Convoy HG 76

Convoy HG 76
Part of World War II
Map of the Bay of Biscay and the South-west Approaches
Date 19–23 December 1941 Location Bay of Biscay, South-west Approaches Coordinates: 45°30′N 04°20′W / 45.500°N 4.333°W / 45.500; -4.333 Result British victory
Belligerents
Germany	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Admiral Karl Dönitz	Commodore: Sir Raymond Fitzmaurice Escort Cdr: Capt. Frederic John Walker
Strength
Wolfpack Seeräuber 10 U-boats	HG 76 32 merchant ships 24 escorts
Casualties and losses
5 U-boats destroyed	2 merchant ships sunk 2 escorts sunk

HG 76 was an Allied convoy of the HG (Homeward from Gibraltar) series during World War II. It was notable in seeing the destruction of five German U-boats (the true total was not known to the British until after the war) and two Focke-Wulf Condor long-range reconnaissance aircraft by Martlet fighters flying from the escort carrier HMS Audacity, for the loss of Audacity, a destroyer and two merchant ships. It was regarded as the first big convoy victory for the Allies in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Audacity participated in the escort of convoy OG 76 of twenty merchant ships, which sailed from Liverpool for Gibraltar on 31 October. The escort carrier embarked 802 Naval Air Squadron (802 NAS) of the Fleet Air Arm with eight Martlets and ten pilots. The weather was atrocious and at times pitched the flight deck 65 ft (20 m) and rolled it 16°, with spray sweeping over the deck. Two Martlets took off on patrol and one managed a safe landing but the other touched down when the stern was rising and was thrown overboard, the pilot being rescued just before the Martlet sank.

On 8 November, Kampfgeschwader 40 (KG 40) sent six Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft to locate convoy SL 91, from Freetown in Sierra Leone bound for Liverpool. Near noon, the radar on Audacity detected two of the Condors and a Martlet patrol was sent to intercept. One Condor escaped in cloud but two Martlets caught the second, which shot down one Martlet before the other Martlet shot it down. About three hours later, another Condor was shot down by a head-on attack and a fourth Condor escaped. KG 40 had lost a third of its operational aircraft and failed to direct any U-boats onto either convoy, OG 76 making a safe arrival at Gibraltar late on 11 November. The presence of Audacity was now known to KG 40 and Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU, U-boat command headquarters and the title of the commander, Viceadmiral Karl Dönitz).

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