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1.
The US Submarines were under the command of the Western Naval
Task Force.
2. Captain Voelcker had been relieved in July by Captain GBH Fawkes
RN who had come from the staff of A(S) where he had been temporarily
the Chief Staff Officer for Operations. Captain Voelcker had had
a somewhat trying time in the Eighth Flotilla at Gibraltar for
sixteen months in which his submarines, except for the Netherlands
O21, O23 and O24 were old and difficult to keep fit for operations.
Much of their time was spent escorting convoys in the Atlantic
but in the Mediterranean they sank U95 and ten other ships. Captain
Voelcker was appointed to command the cruiser Charybdis and was
lost with her in action in the Channel three months later.
3. Rorqual,
Porpoise
and Traveller.
4. Except by P48
for some reason.
5. The explanation was that the Commanding Officer was suffering
from over strain and had given no orders to reload.
6. The first was U335 north of the Shetlands.
7. The French Fleet was scuttled in Toulon on 27th November.
8. This story does not fit exactly. The Italian Navy did not uphold
the Groppos claim, and it is possible that she was mined in the
Sicilian narrows.
9. Code named the ‘Stoneage’ convoy.
10. Notably by fast surface minelayers and HMS Breconshire.
11. Lieutenant Commander St Clair Ford was the Captain of Parthian
and took the place of Lieutenant St John, who was sick, in
Traveller
on this patrol. When he was lost, Lieutenant St John took over
Parthian.
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12. P35
claimed that one of the aircraft was brought down in the explosion.
13. This ship is unidentified and is assessed as ‘possibly
damaged’.
14. Galita Island off the coast of North Africa and fifty miles
west of Bizerta was part of French North Africa and it was important
to know whether Axis forces held it.
15. Utmost,
Triton
(Greek), Traveller,
P222
and P48.
16. They had, in fact, been used in a number of Commando raids
and to lead the fleet to the bombardment of Tripoli in 1941
17. No doubt the loss of four T-class during 1942 up to this time
contributed to this attitude, although in fact during the period
of this chapter, two U-class were sunk by enemy anti-submarine
measures and only one T-class.
18. The comment of Captain Simpson after P35
had failed to secure a hit on the Italian battleships north of
Messina ‘but on consideration these battleships have never
done anyone any harm’ shows that he believed that operations
against them were a distraction from the submarines’ ‘proper’
function of sinking merchant ships. The author does not offer
any comment but finds the attitude extremely interesting and parallel
with Bomber Command’s feeling that any use of bombers other
than to bomb Germany into submission was a distraction. It is
of interest to note what the five T-class in the Mediterranean
were doing when the Italian battleships passed through the Straits
of Messina. Taku
was in Beirut between patrols, Turbulent
was approaching Naples, Thrasher
was in Beirut about to sail for home, Traveller
was lent to the Tenth Flotilla and was on her way to Malta and
Tribune
had just left Gibraltar for the Toulon area.
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