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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.

Next morning they were ordered to patrol the Gibraltar Straits in an effort to hunt down U-boats on passage into the Mediterranean where they were being employed in attacking Malta-bound convoys and in escorting Axis supply ships carrying vital equipment to Rommel in North Africa. These U-boats were making the passage so easily and causing so much anxiety to the Mediterranean Fleet that Captain Creasy was flown out from London to attend a series of conferences on the Rock. One of the first decisions, in which Captain Creasy had not much faith, was to maintain a hunting force inside the Straits and, to seaward, in the approaches. The 36th Escort Group was awaiting further convoy duties, so Walker received orders to carry out a series of anti-submarine patrols off Gibraltar. They were a sorry failure. U-boats continued to pass into the Mediterranean and, despite a week of patrolling, Walker and his Group sighted not so much as a periscope, the only asdic echoes proving to be fish. The Group was called back to harbour, where they refuelled and, on December 14th sailed to join convoy HG76 for the voyage home to Liverpool. At a conference prior to sailing, Walker was told: 鈥淭he enemy has been cutting the Gibraltar convoys to shreds. This is an important convoy and you will be re-enforced with ships of the Gibraltar Command. You must arrive as intact as possible.鈥� At the rendezvous outside Gibraltar, Walker received as escort re-enforcements, the destroyers Blankney, Stanley and Exmoor. In addition, the escort included H.M.S. Audacity, a former merchant ship converted into a convoy aircraft-carrier. She had a small flight deck and carried about half a dozen tiny Martlet naval fighters. Their job was to patrol round the convoy, searching for surfaced U-boats and to drive off inquisitive Focke-Wulfs, preferably before they had time to work out and dispatch the convoy鈥檚 position to base. Audacity was the first of this type of carrier to serve along the convoy routes. By dusk on the 14th the convoy, consisting of thirty-two ships, had been sorted into five columns and the escort had spread itself around them in two thinly-held protective screens, one close to the convoy and the other further away to act as scouts. Walker, in Stork, led the way ahead of the convoy on a north-westerly course, only too well aware that it was just a matter of time before they reached the battlefield and at last faced the enemy.

Continued.....
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