Full transcript
0:08The Bay of Jibralta is packed with
0:10heavily laden merchantmen and warships.
0:12The SS Sparrow is the first to slip her
0:15moorings on the afternoon of the 14th of
0:17December, 1941.
0:19The convoy Commodore's ship leads the
0:21columns of freighters and tankers out
0:23into the straits and on to their first
0:25leg of their perilous journey home. The
0:27destroyers and sloops of the 36th escort
0:30group are already battering the seabed
0:32ahead of them with sonar pulses from
0:34their Aztec sets, clearing a safe
0:36channel into open waters. The sailors
0:38and officers of the convoy know full
0:40well that German spies in the Spanish
0:42townouses and villas across the bay are
0:45reporting their departure back to
0:46Berlin. Decrypted Enigma communications
0:50have already indicated that a wolfpack
0:52of Yubot has departed Laurant and
0:54Admiral Dernit of the Yubot arm is
0:57taking particular interests in the
0:58convoy. Convoy HG76 is going to have to
1:02fight its way through.
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2:35By late 1941, Britain was still
2:37struggling under the pressure of
2:38Germany's Atlantic Hubo campaign. The
2:41happy time of 1940 is over, and Admiral
2:44Dennis's submarine force is suffering
2:46steadily increasing casualties from
2:48allied warships and aircraft due to
2:50technological advances in radar and
2:52highfrequency direction finding or huff.
2:55However, the German Navy is still
2:57winning the nautical war of attrition.
3:00Dennis's Wolfpack strategy is bearing
3:02fruit, and by December of 1941, Allied
3:05merchant vessels are being sunk faster
3:07than they can be replaced.
3:10The second half of 1941 has been a
3:12fruitful time for the Wolfpacks based in
3:14the Bay of Bisque. In July, outbound
3:17Gibralta convoy OG69 lost nine ships.
3:21The same Wolfpack then pounced on the
3:23Sierra Leonebound convoy SL81 and sent a
3:26further 11,000 tons of shipping to the
3:28depths.
3:30OG71 sailing for Jibralta from Liverpool
3:32in August is remembered as the nightmare
3:35convoy. Eight merchant ships and two
3:38escorts are lost. Only five merchant
3:40ships made it to Jibralta. The rest fled
3:43to neutral Portugal.
3:46This terrible toll could not continue.
3:49HG76 would be different. Homewood bound
3:52from Jibralta, the convoy consists of 32
3:55merchant ships. For the initial leg,
3:57HG76 is to be protected by destroyers,
4:01sloops, and corvettes of the 36th escort
4:04group. They will be led by the dynamic
4:06and aggressive officer, Commander
4:08Frederick John Walker.
4:10Walker has devoted his entire career to
4:13the perfection of anti-ubmarine warfare
4:15and is the Royal Navy's foremost expert.
4:19This knowledge paired with a keen
4:20instinct for leadership makes him a
4:22formidable individual force.
4:26Progress is slow, limited to the speed
4:28of the slowest ship, just 7 and 12
4:30knots.
4:32Reaching open waters as the night falls,
4:34the convoy moves into its sailing
4:36formation.
4:38The merchantmen spread into nine columns
4:40of three or four ships, keeping a
4:42healthy 1,000 yards between each column.
4:45The SS Sparrow leads the center column
4:48so the convoy commodor, Vice Admiral
4:50Fitz Morris, the naval officer
4:52coordinating the merchant ships, can
4:54direct the vessels as needed. At the
4:56rear of her column is HMS Audacity.
5:00Audacity is the prototype for a new
5:02breed of vessel, an escort carrier.
5:05Land-based aircraft are not yet capable
5:07of providing cover for convoys for their
5:09entire journey, either across the
5:11Atlantic or all the way to Gibralta.
5:14At the request of Commander Walker,
5:16Audacity flies off her aircraft to
5:18patrol ahead of the convoy, hoping to
5:21catch unsuspecting surfaced Hubot or
5:23Luftvafa FW200 patrol bombers.
5:27Audacity's air group of 10 pilots from
5:29802 Naval Air Squadron started out with
5:32eight Martlet fighters, the British
5:34service name for the F4F Wildcat. Losses
5:37and disrepair have whittleled down that
5:39number to just four in working order.
5:43At 9:00 p.m. U74 spots the convoy. The
5:46type 7 Ubot broadcasts a contact report
5:49back to Berlin. Dit orders Captain
5:52Litnant ISIL Friedrich Kentrat to
5:55attack. U74 attempts to close on the
5:58convoy for several hours, but the
6:00unusually aggressive escort screen
6:02deters Kentrat.
6:04Receiving Enigma reports that a Wolfpack
6:06of five Ubot is lying in wait for them.
6:09HG76 steers southwest, bypassing the
6:12Wolfpack. They are guarded through the
6:14night by radar equipped ferry swordfish
6:16from Gibraltar.
6:19By the evening of the 15th, Wolfpack
6:22Seir Alva is over 130 mi north of HG76.
6:27An FW200 sightes the convoy at 6:48 p.m.
6:32The squadron needs to make up for lost
6:33time and is rushing south to intercept.
6:37Wrestling through the crashing boiling
6:39seas, the now six Yubot manage 14 knots
6:42on the surface, a good speed given the
6:45poor weather.
6:46Seaba is made up of U67, U 107, U 108,
6:51U131, and U434.
6:55Recently joined by U127, the Wolfpack is
6:58commanded directly from Berlin by
6:59Admiral Dernet.
7:01Unbeknownst to them, a more immediate
7:03threat lurks. 30 mi off Cape St. Vincent
7:07marauding ahead of the convoys of the
7:08British destroyers HMS Kroom Foxhound
7:11Girka and their Australian cousin HMAS
7:14Neestor.
7:16At 10:50 p.m. they spot the newly
7:18arrived U127 on the surface. After a
7:22brief engagement, she is run down and
7:24death charged by Neestor and Girka.
7:27She is the first Hubot of the war sunk
7:29by the Royal Australian Navy.
7:34During the night of the 16th, Wolfpack
7:36Seir Alba is reinforced by U574 and U751
7:40and reestablishes contact with the
7:42enemy. U131 sightes the convoy in the
7:45darkness. She accidentally surfaces in
7:48its midst before diving again unseen and
7:50swinging out 20 m to port to shadow it.
7:54The next morning at 9:18 a.m., one of
7:57Audacity's smarts spots U131 and strafes
8:00her, forcing her to dive underwater. The
8:03U131 can only make seven knots buying
8:06Commander Walker time.
8:09The convoys escort is broken down into
8:11two groups. The slower flowerclass
8:14corvettes provide the close escort
8:15around the perimeter of the merchant
8:17ships. The faster destroyers Stanley
8:20Exmore and Blanknney and the sloops
8:22Detford and Stalk form the support group
8:25which is to actively hunt nearby Hubot.
8:29Upon the Martlet's report, the support
8:31group springs into action. "Commander
8:34Frederick John Walker's ethos is simple.
8:37Our job is to kill," he told the
8:39captains of the 36th Escort Group before
8:41sailing. "No matter how many convoys we
8:43may shepherd through to safety, we will
8:45have failed unless we slaughter Yubot."
8:49U131 has doubled back south and slips
8:52away from the support group, but
8:53unwittingly veers straight into the path
8:55of HMS Penson. With it sonar
8:58malfunctioning, the German sub doesn't
9:00hear the little flowerclass corvette
9:02until its depth charges are detonating
9:04around it. The damage is not fatal, but
9:07chlorine gas from the battery
9:09compartment is rapidly filling the
9:10cramped interior.
9:12Lieutenant Commander David Shaw aboard
9:14HMS Stanley spots U131 emerging through
9:18the waves 7 mi away and brings his
9:20destroyer to bear, ordering her engines
9:23to full ahead.
9:25Seconds later, her forward batteries
9:27open up with their first ranging shots.
9:32Roaring overhead, an 802 Squadron
9:34martlet piloted by subie tenant George
9:36Fletcher joins the attack. Just as he
9:40lets rip with his four Browning machine
9:42guns, a shell from U131's 37mm AA gun
9:46smashes through the windshield.
9:48The martlet streaming black smoke
9:50plunges into the ocean. HMS Stanley and
9:53her comrades easily close the distance
9:56and their gunfire is steadily more
9:57effective.
9:59U131's pressure hole is irreparably torn
10:02open by Stanley's 4-in shells and her
10:04crew abandoned ship, scuttling their
10:06doomed submarine beneath them.
10:09Watching the chaos from afar, U434 and
10:12U574 both decide to shadow the convoy at
10:15a safe distance as it turns north and
10:17nightfalls again.
10:21The convoy continues safely until 9:00
10:23a.m. on the morning of the 18th. A
10:26lookout perched on the mast of HMS
10:28Stanley spots the telltale wake of a
10:30submarine on the surface far off to the
10:33east. The elderly Americanbuilt ship
10:36comes to life. Full ahead, harder port,
10:39fetch the captain, her officer of the
10:41watch orders. Despite her age, the
10:43Clemson class destroyer cards through
10:45the waves at 35 knots.
10:49However, her Aztec set has failed. So,
10:51Commander Walker orders the Huntclass
10:53destroyer HMS Blankney to join her. U434
10:56dives to try and escape Stanley, but
10:58Blanknne makes contact with her on Azdic
11:01using a tactic pioneered by Frederick
11:03John Walker, affectionately nicknamed
11:05Johnny Walker. Blanknney talks the other
11:08destroyer onto the yubot via radio.
11:10Passing over the Aztec contact,
11:12Lieutenant Commander Shaw punches off a
11:15series of 12 death charges.
11:17Blankny and Stanley work over the area
11:20several more times with more and more
11:22death charges. Stanley's first barrage
11:24has crippled the pressure hole and U434
11:26is rapidly flooding. In a last bid to
11:29survive, she blows her ballast tanks and
11:32bursts out onto the surface between the
11:34two destroyers.
11:36The crew abandon ship, scuttling her
11:38just as she is rammed by HMS Blankney.
11:44Having used up much of her fuel in the
11:46skirmish, Blankney must return to
11:48Jibralta, as must her sister Exmore.
11:51Stanley can stay slightly longer, but
11:53will need to depart by the 20th. This
11:55loss comes as the sailors rescued from
11:57U131 after being warmed up and issued
12:00rum reveal that four Ubot are still
12:02stalking HG76.
12:05Fitz Moritz, the convoy commodor, steers
12:07the force slightly further to the west
12:09[music] to try and slip the wolfpack
12:11again. Later that day, Audacity flies
12:14off two of her martlets to attack a pair
12:16of marauding fkwolf condors. Maintaining
12:20complex fighter aircraft on a rolling
12:22salt and spray battered flight deck is
12:24no easy task and it shows. Soon after
12:27attacking, the machine guns of both
12:29martlets jam and the FW200's escape.
12:34As darkness begins to fall again at 6
12:36p.m., the escort, now reduced in
12:38numbers, forms a single protective
12:40screen around the merchants.
12:43Walkers Stalk and Stanley, the fastest
12:45escorts left, bring up the rear, ready
12:48to respond to any contact around HG76's
12:52perimeter.
12:53U 107 has skillfully approached the
12:55convoy slowly throughout the day, but
12:57she is spotted by HMS Penman.
13:00She, HMS Stanley, and two more corvettes
13:03give chase, stumbling into U67 in the
13:06process. The Ubot and Corvettes elude
13:09one another for several hours, but both
13:11submarines are forced out of position to
13:13be able to attack. Meanwhile, Dernit,
13:16frustrated that he has lost three Ubot
13:18so far and inflicted no losses on the
13:21convoy, pushes another three subs into
13:23the hunt.
13:26Fortunes are about to change as the
13:28convoy comes north again. Oberloitner's
13:30Dietrich Genelbach of U574 follows the
13:34convoy at a safe distance, hoping to
13:36take up position behind the convoy, but
13:38slowly creep into its mist.
13:41At 4:14 a.m., he sits an escort at 1,500
13:45yd, zigzagging behind the convoy. One of
13:48Stanley's lookouts spots the Type 7 Ubot
13:51on the surface in the darkness. In
13:54second, her crew are racing to action
13:56stations. Shaw radios stalk, raising the
14:00alarm and informs Walker that he is
14:02attacking.
14:03As Stanley heels over into her turn, a
14:06G7 torpedo fizzes through her wake.
14:09Another streaks past her bow. The third
14:12strikes the midship.
14:15Commander Walker remembers. I had my
14:18glasses on her. She went up literally in
14:20a sheet of flame hundreds of feet high.
14:24Stanley, her keel broken, her ammunition
14:26incinerated, rapidly slips beneath the
14:29oily sea.
14:31Almost all of her 161 strong crew are
14:34killed instantly, including Lieutenant
14:36Commander David Shaw. Just 25 survived
14:39the blast.
14:42Helm hard over. As Dick Howling through
14:45the depths, a grimly determined walker
14:47brings HMS Stalk around to face U574.
14:52It is now a jewel to the death. He
14:55radios the order to the escort force
14:57Buttercup a stern.
15:00Buttercup is a pre-arranged tactic of
15:02walkers to be used if a ship is
15:04torpedoed. The nearest escort to the
15:07ship torpedoed stalk in this case
15:09launches a prompt attack and depth
15:11charges around the stricken ship to
15:13scare the yubot. The next escorts to
15:15arrive, flowerclass corvettes samfire
15:18and vetech head towards the last known
15:20position of the yubot. Firing star
15:22shells from their 4-in guns.
15:25Forming a search line, they press
15:27forward, looking to spot the yubot on
15:29the surface. The illumination rounds
15:31shining brilliant white light on the
15:33seas ahead.
15:35Genglebark dives, hoping to remain
15:37hidden. But this is exactly what Walker
15:40wants. By submerging, he has halfed the
15:42top speed of his yubot, ensuring he
15:45cannot flee.
15:48At just after 4:25 a.m., stalks Azdic
15:51operators shout through the voice pipe
15:53to the bridge. U574 is dead ahead, 700
15:57yd away.
15:59Walker cuts his speed and brings Stalk
16:02to port to drift right over the sonar
16:04contact.
16:06At such close range, AIC sets lose
16:08contact for a few crucial seconds, which
16:11happens as expected.
16:13At this very moment, Walker punches off
16:16five depth charges. As they detonate
16:18behind the sloop, Stalk pulls away to
16:21regain contact.
16:23Genelbark has skillfully used the brief
16:25break in Azdic contact to evade and has
16:28survived the first attack.
16:31Walker's sloop accelerates once more and
16:33thrashes through the swell towards her
16:35target.
16:38U574 tries to evade again, but is not so
16:41lucky.
16:43Johnny Walker angles his final turn over
16:45to starboard and lets loose with another
16:4810 depth charges. Genelbark survives
16:51this attack, but only just. His yubot
16:54has been violently shaken by the
16:56concussive blasts. Noxious fumes are
16:59filling the cramped vessel and the vital
17:01ballast tanks are leaking. He has no
17:04choice but to surface while he still
17:06canned.
17:09Spotting the emerging shape just 200 yd
17:11away, Stalk opens up with her twin 4-in
17:14mounds, but U574 is soon too close for
17:18the deck guns to engage. Ginglebach
17:20turns his wounded Hubot sharply to port,
17:23cutting inside Stalk's turn. The two
17:26warships chase each other around three
17:29complete circles in a nautical knife
17:31fight until one enterprising left tenant
17:33on stalk hangs over the bridgewing with
17:36a Lewis machine gun and savages U574's
17:39deck back and forth, cutting down
17:41officers and men alike. For those brief
17:44seconds, the submarine is not under
17:46command and sails straight ahead.
17:49Walker seizes his moment and throws
17:51Stalk hard over.
17:54The sloop's bow sides into the Yubo's
17:56hull. Rolling onto her side from the
17:59impact. U574 is rammed out of the way
18:02and scrapes down Stalk's flank. As she
18:06passes by to the stern, Stalk releases a
18:08final salvo of depth charges, exploding
18:11just under the German sub.
18:14As the yubot convulses in stalk's wake,
18:17her surviving crew jump clear as her
18:19scuttling charges detonate. Genelbark
18:22goes down with his boat.
18:26With Stanley avenged, Stalk and the
18:28corvettes returned to the convoy. But
18:30during the chaos, U108 closed with the
18:34convoy and loosed off a spread of
18:36torpedoes, sinking the freighter SS
18:38Rucking and narrowly missing HMS
18:40Audacity.
18:43By sunrise on the 19th of December, the
18:45escort is severely thinned. Stanley is
18:48gone. Another corvette returns to
18:50Jibralta with mechanical issues, and
18:52Stalk's AIC system is torn away, lost in
18:55the ramming attack.
18:57At 11:00 a.m., Audacity's radar office
18:59detects a pair of condors lurking
19:02northwest of the convoy. Sublet tenant
19:05Eric Winkl Brown rushes to his Grman
19:07martlet.
19:09Two of the rugged Americanbuilt Wildcats
19:12roar from Audacity's cramped flight deck
19:14and steadily climbed to altitude on an
19:16intercept course with the FW200s.
19:20Brown, better remembered as a prolific
19:23test pilot, has devised a method of
19:25safely dispatching the heavily defended
19:27Fauler Wolves.
19:29The only area their defensive machine
19:31guns don't protect is directly ahead of
19:33the aircraft.
19:35The best way to attack it, Brown
19:37concludes, is headon.
19:40He dives and closes rapidly with the
19:42first condor. Easing his gunsite onto
19:45the massive patrol aircraft rapidly
19:47filling his windscreen, [music] he
19:48squeezes the trigger, walking the storm
19:50of 50 caliber rounds from his four
19:52Brownings over the FW200's nose and
19:55cockpit, killing the pilot.
19:58The Condor staggers downwards towards
20:00the gray sea.
20:02Brown's wingman gets a few bursts of
20:04fire into the second condor, but it
20:06manages to slip into a cloud layer and
20:09disappears.
20:12Later that afternoon, the martlets are
20:15up again. HMS Store patrolling ahead of
20:18the convoy visually spots an FW200
20:21shadowing nearby. She harasses it with
20:23her 4-in guns and vectors Audacity's
20:26fighters in. Lieutenant Jimmy Slay,
20:29flying the lead martlet pulls several
20:31bursts into the wolf from behind
20:33to little effect. Growing impatient, he
20:36extends out and turns back to attack
20:39headon.
20:40His long burst of fire devastates the
20:42patrol aircraft and his martlet screams
20:45past the burning bomber.
20:48Slay's pass is closer than he realized.
20:50When he later lands back aboard the
20:52carrier, he is shocked to find a piece
20:54of the Condor's aileron wrapped around
20:56his tail wheel.
20:59The rest of the 19th passes relatively
21:01uneventfully.
21:03HG76 is now just 4 days sailing from
21:06Britain, but thanks to Signal's
21:08intelligence, they know six Yubot are
21:10now stalking the convoy.
21:13The 20th passes without event.
21:17On the morning of the 21st, Winkl Brown
21:20flying a solo Dawn patrol finds two
21:23hubot tied together on the surface. He
21:25strafed the two submarines, blowing
21:27several men crossing a plank between
21:29them overboard.
21:32It is not entirely known which Hubot
21:34they were, but they were undoubtedly of
21:36Wolfpack Seir Alba. HMS Deepford and a
21:40pair of corvettes scour the area, but
21:42return empty-handed.
21:44Audacity's fighters and the escorts
21:46patrol extensively, turning against and
21:49attacking several fleeting Aztec
21:51contacts. As darkness falls once more at
21:548:00 p.m., Wolfpack Seir Alba closes on
21:57the convoy for one final attack.
22:01At 8:30 p.m., lookouts aboard the lead
22:04merchantmen spot Hugh 67 on the surface
22:07dead ahead and fire off snowflake
22:09rockets.
22:11Similar to star shells, they bask the
22:13area in shimmering white light, turning
22:15night into day.
22:17As Walker attempts to ascertain the
22:19situation, U567 to the rear of the
22:22convoy looses off a salvo of G7
22:25torpedoes.
22:27One explodes against the Norwegian
22:29freighter Anavalor's port side. In the
22:32confusion, with no sonar contact on the
22:35responsible Yubot, Walker orders his
22:37escorts to swing into Operation
22:39Buttercup. but mistakenly attacks the
22:42starboard of the now rapidly sinking
22:44Anavore. The snowflake rockets of the
22:46merchants and the star shells fired by
22:49HMS Maragold and Convolvulus illuminate
22:52the convoy once again.
22:55HMS Audacity is sailing out to the
22:57starboard of the convoy. Her captain has
23:00decided to take the escort carrier
23:02outside the protective screen lest she
23:04draw torpedoes and endanger the merchant
23:07ships around her. The illumination
23:09rounds only serve to backlight her
23:11darkened shape for Capitan Loitant Ghard
23:14Big Alk in the Conning tower of U751.
23:18He orders a first spread of four
23:20torpedoes which race out from the type 7
23:23Ubot's tubes.
23:26Eric Winkl Brown settling down to an
23:28evening coffee in the wardroom recalled,
23:31"A torpedo hit us right after right
23:33under the point where our mechanics were
23:35still working on the martlets.
23:38The blast has jammed the rudder and out
23:40of control, Audacity skipper orders the
23:43engine room to hold to prevent her from
23:45ramming any nearby merchant ships.
23:49Clambering onto the catwalk beside the
23:51flight deck, Brown and his comrades
23:53stare all struck at U751, floating just
23:56800 yd away. One sailor commandeers a 20
24:01mm Eric gun and opens up on the Ubot.
24:05As the first tracers dance over the
24:07conning tower, two more torpedoes slam
24:09into the carrier's starboard side.
24:12Her aviation fuel erupts and the
24:14devastating blast blows her bow apart.
24:18Martlets careen down the flight deck as
24:21the dying audacity is swiftly swallowed
24:23by the black Atlantic. Winkl Brown
24:25survives, but 73 of her 300 sailors are
24:29killed.
24:31U751 slips away safely, but the crease
24:34marine does not escape totally
24:36unscathed.
24:38Coming back from their initial search,
24:40Walker's HMS Stalk and the Flowerclass
24:42HMS Sandfire locate and damage U67 with
24:46depth charges, sending her limping back
24:48towards her base in L'Oreal.
24:51At 10:41 p.m., as the convoy pulls
24:54itself together again, HMS Detford hears
24:57the distinctive sound on her
24:58hydrophones,
25:00her sonar operators range the target to
25:021 and 1/2 miles off her paws.
25:05The sloop fires a star shell and sure
25:08enough catches U567, shadowing the
25:11convoy on the surface.
25:13She opens fire with her 4.7 in guns and
25:16rushes the yubot as it crash dives
25:19beneath the waves, closing the distance
25:21in a few minutes. Deadford gains a brief
25:24Aztec contact and fires off a salvo of
25:27depth charges.
25:29It's the first salvo that crumples
25:31U567's steel frame. She implodes, taking
25:35her crew of 47 with her. Deadford does
25:39not hear the demise of her enemy and
25:41attacks again and again over two hours.
25:46After the night's vicious engagement,
25:48the convoy presses on through the early
25:50hours of the 22nd, but the escorts
25:53remain on alert.
25:55At 5:47 a.m., HMS Detford moves to
25:58investigate a radar contact.
26:01Many of the escorts crews are exhausted.
26:04Walker himself has been on the bridge
26:06for nearly 4 days straight with very
26:08little rest.
26:10Deadford closes on the contact. Only
26:13when she is dozens of yards away does
26:15the shape appear through the darkness.
26:18It isn't a yubot, but instead HMS stalk.
26:23Detford plows into the stern of the
26:25other sloop. Her bow crumples one
26:27compartment, killing a few of the German
26:30sailors rescued from U574 and destroying
26:33the ship's run supply.
26:36Still locked together, a voice sounds
26:38from Stalk's darkened bridge. Which ship
26:42is that? Walker asks. Deadford is the
26:45sheepish reply.
26:49Beyond this mishap, the sloops suffer no
26:51major damage and both return to their
26:54stations.
26:56While the occasional condor lingers in
26:58the distance, [music] the next few hours
27:00show no sign of Ubot activity.
27:03Just afternoon on the 22nd of December,
27:05the weary and exhausted sailors of
27:07convoy HG76
27:09spot a sight for sore eyes. A Royal Air
27:12Force B24 Liberator patrolling out into
27:15the western approaches to cover the last
27:17leg of the journey.
27:20HG76 is now safely under the air
27:23umbrella of RAF Coastal Command.
27:27Joined by destroyers HMS Vanquisher,
27:29Volunteer, and Witch, the escort
27:31maintains its vigil as they approach
27:33Liverpool, their final destination.
27:37But in Berlin, Admiral Dernett admits
27:39defeat. While the crease marine has
27:42drawn blood, sinking two merchant ships,
27:44destroyer HMS Stanley and the escort
27:46carrier HMS Audacity, Dennis considers
27:49this a poor return for the five Ubot
27:52lost out of the nine he dispatched.
27:55In recognition of his performance and
27:57tactical acumen, Commander Frederick
27:59Johnny Walker is promoted to captain and
28:02given command of a new Hunter Killer
28:04anti-ubmarine warfare group.
28:07Despite their loss, Audacity and 802
28:10Naval Air Squadron have proved the
28:12escort carrier concept can work.
28:16Convoy HG76 has demonstrated that the
28:19Ubot threat can be defeated and will
28:21serve as the prototype for the
28:23well-defended convoys that will break
28:25the back of the crigs marine by 1943.
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