Famous Convoy Battles

This page shows the most important convoy battles during 1939-1943. During 1944 there were no real convoy battles to speak of and hardly in 1945, after May 1943 the wolfpacks were really a thing of the past and after that most U-boats faced the convoys on their own and had to deal with the escorts all by themselves.

Each battle could be last a week, have about 60-80 ships and a few thousand men fighting over shipping and goods worth several hundred million dollars. Stakes were indeed very high.


ConvoyDate locatedU-boatsLosses

1939

OB-415 Sep 1939  1 U-boat

1940

HX-6524 Aug 1940  3 U-boats1 ship sunk for a total of 6.666 tons
HX-65A24 Aug 1940  3 U-boats4 ships sunk for a total of 23.151 tons
HX-7220 Sep 1940  9 U-boats11 ships sunk for a total of 72.727 tons
SC-716 Oct 1940  7 U-boats20 ships sunk for a total of 79.592 tons
HX-7919 Oct 1940  5 U-boats12 ships sunk for a total of 75.069 tons
HX-901 Dec 1940  7 U-boats11 ships sunk for a total of 73.958 tons

1941

SC-261 Apr 1941  8 U-boats10 ships sunk for a total of 51.969 tons
OB-3187 May 1941  4 U-boats10 ships sunk for a total of 55.347 tons
HX-12619 May 1941  11 U-boats9 ships sunk for a total of 51.862 tons
OG-6924 Jul 1941  8 U-boats7 ships sunk for a total of 11.303 tons
OG-7117 Aug 1941  8 U-boats10 ships sunk for a total of 15.185 tons
SC-429 Sep 1941  19 U-boats16 ships sunk for a total of 68.259 tons
HG-7319 Sep 1941  5 U-boats10 ships sunk for a total of 25.818 tons
SC-4815 Oct 1941  13 U-boats11 ships sunk for a total of 49.835 tons
HG-7616 Dec 1941  10 U-boats4 ships sunk for a total of 18.383 tons

1942

ONS-6721 Feb 1942  6 U-boats8 ships sunk for a total of 54.750 tons
ONS-9211 May 1942  6 U-boats7 ships sunk for a total of 36.284 tons
ONS-1008 Jun 1942  6 U-boats5 ships sunk for a total of 20.478 tons
PQ-171 Jul 1942  16 ships sunk for a total of 102.311 tons
ON-11529 Jul 1942  12 U-boats3 ships sunk for a total of 21.456 tons
SC-945 Aug 1942  17 U-boats11 ships sunk for a total of 53.421 tons
ONS-12222 Aug 1942  14 U-boats4 ships sunk for a total of 17.235 tons
ON-1279 Sep 1942  12 U-boats8 ships sunk for a total of 51.619 tons
PQ-1812 Sep 1942  5 U-boats3 ships sunk for a total of 19.689 tons
SC-10018 Sep 1942  17 U-boats5 ships sunk for a total of 26.331 tons
QP-1420 Sep 1942  7 U-boats6 ships sunk for a total of 23.474 tons
SC-10412 Oct 1942  17 U-boats8 ships sunk for a total of 43.970 tons
HX-21226 Oct 1942  13 U-boats6 ships sunk for a total of 51.918 tons
SL-12527 Oct 1942  10 U-boats12 ships sunk for a total of 80.005 tons
SC-10730 Oct 1942  16 U-boats15 ships sunk for a total of 82.817 tons
ONS-14415 Nov 1942  13 U-boats6 ships sunk for a total of 26.321 tons
ON-15315 Dec 1942  13 U-boats4 ships sunk for a total of 19.551 tons
ONS-15426 Dec 1942  19 U-boats14 ships sunk for a total of 69.893 tons

1943

TM-13 Jan 1943  14 U-boats7 ships sunk for a total of 56.453 tons
SC-1184 Feb 1943  20 U-boats11 ships sunk for a total of 59.765 tons
ON-16621 Feb 1943  19 U-boats14 ships sunk for a total of 88.001 tons
UC-122 Feb 1943  11 U-boats3 ships sunk for a total of 26.682 tons
SC-1216 Mar 1943  26 U-boats12 ships sunk for a total of 55.661 tons
HX-22810 Mar 1943  19 U-boats5 ships sunk for a total of 25.515 tons
UGS-612 Mar 1943  17 U-boats4 ships sunk for a total of 28.018 tons
HX-22916 Mar 1943  43 U-boats13 ships sunk for a total of 93.502 tons
SC-12217 Mar 1943  43 U-boats9 ships sunk for a total of 53.094 tons
RS-327 Mar 1943  7 U-boats3 ships sunk for a total of 15.389 tons
ONS-528 Apr 1943  55 U-boats13 ships sunk for a total of 61.958 tons
TS-3730 Apr 1943  1 U-boat7 ships sunk for a total of 43.255 tons

Convoys