Battle
On 6 March U-405 sighted the convoy scattered by nine consecutive days of northwesterly Force 10 gales and snow squalls. The storm damaged the radio communication system aboard the escort commander's ship Spencer; and Dauphin had to leave the convoy with damaged steering gear. U-230 torpedoed British freighter Egyptian on the night of 6-7 March. British freighter Empire Impala stopped to rescue survivors and was torpedoed after dawn by U-591.
U-190 torpedoed British freighter Empire Lakeland when the gale subsided on 8 March; and four more stragglers were sunk by U-526, U-527, U-591, and U-642. On 9 March the convoy escort was reinforced by No. 120 Squadron RAF B-24 Liberators from Northern Ireland and by the Wickes class destroyer Babbitt and the USCG Treasury Class Cutters Bibb and Ingham from Iceland.
U-530 torpedoed straggling Swedish freighter Milos on the evening of 9 March; and that night U-405 torpedoed Norwegian freighter Bonneville while U-229 torpedoed British freighter Nailsea Court and U-409 torpedoed British escort oiler Rosewood and American ammunition ship Malantic.
Flower class corvettes Campion and Mallow reinforced the convoy escort on 10 March, and the convoy reached Liverpool on 14 March. Only 76 of the 275 crewmen of the sunken ships were rescued.
Read more about this topic: Convoy SC 121
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