Preparations For German Air Attacks
Due to the success of recent attacks by the German Luftwaffe against Allied convoys in the western Mediterranean, UGS-40 sailed with an elaborate air defense plan, formulated by the convoy's screen commander, Comdr. Jesse C. Sowell, in Campbell. Practiced in Hampton Roads prior to the convoy's departure and as it crossed the Atlantic, these tactics were designed to meet mass aerial attacks by German aircraft carrying a variety of weapons ranging from bombs, to torpedoes, to radio-controlled glider bombs. Only a short time before, such a complex attack had devastatingly mauled UGS-38.
Off Gibraltar, UGS-40 acquired additional escorts — British anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Caledon, USS Wilhoite (DE-397) and Benson (DD-421), and two American minesweepers carrying special apparatus to jam radar transmissions and thus confuse the German glider bombs. A British salvage tug brought up the rear of the reinforcements.
Read more about this topic: USS Walter S. Brown (DE-258)
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