Battle of the Bay of Biscay

The Battle of the Bay of Biscay, or Operation Bernau, was a naval action that took place on 28 December 1943 during World War II as part of the Atlantic campaign. The battle took place in the Bay of Biscay between two light cruisers of the British Royal Navy, and a destroyer and a torpedo boat flotilla of the German Kriegsmarine hoping to intercept and escort a blockade-runner. The battle was fought as part of the Allied Operation Stonewall, which was to intercept German blockade-runners off the west coast of France. In the confused action that followed the British cruisers HMS Enterprise (D52) and HMS Glasgow (C21) respectively sank T26, together with her sister ship T25 and the destroyer Z27.

Background
In late December 1943 a German Kriegsmarine destroyer flotilla, reinforced by six large Elbing-class torpedo boats, was ordered to the Bay of Biscay to escort into a French port the blockade runners Osorno and Alsterufer, which were carrying vital cargo from Japan (Operation Bernau). The blockade runner Osorno reached the Gironde on 26 December but struck a wreck in the estuary after being attacked by the RAF. She was beached and subsequently unloaded offshore. Alsterufer, carrying tungsten (Wolfram) and rubber, was en route.

Korvettenkapitän Franz Kohlauf sailed from Brest on the morning of 27 December with the torpedo boats T23, T24, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T26 and T22. The 8th Destroyer Flotilla (Kapitän zur See Hans Erdmenger) put out from the Gironde with destroyers GERMAN DESTROYER Z24, Z37, GERMAN DESTROYER Z32 and GERMAN DESTROYER Z27, accompanied by two torpedo boats, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T25 (Korvettenkapitän Wirich von Gartzen) and T27.

The Admiralty were also aware of the impending arrival of Alsterufer through the decryption of German Enigma messages at Bletchley Park and ordered the nearest ships in the area to intercept Alsterufer. The closest ship was the light cruiser HMS Glasgow (C21), which sailed from the Azores on 24 December; it was joined by HMS Enterprise (D52). HMS Mauritius (80) had been ordered from Gibraltar, HMS Penelope (97) steamed past Lisbon and HMNZS Gambia was in the Western Atlantic.

By 04:00 the next day the 4th Flotilla was 300 nmi due south of Cape Clear, the 8th Flotilla standing to the south, ready to meet Alsterufer. The German flotillas did not know that during the previous afternoon a B-24 Liberator bomber of 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron had attacked and set Alsterufer on fire. Abandoned by her crew, the ship was finished off by Liberators of 86 Squadron. This released the Glasgow and Enterprise, who were about 300 nmi south-west of the German flotilla and were steaming eastwards along the 45th Parallel. Just after midday, the 8th Destroyer Flotilla sighted the 4th Flotilla to the east and the torpedo boats turned east, astern of the northernmost destroyers, taking station on their port side.

Battle
Allied aircraft had already reported the position of the German ships about 13:00. About the same time a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor sighted and attacked both cruisers but was deterred by anti-aircraft fire. The German aircrew immediately turned north-east, reporting the position of the British cruisers more than half an hour later to Erdmenger. Captain Charles Clark on Glasgow, assuming that he had been reported, turned north-east, working around the position of the German ships to intercept. The sea was becoming rougher and the wind had increased to 30 kn, making sailing difficult for the destroyers and torpedo boats.

Glasgow sighted the destroyers at 13:32 hours at a range of 16 nmi. The cruisers attacked at full speed and altered course to cut the German ships off from their base. Glasgow opened fire with its 6-inch 'A' and 'B' turrets using her Type 273 radar for ranging; Enterprise opened fire a few minutes later. The two leading German destroyers were not hit as shells missed by 100 –. Z23 launched six torpedoes, three from each bank of tubes, when the range was down to 17000 m but missed. Both destroyers commenced firing with their 15 cm guns and the fall of shot was 200 m over on Glasgow's port quarter. At about 14:05 hours, a German shell hit Glasgow, exploding in 'A' boiler room, killing two members of the port pom-pom crew and wounding six others; Enterprise was straddled by near misses.

By 14:18 hours all of the German ships had engaged; the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla attempted several torpedo attacks but was frustrated by the heavy seas. Z32 and Z37 turned towards the cruisers, closed to 12800 m, launching six and four torpedoes respectively. Glasgow to make an emergency turn to port as the track of one torpedo passed about 30 m from the port quarter and two more near the port side. Enterprise had separated from Glasgow and acted independently. After the torpedo attack, the destroyers laid smoke and retired towards the flotilla. The German ships were in line, Z32 followed by Z24, Z37, T23, T27, T26, T22, T25, Z27 and Z25; Z32 and Z37 were off to port during their torpedo attack.

The German force split and Glasgow reversed course at 14:35 hours to chase the northerly group of destroyers; Enterprise had already altered course to the west to head them off. The Germans launched another torpedo attack but shortly after Z27 had fired, it received a shell hit from Enterprise in the boiler room, passing through an oil bunker which caused a huge fire. Clouds of steam gushed from the forward funnel as its speed fell off. After being hit, Z27 fired a salvo of four torpedoes but all missed.

Glasgow concentrated on T25, which received hits near the aft torpedo tubes, the Flakvierling and the 3.7 cm flak platforms, which killed or wounded their crews. Another shell demolished the mast and the funnel. T25 was reduced to a sitting duck and requested T22 to take off her crew. Glasgow changed aim to T26, which was quickly bracketed by near misses. T22 had both cruisers on its port side, fired a full spread of torpedoes and gunfire. The torpedoes missed and as T22 turned to starboard towards T25, it was bracketed by near misses. T22 abandoned the rescue attempt after suffering another hit and made smoke, fired her guns and withdrew to the south-west. T26 was still under fire and was soon severely hit in the boiler room and as T22 made smoke to screen it, T26 signalled that she was sinking; T22 turned away northwards.

The cruisers reversed course, soon catching T26. Enterprise was ordered to sink it and Glasgow turned north again to search for damaged vessels, particularly T25. Glasgow soon came across Z27, drifting and silent. Closing to point-blank range, Glasgow hit the destroyer's magazines. A large explosion killed Erdmenger, his staff and the captain. Enterprise finished off T26 with a torpedo and then attacked T25, whose bridge and upper deck and aft superstructure were wrecked. Enterprise closed to 3000 m, firing guns and firing a torpedo; T25 was abandoned soon after, burning and sinking.

The cruisers converged and seeing no sign of the German squadron and after having sunk three ships for only minor damage, headed for Plymouth. The ships arrived on the evening of 29 December, low on fuel and ammunition. Glasgow had received a hit that killed two crew and wounded three; Enterprise had minor damage from shell splinters. T22 and Z23 headed for Saint-Jean-de-Luz near the Spanish border. The rest of the German ships returned to the Gironde.

Analysis
Morale in the Kriegsmarine was already depressed with the news that the battleship GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst had been sunk at the Battle of the North Cape, two days before the losses in the Bay of Biscay. In daylight the stability of the larger cruisers as gun platforms in stormy seas, gave them an advantage and the long-range torpedo attacks of the Germans were ineffective. Osorno was the last blockade-runner to reach port, its cargo of rubber meeting German needs until November 1944. Three blockade-runners were sunk between 3 and 5 January 1944 by Allied patrols in the South Atlantic. The Germans abandoned surface blockade-running and turned to submarines, whose voyages became known as Yanagi missions.

Casualties
Two homebound and two outbound U-boats in the bay searched for survivors; the outbound Type IXc, GS U-505, found 34 men from T25 and turned back for France. The homebound GS U-618 picked up 21 survivors of Z27. Of the 672 men on the three lost ships, 93 were rescued from Z27, 100 from T25, 85 men being lost and 90 men from T26, three of the crew being lost. About 62 survivors were rescued by British minesweepers, 168 were rescued by a small Irish steamer, MV Kerlogue, and four were rescued by Spanish destroyers and interned.