ONS-154 U-boats

U-Boats That Attacked Convoy ONS 154
Spitz Wolfpack (10 boats)
U-123	Oblt. Horst Von Schroeter *
U-203	KptLt. Herbert Kottmann *
U-225	Oblt. Wolfgang Leimkühler *
U-260	KptLt. Hubertus Purkhold *
U-356	Cdr. Günther Ruppelt *
U-406	KptLt Horst Dieterichs *
U-440	Oblt. Hans Geissler
U-659	KptLt. Hans Stock
U-662	Cdr. Wolfgang Hermann *
U-664	Oblt. Adolf Graef *

Ungestum Wolfpack (9 boats)
U-336	Oblt. Hans Hunger *
U-373	KptLt. Paul-Karl Loeser
U-409	Oblt Hanns-F. Massmann
U-435	Kpt:Lt. Siegfried Strelow*
U-441	KptLt. Klaus Hartmann *
U-445	KptLt Danzig Scheibe
U-591	KptLt Hans-J. Zetzsche *
U-615	KptLt Ralph Kapitzky *
U-628	Oblt. Heinrich Hasenschar *
* U-boats that fired torpedoes

December 26: Convoy ONS 154 was sighted in the morning, and shadowed by the U-664, commanded by Oberleutnant Graef. The U-boat sent a signal to Admiral U-boat Headquarters by HF radio.

December 27: The convoy was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, and four ships were torpedoed by U-356, under the command of Oberleutnant Günther Ruppelt.

0140 hours - SS Empire Union (#121) torpedoed by U-356, and sank at 0230 hours.
0150 hours - SS Melrose Abbey (#101) torpedoed by U-356, sinking 45 minutes later.
0410 hours - Soekaboemi (#114) was torpedoed by U-356.
0415 hours - SS King Edward (#81) torpedoed by U-356, sinking within three minutes.

0431 hours - U-356 was sunk by the St. Laurent and the corvettes Chilliwack, Battleford and Napanee. They made three attacks, and fired depth charges.

That afternoon, the U-225, commanded by Oberleutnant Leimkühler, began shadowing the Scottish Heather, which was refuelling the HMCS Chilliwack.

2040 hours - SS Scottish Heather (#51) was torpedoed by U-225 (Leimkühler)

U-Boat Sunk by Escort

U-356 (German U-Boat)

Crew of 46, under the commanded of Oblt. Günther Ruppelt. This was the only U-boat to be sunk.
On December 27, 1942 at 0431, the U-356 was sunk by depth charges from the
RCN destroyer HMCS St. Laurent and corvettes Chilliwack, Battleford, and Napanee.
(Ref: Axis Submarines Lost to Canadian Forces, by Robert C. Fisher)
All hands were lost. For more information, including names of crew members,
please see ubootwaffe.net and uboat.net)

December 28. U-260 under the command of KptLt Purkhold made contact with the convoy in the morning, and called up more U-boats. On the night of December 28/29, the two wolf packs attacked the convoy, torpedoing nine merchant ships in two-and-a-half hours.

1958 hours - 2 U-boats entered the convoy from the starboard side, but the torpedoes missed.

2000 hours - U-591 (KptLt. Zetzsche) torpedoed the MV Norse King (#112).

2002 hours - U-225 (Leimkühler) torpedoed the SS Melmore Head (#113), which sank in about two minutes, and
2005 hours - U-225 torpedoed the Ville de Rouen (#102).

2045 hours - U-260 (Purkhold) torpedoed the Empire Wagtail (#111), blowing it apart.

U-203 raced across the head of the convoy to attack from the port side, but her first two torpedoes missed. About a mile away, U-406 (KptLt. Dieterichs) had also begun attacking the port side, and torpedoed three ships.

2120 hours - the SS Lynton Grange (#22) by U-406,
2123 hours - the SS Zarian (#13) by U-406, and
2124 hours - the SS Baron Cochrane (#12) by U-406.

2210 hours - the Ville de Rouen was torpedoed by U-662 (Cdr. Hermann).

2215 hours - U-225 (Leimkühler) torpedoed the Commodore's ship, SS Empire Shackleton (#61).

2150 hours - wreck of the Cochrane was sunk by U-123 (Oblt. von Schroeter),
2155 hours - wreck of the empty Grange sunk by U-628 (Oblt. Hasenschar).
2358 hours - wreck of the Zarian was found adrift and sunk by U-591 (Zetzsche).

2255 hours - the Shackleton was torpedoed while making for the Azores by the U-123 (von Schroeter) and the U-435 (KptLt. S. Strelow).

2230 hours - the President Franqui (#62) torpedoed by the U-225 (Leimkühler).
Two lifeboats pulled away, but Capt. Bayet decided to make for the Azores.

December 29. 0630 hours, U-225 (Leimkühler) saw the President Franqui, and the ship was torpedoed again.

0930 hours, the President Franqui was sunk by U-336 (Oblt. Hunger). The u-boat came up alongside the lifeboat, asked the ship's name, and took Capt. Bayet as a prisoner.

0645 hours - the Norse King was sighted making for the Azores by the DS Veni.
1507 hours - she was torpedoed and sunk by U-435 (KptLt. S. Strelow).

1100 hours - Fidelity was observed by the U-615, but Kapitzky suspected a trap.
1950 hours - Fidelity signalled that she had picked up survivors from the Shackleton.
2010 hours - U-615 (Kapitzky) fired 4 torpedoes with no effect, because of the nets. n

December 30. About noon, U-615 (Kapitzky) again saw the Fidelity, but, still fearing a trap, he took no action.

1630 hours - U-435 (Strelow) torpedoed and sank Fidelity


	Photographs
	* available from National Maritime Museum Picture Library, London (UK).
	Thanks to Ron Tovey for the pictures of the ships on this page.

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