HMCS Huron Association - Looking Back: March 1943

Looking Back:
March 1943

March 1943 witnessed one of the great convoy battles in the Battle of the Atlantic. Some 140 Merchant Ships in three convoys (Hx 229, Hx 229A, and SC 122), with about 10,000 passengers and crew, crossed the Atlantic from New York. Opposing this crossing were some 42 U-boats arranged in three packs across the convoy route East of Newfoundland. The mainly Canadian Western Local Escorts were relieved off Newfoundland by British Ocean Escort Groups. (One Canadian corvette joined after the main battle.) In general, there were about 24 naval escorts, which had to defend the convoy and recover over one thousand survivors.

The losses were lop-sided; for the loss of 22 ships and about 340 persons, (including nearly 70 naval gunners, the bulk of which were USN Armed Guard), the Germans lost one U-boat. While several U-boats were damaged and material failures caused others to withdraw it was still a U-boat victory.

Losses might have been more balanced had the weather been better, more close escorts, availability of serviceable aircraft/ships, plus air cover in mid-Atlantic. In hindsight, several things could have changed the outcome; however, the main lesson was that in maritime operations regardless of the area weather, training, serviceability, and munitions things will never turn out as planned. The sea is an unforgiving battleground.

Reprinted from a DEMS Newsletter