In looking into the attacks on SL-81 I noticed that in the first attacks carried out by the escorts on the afternoon of 03 August, the loss of U-401 that has been attributed to HMS Wanderer and the Norwegian destroyer St. Albans and the British corvette HMS Hydrangea does not correspond to what the archival documentation describes. I have looked at the ktb’s of the u-boats involved as well as the Admiralty reports from the warships involved in escorting SL-81.

The actions of the afternoon of 03 August involve U-205, 372, 401 & 559 (although there were also several other u-boats in the vicinity) and the warships HMS Wanderer, Hydrangea, Campanula and HNoMS St Albans.

On the morning of 03 August three u-boats, U-205, U-372 & U-559 all meet and agree a search plan to locate SL-81. The search continued into the afternoon and at 1411 hrs U-372 reported seeing U-205 & U-401 passing close to each other. U-205 later reported that at 1500 hrs she encountered U-205. At 1507 hrs U-372 reported seeing U-205 & U-401 diving, followed by U-372 diving for a spotted aircraft. This was the arriving FW-200 that was later shot down by the Hurricane launched from HMS Maplin. U-372 remained submerged from this point onwards until 2020 hrs when it surfaced after the action was over. U-559 reported diving at 1510 hrs for a spotted aircraft (the FW-200) and later surfaced briefly at 1545 hrs before diving again after sighting a single ship ahead. U-559 hears the ongoing depth charge attacks and remained submerged until 0030 hrs on 04 August.

Back to U-205 and after diving at 1500 hrs the boat comes under attack, thought to be at first from the spotted aircraft but destroyer noises are also heard that add to the attack. The u-boat was damaged but escaped and later surfaced at 0100 hrs on 04 August. This attack was carried by HMS Wanderer & HNoMS St. Albans. The first Allied sighting was made by St. Albans who sighted a conning tower at 1526 hrs (MST) and this was alter sighted by Wanderer who increased speed to close the target. This u-boat dived at 1531 hrs (MST) and at 1543 hrs (MST) Wanderer dropped her first depth charges. However another u-boat was seen surfacing at 1542 hrs (MST), but Wanderer remains to continue the search/attack for the first contact. This second sighting to the south was almost certainly U-559.

Wanderer and St. Albans continued to search for U-205 until relieved by HMS Campanula and Hydrangea at 1850 hrs (MST). At 2004 hrs (MST) Hydrangea sighted a u-boat surfacing who dives two minutes later. Campanula joins in the search and at 2016 hrs (MST) Hydrangea drops a ten charge pattern on a firm contact. Two minutes later a heavy underwater explosion was heard. Campanula also made an attack but this was some distance away from Hydrangeas attack position, who at 2032 hrs (MST) had gained another firm contact and attacked again at 2038 hrs (MST). Wreckage was seen rising to the water and was collected that included items of clothing (one was a leather coat marked Schmidt) and three pieces of human flesh. The area was subsequently searched by both corvettes until 2215 hrs (MST) when they rejoined the convoy.

From the above it would seem apparent that the initial attack carried out by Wanderer was carried out on U-205 who dived at the same time as U-401. U-205 was damaged in the early attacks and these depth charge explosion were heard the nearby submerged u-boats (372, 559 & most certainly 401). U-559 briefly surfaces and sights a single ship and then dives, Wanderer who spots U-559 surfacing decides to stay to search for U-205. After the lengthy search and Hydrangea and Campanula take over the search, U-401 must have thought it was safe to surface, only to be sighted by Hydrangea who probably damaged U-401 in the first attack and destroyed it with her second attack.

So it would appear that credit of the destruction of U-401 must lay solely with HMS Hydrangea. The earlier attacks and searching in the afternoon by Wanderer & St. Albans for U-205 were carried out to the south of were Hydrangea would later find and destroy U-401.

I hope I have made all of the above relatively easy to read and understand .

Regards,

Mark