Second Happy Time
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declared war on the United States on the 11th of December 1941. This declaration allowed German navies to begin their assault immediately. Admiral Karl Dönitz saw this entry as a golden opportunity to strike heavy blows in the tonnage war. He ordered an assault on America on the 12th of December 1941. Only six of the twenty operational Type IX boats were available for this task. One of those six encountered mechanical trouble before departure. This left just five long-range submarines for the opening moves of the campaign. Each boat carried sealed orders to be opened after passing 20°W longitude. Kapitänleutnant Reinhard Hardegen of U-123 received two tourist guides to New York instead of proper charts. These guides contained fold-out maps of the harbor but lacked tactical data. The first submarine left Lorient in France on the 18th of December 1941. The others followed over the next few days. They loaded maximum amounts of fuel, food, and ammunition. British Y service picked up routine signals from these vessels exiting the Bay of Biscay. Rodger Winn plotted their progress in his London Submarine Tracking Room. He correctly deduced the target area and passed a detailed warning to Admiral King. Rear-Admiral Edwin T. Layton then informed responsible area commanders. Little or nothing else was done despite the intelligence.
The USN entered the war without the equivalent of British sloops or corvettes. Fleet destroyers did not have the qualities needed for anti-submarine warfare. The ideal escort had relatively low speed and carried large numbers of depth charges. It also required high maneuverability and long endurance. The fifty World War I-era destroyers transferred to Britain would have been poor escorts even if retained. The USN had some destroyers available on the east coast at the time of the first attacks. It had previously recalled at least twenty-five Atlantic Convoy Escort Command Destroyers including seven at anchor in New York Harbor. These ships sat idle while losses mounted. When finally released, their employment was hampered by poor doctrine. They were assigned to offensive patrols rather than escorting convoys due to public pressure. As late as March, USN escort doctrine emphasized destroying attackers instead of stopping losses. The option of pressing small civilian ships into service as rudimentary convoy escorts went unexercised. Coastal shipping continued to sail along marked routes and burn normal navigation lights. Boardwalk communities ashore were only requested to consider turning off illuminations on the 18th of December 1941. Cities refused to turn them off to avoid offending tourism sectors. The primary target area was the Eastern Sea Frontier commanded by Rear-Admiral Adolphus Andrews. He commanded practically no modern forces on the water. His fleet included seven Coast Guard cutters and four converted yachts. Three patrol boats dated back to 1919. Two gunboats dated back to 1905. Four wooden submarine chasers completed his inventory. About one hundred aircraft were available but these were short-range models suitable only for training.
The first attack wave consisted of five Type IX boats. Their first victory upon arriving in North American waters was the Canadian freighter Cyclops sunk on the 12th of January off Nova Scotia. Robert Fisher noted that twenty-six more ships were sunk in the following nine days. The boats cruised safely submerged through the day. They surfaced at night to pick off merchant vessels outlined against city lights. Reinhard Hardegen sank seven ships totaling thirty thousand tons before running out of torpedoes. Ernst Kals sank six ships of similar tonnage. Robert-Richard Zapp sank five ships. Heinrich Bleichrodt sank four ships. Ulrich Folkers sank one vessel named West Ivis during his first patrol. U-boat commanders operated in coastal waters so shallow they barely concealed themselves. Yet they evaded depth charge attacks with ease. At times, U-123 presented a succession of easy targets burning navigation lamps. No warships were dispatched when Norness sank within sight of Long Island on the 14th of January. This allowed U-123 to sink Coimbra off Sandy Hook the following night. Over the next few nights, U-123 faced no resistance. The RCN immediately organized coastal convoys despite escort difficulties. Thirty-seven ships were lost in January and February. Only eleven were lost in March and April. By those months, U-boats preferred hunting in US waters.
The second wave of Type IX boats arrived in North American waters. The third wave known as Operation Neuland reached its patrol area off oil ports in the Caribbean. Dönitz began sending shorter-range Type VIIs to the US East Coast due to all Type IX boats being committed. These vessels required extraordinary measures like filling fresh water tanks with diesel oil. They crossed the Atlantic at very low speed on a single engine to conserve fuel. Allied tanker losses along the North American coast and in the Caribbean accounted for most of the seventy-three American tankers lost in the first half of 1942. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged the USN to organize coastal convoils in March with little effect. Between 16 and the 29th of April the US ordered coastal waters closed to commercial tanker movement. On the 28th of April, the Royal Canadian Navy started ad hoc convoils to bring trapped tankers back to Halifax. The Government of Canada insisted that Canadian tankers be escorted by May. The RCN organized formal convoils to the Caribbean through US coastal waters. From May to August, fourteen convoils including seventy-six tankers moved without a single ship lost. Trinidad was replaced by Aruba in July to accommodate British tanker movement. The search for Allied tankers pushed the U-boat offensive into the Gulf of Mexico. In May, they sank one hundred fifteen ships about half of which steamed independently. Half of that tonnage consisted of tankers. In June, they sank one hundred twenty-two ships of which one hundred eight sailed independently.
The first organized US coastal convoy sailed on the 14th of May 1942 from Hampton Roads for Key West. Convoils eventually extended to Halifax. The US sought another fifteen to twenty corvettes from Britain. Two British escort groups were already in the Caribbean when these requests arrived. The Mid-Ocean Escort Force came under strain as a result. Britain and Canada responded by reducing the size of remaining groups. The RCN struggled to meet commitments even with ninety percent of its fleet operational. By late summer 1942, the Royal Canadian Navy was overextended. The weakening of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force contributed to difficulties in the mid-Atlantic in August. The US convoy system effectively brought the crisis to an end. By early July most U-boats only operated along the perimeter of the Caribbean. German attention returned to the mid-Atlantic. The implementation of air patrols finally ended the period of unrestricted sinking. Allied forces along the US east coast included eighty small patrol ships in the Eastern Sea Frontier. They also had one hundred sixty aircraft and twenty-four RN ASW trawlers. One British Coastal Command squadron supported these efforts. By British and Canadian standards these resources were enough to begin convoying.
Axis submarines sank six hundred nine ships totaling three million tons during this phase. This occurred against a loss of only twenty-two U-boats. Thousands of lives were lost mainly among merchant mariners. These losses equaled roughly one quarter of all ships sunk by U-boats during the entire Second World War. On the 18th of January, the US tanker Malay suffered damage resulting in five crewmen perishing. On the 19th of January, the US steamship City of Atlanta sank with forty-three of its forty-six crewmen dead. The Canadian steamship Lady Hawkins went down on that same day taking two hundred fifty-one of its three hundred twenty-two souls. No survivors remained from the US freighter Norvana sunk south of Cape Hatteras on the 22nd of January. The Panamanian freighter San Gil sank on the 3rd of February with thirty-eight crewmen aboard. Only two survived. The US destroyer Reuben James was sunk by U-578 on the 28th of February. All thirty-five crewmen of the US freighter Major Wheeler died when it sank on the 6th of February. The Brazilian steamship Buarque went down on the 15th of February. The Brazilian tanker Olinda followed on the 18th of February. The US bulk carrier Marore disappeared on the 26th of February without survivors. The US Q-ship USS Jacob Jones lost all one hundred thirty-nine crewmen on the 26th of March. The Panamanian tanker Equipoise vanished on the 26th of March. The US steamship City of New York sank on the 29th of March with twenty-four of its one hundred fifty-seven crewmen alive to be rescued.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When did Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declare war on the United States?
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declared war on the United States on the 11th of December 1941. This declaration allowed German navies to begin their assault immediately.
How many Type IX submarines were available for the opening moves of the Second Happy Time campaign?
Only five long-range submarines were available for the opening moves of the campaign after one encountered mechanical trouble before departure. Each boat carried sealed orders to be opened after passing 20°W longitude.
What was the first victory achieved by the U-boat fleet upon arriving in North American waters?
The Canadian freighter Cyclops was sunk on the 12th of January off Nova Scotia as the first victory upon arriving in North American waters. Robert Fisher noted that twenty-six more ships were sunk in the following nine days.
Which month saw the highest number of Allied tankers lost during the Second Happy Time offensive?
In May, they sank one hundred fifteen ships about half of which steamed independently. Half of that tonnage consisted of tankers during this peak period of losses.
When did the US organize its first coastal convoy system to counter the submarine threat?
The first organized US coastal convoy sailed on the 14th of May 1942 from Hampton Roads for Key West. Convoils eventually extended to Halifax and effectively brought the crisis to an end.