Convoy HX 79

19–20 October 1940, Western Approaches, west of Ireland

German victory; 12 of 49 merchant ships sunk without loss

HX 79, 49 ships from Halifax, came into the Western Approaches on 19 October 1940 while the U-boats that had wrecked SC 7 were still close by. It had a stronger escort than SC 7, two destroyers, four corvettes and three trawlers, but the ships had joined one by one, the corvettes were new, and nobody had trained together. Günther Prien in U-47, out of torpedoes but for a few, shadowed the convoy and called in the others. That night five U-boats sank 12 ships and damaged a tanker; none of them was lost. In three nights SC 7 and HX 79 lost 32 ships, the worst run of the war in the Atlantic. The Admiralty's answer was permanent escort groups that trained and sailed together, and radio telephones between the escorts.