大象传媒

The following story by Terence Robertson is out of copyright and appears courtesy of and with thanks to Mike Kemble, and Captain Frederic John Walker.

The crew, many of whom had already run to the far side away from the expected explosion while others had thrown themselves flat on the deck, were astounded to hear a command for the charges to fire at shallow setting while their ship was dawdling along. The explosions would blow the stern off. Suddenly the air was torn by two almost simultaneous, shattering roars. The first came from the depth charges, and the second, by far the more frightening, from the torpedo which had gone off only five yards from Starling鈥檚 quarter deck. A lightning decision, coupled with instant and disciplined obedience, had certainly saved the ship and countless lives, for the depth charges had counter-mined the torpedo a second before it struck home against Starling鈥檚 thinly-plated hull. A huge wave pyramided vertically high above Starling鈥檚 masthead, the sloop shook and jerked as though being shaken by some gigantic hand; reserve depth charges were thrown overboard by the shock blast, luckily failing to explode; tons of water fell in solid green sheets over the depth-charge crew standing momentarily stunned on the quarter deck but still doing their duty automatically; all electrical switches were thrown open in the power rooms; and worse, every bottle in the Wardroom was shattered into fragments. Starling gathered speed and shook herself clear of the swilling water while depth charges continued to leave the ship in the strict, methodical pattern of the creeping attack. There was not a hitch or delay in the drill. Remarkably, Starling had suffered no damage and on the bridge Walker murmured, 鈥淚nteresting. This chap seems to know his job. It鈥檚 almost a pity to think we shall kill him without ever seeing what he鈥檚 like.鈥� In the next half hour, Walker directed Wild Goose on two more creeping attacks and followed up with both ships carrying out an 鈥淥peration Plaster鈥�. In this last run, he took his revenge and delivered the death blow. A few minutes later a loud underwater explosion cracked to the surface and soon a huge air bubble boiled up and collapsed spreading chunks of wood and human remains over hundreds of feet of sea. At 10 am, after collecting wreckage and other evidence, Starling and Wild Goose steamed off to assist Kite and Magpie. U-734 had gone the way of so many others, but it had taken nearly 150 depth charges dropped over more than three hours to destroy her. And she had come closer than any U-boat to destroying Starling. On joining Kite and Magpie at noon Walker found that they had carried out a series of creeping attacks without result. As Kite had first made contact with the U-boat, he sent Wild Goose and Magpie to patrol the area, gained contact himself and directed Kite into two more attacks using more than fifty depth charges. In this last attack, the enemy showed himself as cunning and tough as the one before. As Kite steamed in slowly to begin her depth charge barrage, a 鈥済nat鈥� was fired in self-defence. While it was still twenty yards away, the first depth charges set off immediately counter-mined the torpedo, which Kite had not yet seen. There was a thunderous crash and, to Starling鈥檚 crew, it looked as if their sister ship had been hit squarely amidships. For long heart-stopping seconds, the wide column of thin green water hovered over the shocked surprised Kite.
Cheers rang out from Starling鈥檚 men as, first Kite鈥檚 mast appeared, then her bridge, and finally the whole ship, unbelievably, wonderfully intact. She had shuddered and kicked under the impact of the blast, but was still on course and the depth charges were tumbling from her racks and shooting from her throwers in well-drilled precision. There had been no faltering in the continuity of the attack. But the sloop was badly shaken and several leaks had been sprung in her stern. She had only seventeen depth charges left, so Walker sent her out of the touchline and brought Magpie in for the next assault. With Starling acting as directing ship, Magpie now carried out a twenty-six charge creeping attack with the same result鈥攏othing. On Starling's bridge, Walker grinned appreciatively. This was an opponent worthy of his best. Twisting, altering his depth constantly, the enemy commander was making every attack fall wide of the mark. Walker worked out a new procedure on the spot. Magpie was equipped with 鈥淗edgehog鈥�, the multi-barrelled mortar bomb thrower which could destroy only if one or more bombs scored direct hits. He would direct her in for a 鈥淗edgehog鈥� barrage and follow up with a depth charge attack himself. When he announced this to Starling鈥檚 officers, there were chuckles all round. Imagine aiming another ship鈥檚 weapons to fire twenty-four bombs and expect any of them to score direct hits on a target 700 feet below. 鈥淚 was highly tickled by this hedgehoggery,鈥� he wrote later. 鈥淐omplicated instruments are normally deemed essential to score an occasional hit with this weapon. But under my orders over the R/T, Magpie steamed in to attack and fired off her bombs when told as if firing depth charges for a creeping attack. The result was an immediate double explosion which shook both ships. To score two bulls-eyes like that first shot with somebody else鈥檚 鈥淗edgehog鈥� 1000 yards away was, of course, a ghastly fluke, but amusing considering no instruments at all were used.鈥� This unorthodox and unscientific attack had without doubt succeeded. To make sure, Walker accepted the risk that the enemy might still be capable of firing 鈥済nats鈥�. At 3.30 pm Starling raced in at full speed for a ten-charge pattern set deep. A few seconds later, when the crashing roar of the last depth charge had died away, the remains of U-238 bobbed sadly on the surface. Magpie was now a fully-blooded member of the Group. Walker had been in command of the battle for nearly thirty-six hours without break. With eighty-one merchant ships depending on him, two aircraft-carriers hoping he would protect them, a close escort screen of six warships feeling unhappily impotent in their role of static defenders, and his own sloops spoiling for trouble in the outfield, he had faced one of the most dangerous 鈥減ack鈥� attacks of the war and ripped it apart by killing three of the enemy in relentless thrusts and beating off less skilled raiders. This had been done without loss in ships, and at least 140 Germans had died while the British sailors had not suffered even a slight wound. Tired, but seemingly fresh; outwardly matter-of-fact yet inwardly tensed and fizzing with excitement at the victory,
Walker was outspoken in his criticism of certain parts of his Group鈥檚 efforts during the night; but in his heart deeply proud and content with every one of them. The Group stayed with SL J47 until the following morning, the 10th, but the crippled enemy failed to appear. At dawn, after exchanging signals with the Commodore, the aircraft-carriers and the close escort, Starling, Wild Goose, Woodpecker, Kite and Wren and Magpie, formed up in line abreast, hunting formation, and set course for another convoy, HX 277, which included the Norwegian tanker, Thorsholm, fully stocked with depth charges to replenish escorts in the unfortunate position of Starling and Kite. Re-ammunitioning with depth charges at sea was a long, tedious and nerve-wracking business requiring skill, patience and an even temper. Walker snatched his first two hours of sleep for nearly three days while the Group was en route but the afternoon of the 10th spent steering alongside the Thorsholm proved the most gruelling experience of the voyage. Only twenty-five yards apart and rolling heavily in a high swell the two ships steamed together, each of the tanker鈥檚 rolls threatening to capsize the sloop. The depth charges were hauled over by hand singly, at times sinking below the surface or being carried away to bump dangerously against the ship鈥檚 side as both sending and receiving ships rose and fell unevenly on the swell. To avoid the whole Group being immobilised, Walker ordered Wren to stand by while Wild Goose, Woodpecker and Magpie sailed off to support a following convoy, HX 278. The Group was all keyed to carry the battle to the enemy; any let-down now would accentuate their weariness and Walker was keen on getting Starling back into commission with the power to punch hard. At dusk, he called a halt to the ammunitioning and headed south at full speed with Kite and Wren to join the rest sweeping far astern of the convoy. So many signals of congratulation had been received from Liverpool and the Admiralty, each was read out to the crews of all ships by their commanding officers, that there was an air of carefree omnipotence around. The knowing ones on the mess decks were no longer taking bets on whether the Group would make a 鈥渒ill鈥� this trip, but on how many and at what time the next would be sighted. Wild Goose, Woodpecker and Magpie swept astern the track of convoy HX 278 in the hope of pouncing on stragglers or shadowers who might be still on the surface. Success came quickly; during the middle or 鈥済raveyard鈥� watch between midnight and 4 am on the 12th, the three ships stumbled over a submerged marauder creeping up on the convoy from the stern. Wild Goose, usually first of the Group to join battle, made contact, and Commander Wemyss, still suffering from a won鈥檛-be-stared-at-through-periscopes complex from his last struggle, went in to attack. But Magpie had somehow manoeuvred into the way and Wild Goose had to swerve hurriedly in the middle of her run to avoid collision. Wemyss resumed the attack with the range so close that he was still going slow when his depth charges exploded, nearly lifting the sloop out of the water with the blast force. Asdic conditions were not good, in certain sea areas the beams became distorted, and the three ships had an uncomfortable time gaining, losing and regaining contact with a slippery opponent who snaked freely about the ocean at varying depths. After an hour of attack during which some fifty-odd depth charges were dropped, Wild Goose made firm contact at last and Wemyss, tired of what he called 鈥渢his groping around and dot and carry one business鈥� went in for a full-blooded 鈥減laster鈥� attack. After the sea had died down, the tensed, anxious sloops were rewarded with a heavy roar of underwater crunching and breaking-up noises. For a few minutes the noises continued, then oil and wreckage came rushing to the surface. The trio reported by R/T to Walker who was hurrying to the scene with Kite and Wren, and resumed their patrol. He arrived next morning and steamed through the area inspecting the bits and pieces floating in the oil, but he refused to credit the Group with another 鈥渒ill鈥� because an aircraft had claimed a sinking in almost the same position and Starling鈥檚 doctor was unable to declare samples of the pulped flesh as human. U-boats had been known to take slaughtered animals to sea and fire them to the surface, when under attack, in the hope of fooling the hunters. At noon the two sections of the Group united and Wemyss insisted he had destroyed the U-boat in his last attack. Walker therefore decreed they should all patrol back to the scene to investigate the wreckage more carefully. They returned at 5 pm and, by this time, the oil patch spread over an area six miles in diameter, and convincing human and other remains were awaiting collection. 鈥淚 might well have realised,鈥� said Walker later, 鈥渢hat an officer of Wild Goose鈥檚 experience knows what he is talking about when he reports breaking up noises, etc. It was an undoubted kill.鈥� So ended the career of the 740-ton U-424.

Continued.....
'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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