16. The British achieved their first clear victory in a convoy battle in late 1941
In October 1941, under the direct orders of Adolf Hitler, Doenitz deployed U-boats to the Mediterranean, in support of German operations in North Africa. In December, convoy HG 76 (HG stood for Homeward from Gibraltar) departed for Liverpool. Among its escorts was HMS Audacity, a smaller aircraft carrier known as an escort carrier. The 32-ship convoy had an escort of as many as 17 warships at different times, and another British submarine hunter group was in the nearby vicinity. Despite the strong escort, Doenitz’s U-boats attacked using wolfpack tactics.
Aircraft from Audacity and Gibraltar forced the U-boats to submerge or drove them off. They were pursued by destroyers, corvettes and sloops. By the time the Germans broke off the string of submarine attacks on December 23, Audacity and a destroyer were sunk. So were two merchant ships. The rest of the convoy got through safely to Liverpool. The Germans claimed about 4,000 tons of shipping from the convoy, though they lost five U-boats and their crews. The new British tactics forced Doenitz to recall his remaining boats, and what the Germans called the Happy Time came to an end.
