Escort Group (naval)

Escort Groups for convoy protection were a British development in the war at sea during World War II. They were a tactical innovation by the Royal Navy in anti-submarine warfare, to combat the threat of the German Navy's "wolfpack" tactics. Escort Groups consisted of mixed types of small warships that operated together as a permanent team, defending shipping convoys during World War II, and more particularly, during the Battle of the Atlantic. The development of these 'escort groups' proved an effective means of defending shipping convoys. They were rigorously trained in anti-submarine tactics and had many successes. For example, in a ten-day period in 1941, four U-boats were sunk with the loss of three of Germany's top U-boat commanders.

Background

During the first year of the Battle of the Atlantic British convoy protection was the responsibility of the Western Approaches Command, based first in Plymouth, then, as the focus of the campaign moved after the Fall of France, in Liverpool..^[1]

Western Approaches Command controlled an array of escort vessels, mainly elderly destroyers, sloops, trawlers and, later, corvettes to escort merchant ships travelling to and from Britain. These were not numerous enough or sufficiently long ranged to provide a full escort service across the Atlantic, but would accompany convoys to and from meeting points at the edge of the Western Approaches, at points thought to be beyond U-boat range.

In the beginning convoy escorts were compiled on an ad hoc basis; the escorts would be dispatched as and when available, and arrive singly or in small groups. Command of the escort force fell to the senior officer present, and could change as each new ship arrived. Any tactical arrangements had to be made on the spot, and communicated by signal lamp to each ship in turn. The ships would be un-co-ordinated, being unused to working together, and would have no common battle plan or tactics.

These deficiencies led to a major defeat in October 1940 when Convoy HX 79 was savaged by a wolfpack of 5 U-boats. Despite an escort of 11 warships, 12 ships were sunk from the convoy, while the U-boats were unscathed.

This disaster gaver the impetus for Percy Noble, the commander of WAC, to form discrete groups; by the beginning of 1941 eight groups had been formed.^[2]

Service history

In 1941 WAC had 8 escort groups formed. These typically comprised 6 to 8 ships, under the command of an RN officer, usually a Commander or Lt Cdr. By operating together under a single commander, groups were able to develop group tactics and practice their use; with the issue of a single short command the various ships of the group, often out of sight of each other, could be relied upon to act in a co-ordinated fashion. Later these tactics were standardized and taught to all escort group commanders at the Western Approaches Tactical Unit.

This level of teamwork was never achieved by the attacking U-Boats. Although the wolfpack was a co-ordinated in that a number of boats would be concentrated on a target convoy, once gathered the boats would attack individually without any attempt at further co-operation. It was not unknown for U-boats to get in each others way whilst attacking, or collide with each other. Time and again during the Battle of the Atlantic relatively small, well-handled escort groups were able to frustrate attacks by more numerous groups of U-boats, and ensure the “safe and timely arrival” of their charges. In one example, in November 1942, Convoy ON 144 of 33 ships protected by the B-6 Escort Group of just 5 corvettes, were attacked by a group of 10 U-boats. Over the next three days they fought off attacks by the wolfpack for the loss of 5 ships and one corvette. 28 ships arrived safely.^[3] Following this action the SOE (Senior Officer Escort) was “warmly congratulated” for preventing what could have been a major disaster^[4], and the contrast with HX 79 was apparent.

Notes

1. ^ Roskill
2. ^ Elliott p59
3. ^ Blair p118-9
4. ^ Blair p119

References

• Clay Blair : Hitler's U-Boat War Vol I (1996). ISBN 0-304-35260-8
• Peter Elliott : Allied Escort ships of World War II (1977) ISBN 0-356-08401-9
• Stephen Roskill : The War at Sea 1939-1945 Vol I (1954). ISBN (none)