
with an East Coast convoy, was rammed and sunk off
Cromer
by an armed trawler escorting a southbound convoy.
German Heavy Ships
- RAF Bomber Command badly damaged battlecruiser
"Scharnhorst" at La Pallice, France on the 24th.
Heavy cruiser "Prinz Eugen" was also damaged in
July. With
"Gneisenau" in Brest and "Lutzow"
back in Germany, both undergoing repairs, the main
big
ship threat was from the new battleship
"Tirpitz".
Monthly Loss Summary:
18 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 15,000 tons in UK
waters.
MEDITERRANEAN
- JULY 1941
5th - Submarine
"Torbay" on patrol in the Aegean Sea sank
Italian submarine "JANTINA".
11th - On the
Tobruk Run, destroyer
"DEFENDER"
was bombed by
German or Italian aircraft and went down off Sidi
Barrani.
Middle East - An
Allied/Vichy French armistice signed in the middle
of the
month brought the fighting in Lebanon and Syria to
an
end.
20th - Two more
British submarines fell victim to effective
Italian
anti-submarine forces during convoy attacks in
July - the
first was "UNION"
to torpedo boat "Circe"
off Pantelleria. 30th - The second was
"CACHALOT"
while on passage
from Malta to Alexandria, rammed by torpedo boat
"Papa".
21st-24th,
Malta Convoy,
Operation
'Substance' -
'Substance'
set
out from Gibraltar with six transports covered by
Force H with
Ark
Royal,
battlecruiser
Renown,
cruisers and destroyers. Battleship Nelson,
three cruisers and more destroyers
reinforced Force H from the Home Fleet. On the
23rd,
south of Sardinia, sustained Italian air attacks
started.
Cruiser
Manchester
was hit and destroyer "FEARLESS"
sunk by aircraft torpedoes. Next
day the transports reached Malta safely. On the
26th
the Italians launched an attack on Grand Harbour
with
explosive motor-boats, human torpedoes and
aircraft, but
failed to reach the recently arrived ships. By the
27th,
Force H and a return empty convoy were in
Gibraltar.
During this operation, Mediterranean Fleet carried
out
diversionary manoeuvres in the eastern basin.
Monthly Loss Summary: 2
British or Allied
merchant ships of 8,000 tons
AUGUST
1941
ATLANTIC
- AUGUST 1941
United States -
Winston Churchill crossed the Atlantic in
battleship
Prince
of Wales to meet President Roosevelt
off Argentia, Newfoundland between the 9th and
12th.
Together they drafted the Atlantic
Charter setting out their aims for war
and
peace. This was signed by Britain, the United
States and
13 Allied governments in September. Discussion
also took
place on US Navy involvement in the Battle of the
Atlantic, which initially revolved around the
supply of
US forces in Iceland.
3rd - Southwest
of
Ireland, ships of the 7th Escort Group escorting
Sierra
Leone/UK convoy SL81 - destroyers "Wanderer"
and Norwegian "St Albans” and corvette
"Hydrangea", sank "U-401". 12th - Corvette
"PICOTEE" with the 4th Escort Group
accompanying convoy ONS4 was detached to search
for a
reported U-boat south of Iceland, and disappeared,
sunk
without trace by "U-568". 25th - South
of Iceland, armed trawler "Vascama" and a RAF
Catalina of No 209 Squadron sank "U-452".
V
& W-class destroyer HMS Westcott in 1943.
Note the cluttered deck and array of aerials
(CyberHeritage)
7th - Submarine
"Severn" on patrol for U-boats attacking HG
convoys west of Gibraltar, torpedoed and sank
Italian
submarine "BIANCHI".
19th-23rd,
Attacks on UK/Gibraltar convoy
OG71 - A
total of nine
merchantmen were lost. Of the
ships with the 5th Escort Group Norwegian
destroyer
"BATH"
was sunk on the 19th by
"U-204" or "U-201", and corvette "ZINNIA" by
"U-564" to the west
of Portugal on the 23rd.
27th -
Capture of German
"U-570" - "U-570" on patrol south of
Iceland
surfaced and was damaged by depth charges from an
RAF
Hudson of No 269 Squadron, piloted by Sqn Ldr
Thompson.
She soon surrendered and was towed into Iceland.
After
refitting, "U-570" was commissioned into the
Royal Navy as HMS Graph.
German Raiders -
"Orion" returned to France from the Indian
Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope. In 16 months she
had
accounted for 9 1/2 ships of 60,000 tons, some in
co-operation with "Komet".
Russian
Convoys - The first Russian convoy,
'Dervish', sailed from Iceland with seven ships
and
arrived safely. Carrier
Argus
accompanied
them to fly off Hurricanes for Kola.
Monthly Loss Summary:
25 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 84,000 tons in the Atlantic
from all
causes, 3 escorts; 3 German and 1 Italian U-boats
EUROPE
- AUGUST 1941
Eastern Front -
The
attack North on Leningrad continued. In
the Centre
Smolensk was taken, but the drive on Moscow
halted.
Instead German forces were directed South
to help
capture Kiev in the Ukraine.
Monthly Loss
Summary: 11 British, Allied and neutral ships of
20,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN
- AUGUST 1941
Malta
Convoy, Operation 'Style' - Early in
the month, two cruisers,
cruiser-minelayer
Manxman
and two destroyers
successfully carried reinforcements and supplies
from
Gibraltar to Malta. On the way, cruiser
Hermione
rammed and sank Italian submarine "TEMBIEN"
southwest of Sicily on the 2nd.
18th - Submarine
"P-32"
was lost on mines off Tripoli as
she attempted to attack a convoy entering the
port.
"P-33"
was also lost around the same time
in the same area, also possibly on mines.
26th - As an
Italian battlefleet returned from a sortie against
Force
H, submarine “Triumph” torpedoed and damaged
heavy cruiser "Bolzano" north of Sicily.
27th - Covering
the
transport of troops into and out of besieged
Tobruk,
cruiser
Phoebe
was hit by an aircraft torpedo.
Middle East -
The
possibility of a pro-Axis coup d'etat led to
Anglo-Soviet
forces going into Persia on the 25th from
points
in Iraq, the Persian Gulf and Russia. A cease-fire
was
announced within four days, but later violations
led to
Teheran being occupied in the middle of September.
The
landings in Persia from the Gulf were made from a
small
force of British, Australian and Indian warships
of the
East ladies Command.
|
Middle
East & East
Africa
With the
exception
of small parts of Ethiopia, the whole
of the
Middle East with its vital oilfields
and
pipelines together with East Africa
were now
under Allied control.
|
Monthly
Loss Summary: 2 British or Allied merchant ships
of 6,000
tons
SEPTEMBER
1941
ATLANTIC
- SEPTEMBER 1941
8th - As Italian
submarines patrolled to the west of Portugal for
HG
convoys, "BARACCA" was depth charged and rammed by
destroyer
"Croome". 21st - Destroyer
"Vimy" claimed to have sunk Italian submarine
"MALASPINA" during attacks on Gibraltar/UK
convoy HG73. She may in fact have been lost
earlier
through unknown causes.
10th-19th,
Attacks on Halifax/UK Convoys
- Attacks
southwest of Iceland led to the first success and
loss by
Royal Canadian Navy forces in the Battle of the
Atlantic.
Against SC42, "U-501" was sunk by Canadian
corvettes
"Chambly" and "Moosejaw" on the 10th.
Next day RN destroyers "Leamington" and
"Veteran" of 2nd EG sank "U-207". In exchange,
SC42 lost 16 of its
64 merchantmen. A few days later, on the 19th,
Canadian
corvette "LEVIS" with SC44 was lost to "U-74"
southeast of Cape Farewell.
Russian
Convoys - Russian
convoy PQ1 and
return QP1 both set out in September. A
total of
24 ships passed through without loss by early
October
Battle
of the Atlantic - Escort carrier
Audacity
sailed with UK/Gibraltar convoy OG74. Her
American-built Martlet fighters shot down the
first Kondor to fall
victim to an escort carrier, but U-boats still
managed to
sink five merchantmen. The US Navy started to
escort HX
and ON convoys between Newfoundland and the Mid
Ocean
Meeting Point (MOMP), south of Iceland, where the
Royal
Navy took over. Five US destroyers began on the
17th with
HX150 (50 ships). Earlier on the 4th, the first
incident
occurred when US destroyer "Greer" on passage
to Iceland was in action with "U-652". There
was no damage to either ship. The increased number
of
U-boats available to Adm Doenitz (approaching 200
with 30
operational) allowed him to establish patrol lines
in the
Atlantic. It was into these that the two SC
convoys 42
and 44 (above), had stumbled with such heavy
losses.
Convoys SL87 and HG73 also lost badly and the four
convoys between them saw a total of 36 merchant
ships go
down.
Monthly Loss Summary:
53 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 200,000 tons in the Atlantic
from
all causes, 1 escort; 2 German and 2 Italian
U-boats
EUROPE
- SEPTEMBER 1941
Eastern Front -
In
the North the siege of Leningrad was about
to
start, and would not be lifted completely until
early
1944. Kiev in the South was captured and
Centre
Army Group released to continue the Moscow
offensive. Further
South still, the Crimea was cut off and
German forces
drove on towards Rostov-on-Don.
Monthly Loss Summary:
13 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 55,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN
- SEPTEMBER 1941
Malta -
Carriers
Ark
Royal and
Furious
between
them flew off over 50 Hurricanes for Malta in two
separate operations. The 10th Submarine
Flotilla
was formed at Malta with the smaller 'U' class
boats
which were more suited to Mediterranean
conditions. On
the 18th, Lt-Cdr Wanklyn in Upholder sank the
19,500-ton
transports "Neptunia" and "Oceania".
Between June and the end of September, submarines
sank a
total of 49 ships of 150,000 tons. Added to the
losses
inflicted by the RAF this represented a high
proportion
of Axis shipping bound for Libya.
24th-28th,
Malta Convoy,
Operation
'Halberd' -
'Halberd'
sailed
from Gibraltar with nine transports. Force H (Adm
Somerville), reinforced from the Home Fleet,
included
Nelson, Rodney
and Prince
of Wales and the usual air cover from Ark
Royal. On
the 26th the Italians sailed to
intercept but returned to base next day. South of
Sardinia on the 27th, "Nelson" was damaged
by an Italian aircraft
torpedo, and at the end of the day Force H turned
back
for Gibraltar. Convoy and escort (Rear-Adm H. M.
Burrough) went on to reach Malta on the 28th minus
one
transport lost to air attack. As Force H returned,
screening destroyers "Gurkha" and
"Legion" sank Italian submarine "ADUA" off the
coast of Algeria on the
30th. Since the beginning of 1941, three major
convoys
had reached Malta - 'Excess' in January,
'Substance' in
July and now 'Halberd'. Nearly 40 merchantmen had
got
through with only one sunk. The cost to the Royal
Navy
had been one cruiser and a destroyer sunk, and a
battleship, carrier and two cruisers damaged.
27th -
Submarine
"Upright" sank Italian torpedo boat "ALBATROS" off
Messina, northeast Sicily.
28th - Corvette
"Hyacinth" on patrol off Jaffa, Palestine, sank
Italian submarine "FISALIA".
Monthly Loss Summary: 4
British or Allied
merchant ships of 16,000 tons
OCTOBER
1941
ATLANTIC
- OCTOBER 1941
4th - Supply
U-boat
"U-111" returning from the Cape Verde area
was sunk off the Canaries by armed trawler "Lady
Shirley".
14th-27th,
Attacks on Gibraltar/UK Convoy
Routes -
Two
escorts and two U-boats were lost
in attacks on the UK/Gibraltar convoy routes. In
operations against Gibraltar-bound OG75,
"U-206" sank corvette "FLEUR DE
LYS" off the
Strait of Gibraltar on the 14th. In the
same area
on the 19th, "U-204" was lost to
patrolling corvette
"Mallow" and sloop "Rochester". Six
days later on the 25th, Italian submarine
"FERRARIS" was damaged by a RAF Catalina of
No 202 Squadron and sent to the bottom by the
gunfire of
escort destroyer "Lamerton". UK-bound HG75 lost
five ships, and on the 23rd the famous
destroyer
"COSSACK"
was torpedoed by
"U-563". Struggling in tow for four days she
foundered to the west of Gibraltar.
16th-31st,
First US Navy Casualties
-
In mid-Atlantic, convoy
SC48 of 39 ships and
11 stragglers was reinforced by four US
destroyers. On
the 16th corvette "GLADIOLUS" was
torpedoed by "U-553"
or "U-568" and went down. There were no
survivors. Next day, the US "Kearny" was damaged
by a torpedo from
"U-568", and on the 18th British
destroyer "BROADWATER"
was lost to "U-101".
Nine merchantmen were sunk. Convoy HX156 was
escorted by
another US group, and on the 31st the
destroyer "REUBEN
JAMES" was sunk
by "U-552". This first US loss in the Battle of
the Atlantic came only two weeks after the
torpedoing of
"Kearny". The United States was virtually at
war with Germany.
Russian
Convoys - The six merchant ships of
Russian
convoy PQ2 got through to Archangel
without loss.
Battle
of the Atlantic - By now the pattern of
escort in the North Atlantic
with the rapidly growing Royal Canadian Navy and
involvement of the US Navy was becoming
established. With
UK-bound convoys, for example, the RCN provided
escort
from Halifax to the Western Ocean Meeting Point
(WOMP)
south of Newfoundland. From there, as far as the
Mid
Ocean Meeting Point (MOMP) at 22°W, the USN
escorted HX,
and joint RN/RCN groups the slower SC convoys. RN
ships
based in Iceland then took over until the convoys
were
met by Western Approaches escorts operating out of
Londonderry, Northern Ireland and the Clyde,
Scotland. US
Navy and Army Air Force aircraft were now adding
to the
efforts of the RAF and RCAF by flying escort and
patrols
from Newfoundland and Iceland. The mid-Atlantic
air-gap
was narrowing.
Monthly Loss Summary:
33 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 160,000 tons in the Atlantic
from
all causes, 5 escorts including USS Reuben James;
2 German and 1
Italian U-boats
EUROPE
- OCTOBER 1941
Eastern Front - As
German
forces in the Centre approached Moscow a
state of siege was declared, but the offensive was
temporarily halted at the end of the month. In the
South
Kharkov, east of Kiev in the Ukraine, fell.
Monthly Loss Summary:
12 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 83,000 tons in UK waters.
MEDITERRANEAN
- OCTOBER 1941
Malta - Force K
was
formed at Malta as a Strike Force to add to the
offensive
against Axis shipping by submarines and aircraft.
Cruisers
Aurora,
Penelope,
and
destroyers "Lance", "Lively" were
under the command of Capt W. G. Agnew.
20th - Mines
previously laid by submarine "Rorqual" in the
Gulf of Athens sank Italian torpedo boats
"ALDEBARAN" and "ALTAIR".
25th - Over a
period of 10 days, cruiser-minelayers
Abdiel
and "Latona" transported troops and supplies to
besieged Tobruk and carried out Australian units.
On the
last mission
LATONA
was bombed and
sunk north of Bardia by Ju87s Stuka divebombers.
Late October -
Submarine "TETRARCH"
sailed from Malta for Gibraltar
but failed to arrive, presumed lost on mines in
the
Strait of Sicily.
Monthly Loss Summary: 6
British or Allied
merchant ships of 22,000 tons
NOVEMBER
1941
ATLANTIC
- NOVEMBER 1941
3rd -
Recently completed fleet carrier
Indomitable
ran aground and was damaged off Kingston, Jamaica.
She was due to accompany capital ships
Prince
of Wales and Repulse
to
the Far East as a deterrent to Japanese
aggression. Her
absence in December may have proved fatal to the
two big
ships.
German
Raiders, Indian & Atlantic
Oceans
- 19th
- Far across the Indian Ocean
off Western Australia, the Australian cruiser
"Sydney" came across German raider
"Kormoran". Apparently caught unawares,
SYDNEY was
mortally
damaged and lost without trace. "KORMORAN" also
went down. In a cruise
lasting 12 months she had sunk or captured 11
other ships
of 68,000 tons. 22nd - While replenishing
"U-126" north of Ascension Island, raider
"ATLANTIS" was surprised and sunk by heavy cruiser
Devonshire.
The raider's
operations in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans had
cost the
Allies 22 merchantmen of 146,000 tons. 24th
- On
her way to rescue "Atlantis'" survivors,
"U-124" sighted cruiser
DUNEDIN
on patrol off the
St Paul's Rocks, half way between Africa and South
America. The cruiser was sunk with heavy loss of
life.
Raider "Komet" returned to Germany through the
Atlantic having reached the Pacific across the top
of
Siberia some 17 months earlier. Her score was just
6 1/2
ships, some in operations with "Orion".
German Heavy
Warships
- As the completed "Tirpitz", sister-ship to
"Bismarck" prepared for operations, units of
the Home Fleet sailed for Iceland waters to cover
any
possible breakout. They were supported by a US
Navy
battle squadron.
30th - RAF
aircraft of Coastal Command were now flying
regular
patrols in the Bay of Biscay equipped with
effective
airborne depth charges and the long wavelength ASV
radar.
The first success was by a Whitley of No 502
Squadron. "U-206" on passage to the Mediterranean
was detected and sunk
Russian
Convoys - In November Russian convoys
PQ3, 4 and 5 and return
convoys QP2 and 3
with a total of 45 ships set out. Three
merchantmen
turned back but the rest got through without loss.
Battle
of the Atlantic - There
was a considerable drop in U-boat sinkings in the
North
Atlantic in the last two months of the year. Again
the
reasons were varied - the increasing number of
escorts,
the help given by the US Navy, and the increasing
effectiveness of land-based aircraft. Escort
carrier
"Audacity" was also proving her worth. The
Allies were also helped by Hitler's orders to Adm
Doenitz
to transfer large numbers of U-boats to the
Mediterranean. These were needed to shore up the
Italians
and help secure the supply lines to the Axis
armies in
North Africa. This movement led to a concentration
of
U-boats off Gibraltar, and the need to strengthen
the
HG/SL convoy escorts. After the attacks on HG75 in
October, the next HG did not sail until December
when
"Audacity" was available to close the
Britain/Gibraltar air gap.
Monthly Loss Summary:
11 British, Allied
and neutral ships of 55,000 tons in the Atlantic
from all
causes, 1 cruiser; 1 German raider, 1 German
U-boat and 1
Italian (cause unknown) plus 1 Australian cruiser
and 1 German raider in
Indian Ocean
EUROPE
- NOVEMBER 1941
Eastern Front - The
German
Centre advance on Moscow was restarted and
troops were soon on the capital's outskirts. In
the South
they had driven right into the Crimea. Only
Sevastopol
held out and the siege lasted until June 1942.
Further
east Rostov-on-Don was captured, but the Russians
re-took
the city.
Monthly Loss Summary:
20
British, Allied and neutral ships of 30,000 tons
in UK
waters.
MEDITERRANEAN
- NOVEMBER 1941
9th,
Action off Cape Spartivento, Southwest Italy - RAF
reports of
an Italian convoy in the Ionian Sea making for
North
Africa led to Force K sailing from Malta. The
convoy
consisted of seven transports escorted by six
destroyers,
with a distant cruiser covering force. Early in
the
morning every one of the transports and destroyer
"FULMINE" were sent to the
bottom. Later, while rescuing survivors, destroyer
"LIBECCIO" was sunk by submarine
"Upholder".
13th - As Force
H
returned to Gibraltar after flying off more
Hurricanes
from "Ark Royal" and
Argus
for
Malta, the famous and much 'sunk'
ARK
ROYAL was
hit by one torpedo from
"U-81". Next day she foundered in tow only a
few miles from home. One man was killed. "U-81"
was one of four U-boats that had just passed into
the
Mediterranean. 16th - A second U-boat,
"U-433" was sunk in the same area as
"Ark Royal" by corvette "Marigold".
Towards the end of the month, Dutch submarine
"O-21" sank "U-95". Between late September and
December, 26 U-boats broke through into the
Mediterranean
and for many months took a heavy toll of Royal
Navy
ships.
North Africa -
A major British offensive (Operation
'Crusader)
started on the 18th, again from the Sollum area
and by
January had reached El Agheila. Axis forces around
Sollum
and Bardia were by-passed in the drive on Tobruk.
The
first link-up with the besieged garrison was made
by New
Zealand troops on the 27th. 27th -
Australian sloop "PARRAMATTA" escorting an
ammunition ship on
the Tobruk Run was sunk by "U-559" off the
port. Since the siege started destroyers and other
warships had been carrying in men and supplies
almost
nightly. As it came to an end the cost could be
counted -
25 warships of all sizes and five merchantmen
lost.
25th - Force K
hunted for Italian convoys to North Africa
supported by
the Mediterranean Fleet with battleships
"Barham",
Queen
Elizabeth
and
Valiant.
In the afternoon north of Sidi
Barrani,
BARHAM
was hit by three
torpedoes from "U-331" and as she slowly turned
over and capsized, split apart in an almighty
explosion.
Recorded on film her apparently calamitous end is
often
used in naval films and documentaries. Although
over 800
men were lost, a remarkable number were saved.
Just
before this tragedy, Force K had sunk two more
Axis
supply ships west of Crete. At this stage 60
percent of
Axis North African supplies were being lost to
attacks by
British aircraft, submarines and warships.
East Africa -
The
last Italian forces surrendered at Gondar in the
north of
Ethiopia on the 27th. The Italian East African
empire
ceased to exist.
Monthly Loss Summary: 4
British or Allied
merchant ships of 19,000 tons
