1. Departure and escort

2. Attack

3. Aftermath

4. Table

5. References

6. Sources

Departure and escort

OA 178 assembled off Southend-on-Sea on the coast of Essex and departed on 3 July.^[1] It consisted of 14 merchant ships, escorted by the {{sclass2-|Flower|corvette}} {{HMS|Clarkia}}.^[1] Convoy Commodore was Capt. RP Galer, in SS Peterton.^[3] The convoy passed the Straits of Dover during the night of 3/4 July and by the afternoon of 4 July was in the Channel, some {{convert|20|nmi}} south of Portland Bill.

Attack

At about 1300 hrs^[4] on 4 July two Gruppen of Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers from StG 2 attacked the convoy in the English Channel off Portland Bill.^[2] The Stukas were armed with {{convert|50|kg|lb}} bombs and attacked in waves of six aircraft. There was no Allied air cover and the attack lasted about two hours.^[4]

In this attack one ship, {{MV|Dallas City}} was sunk and five ships, SS Antonio, SS Argos Hill, SS Briarwood, SS Eastmoor and Danish turbine steamer TS Lifland were damaged.^[2] The Antonio rescued 67 survivors, including two with serious injuries, from ships that were sunk.^[4]

Some ships of the convoy took shelter in Portland Harbour, where the Luftwaffe attacked them again. Also in Portland Harbour were a number of other ships, which were hit in the attack. The Royal Navy anti-aircraft ship {{HMS|Foylebank}} was severely damaged, and sank the next day with the loss of 176 lives.^[5] The tug Silverdial was also sunk^[5] and the cargo ships SS City of Melbourne, SS East Wales and MV William Wilberforce were damaged.^[2]

Bombs had damaged the Antonio{{'}}s rudder and the stanchions supporting her propellor shaft.^[4] She had to reduce speed and did not reach anchorage in Portland Harbour until about 2300 hrs.^[4] The continuing air raid prevented her from landing the survivors she had rescued until mid-day on 5 July.^[4]

At dusk those members of the convoy that had remained at sea were {{convert|13|mi|km}} south of Portland when they were attacked by German E-boats. Four ships were sunk, and one damaged. The cargo ship {{SS|Elmcrest}} was sunk by a torpedo and 16 of her crew were lost.^[2] SS Hartlepool was damaged.^[2]

Also lost were the Dutch ships {{SS|Britsum}} and {{SS|Deucalion}}, and the Estonian ship {{SS|Kolga}}.^[5] The Deucalions wreck lies south of Selsey Bill,^[6] which suggests that either she was a straggler or she was dive-bombed before the main air raid off Portland Bill.

Aftermath

On 5 July OA 178's lone escort was reinforced by the destroyer {{HMS|Broke|D83}}.^[1] She remained with the convoy until 6 July^[1] when it dispersed in the Southwest Approaches.

The severity of loss and damage that OA 178 sustained was such that all subsequent OA convoys were re-routed, from Methil in Fife around the north of Scotland to avoid the English Channel.^[2]

Table

References

Sources

• {{cite book |last=Slader |first=John |title=The Red Duster at War |year=1988 |publisher=William Kimber |location=London |isbn=0-7183-0679-1 |pages=54–55}}

• Chlaenius viridis
• Chlaenius vitalisi
• Chlaenius vitticollis
• Chlaenius vividus
• Chlaenius vulneratus
• Chlaenius waddellii
• Chlaenius wallacei
• Chlaenius wegneri
• Chlaenius wenchuanensis
• Chlaenius wittei
• Chlaenius wittmerianus
• Chlaenius wrasei
• Chlaenius xanthacrus
• Chlaenius xanthomerus
• Chlaenius xanthospilus
• Chlaenius yangonensis
• Chlaenius yunnanulus
• Chlaenius zanzibaricus
• Chlaenius ziloensis
• Chlaenius zygogrammus
• Chlaenobolus
• Chlainanthus
• Chlamidiae
• Chlamydia antibodies
• Chlamydia antibody