Action of 9 May 1941
Encyclopedia
The Action of 9 May 1941 also known as the Capture of U-110 and Operation Pimrose was a minor naval engagement in the Atlantic ocean in which two Royal Naval
destroyers , HMS Broadway
and the British corvette forced the German U-boat
submarine
U-110 to the surface by depth charges. It was then shelled, very nearly rammed and forced to surrender. The action produced hugely significant results; those being the capture of an intact Enigma machine
along with its codes.
to change his strategy and he now moved his wolf packs further west, in order to catch the convoys before the anti-submarine escort joined. One convoy underway was CB-318 but the anti submarine escort had already met the convoy just south of Iceland
and was soon protecting it from the U-boats. U-110 was under the command of Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp
and was working with U-201. Both were attacking the convoy and between them had sunk two merchant ships. Lemp notoriously had been in command of U-30 in 1939 which had controversially sunk the 13,581 ton passenger ship Athenia
. Lemp now targeting a third merchant ship tried to launch a torpedo. This launched failed and soon began to attract attention from the escorting corvette H.M.S Aubretia which was soon to be first on the scene of 3rd escort group.
The Bulldog soon had pulled alongside and Sub-Lieutenant David Balme led a boarding party, and began stripping her of what they could find. Balme's team soon began to take off the valuables and these turned out to be codebooks, charts, ciphers and most significantly, a complete and undamaged Enigma machine. The crew hadn't any idea what it was they had captured. Before they transferred the equipment Bulldog had to depart, leaving the u-boat with the prize crew as it had received a message of another submarine in the area. Balme and his men were left onboard U-110 for over an hour before Bulldog returned.
as prisoners of war. At Scapa Flow experts from Bletchley Park
were waiting and were exceptionally surprised with what they collected and took back with them.
The capture of the Enigma machine was highly secretive at the time and none of the crew knew of the significance. The machine itself significantly assisted the work in hand at Bletchley Park in breaking German naval codes. This was the first fully functioning machine and the first one used to break the naval codes along with the capture of codes from a number of German weather ships during the same year. Thanks to this Enigma machine though; Bletchley were able to inform the Royal Navy and thus steered convoys away from where most groups of U-boat packs were present. The difference made was substantial; from when the information began to pour through in June 1941 Allied shipping losses were around 432,000 tons but by August it had dropped to less than 80,000 tons.
The most important find as well being the Reservehandverfahren
cipher which was first solved at Bletchley Park in June 1941 by means of documents captured from U-110 and then later on with the important capture of code-books and other important documents from U-559 on 30 October 1942. Thereafter it was solved using cryptanalysis
led by Alan Turing
for over three years. Some 1,400 signals were read during that period. Baker-Cresswell was awarded the DSO
and promoted captain. King George VI
told him the capture of the U-110 cipher material had been "the most important single event in the whole war at sea".
was partially inspired by the capture of U-110. The film however caused irritation and anger in Britain whereby the films plot was Americanised. The anger came to such a point that at Prime Minister's Questions
, Tony Blair
agreed with questioner Brian Jenkins MP
that the film was "an affront" to British sailors.
In response to a letter from Paul Truswell
, MP
for the Pudsey
constituency (which includes Horsforth
, a town proud of its connection with HMS Aubretia), U.S. president Bill Clinton
wrote assuring that the film's plot was only a work of fiction.
Despite the criticisms however David Balme was interviewed by the director of the film, Jonathan Mostow
in which he described the capture of U-110 and the capture itself was mentioned at the start of the end credits as recognition and response to the criticisms.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
destroyers , HMS Broadway
USS Hunt (DD-194)
USS Hunt was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the United States Coast Guard, as USCGD Hunt . She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Broadway ....
and the British corvette forced the German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
U-110 to the surface by depth charges. It was then shelled, very nearly rammed and forced to surrender. The action produced hugely significant results; those being the capture of an intact Enigma machine
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
along with its codes.
Background
By the Spring of 1941 the battle of the Atlantic was starting to have an increase in German U-boat losses. This forced Vizeadmiral Karl DönitzKarl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
to change his strategy and he now moved his wolf packs further west, in order to catch the convoys before the anti-submarine escort joined. One convoy underway was CB-318 but the anti submarine escort had already met the convoy just south of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
and was soon protecting it from the U-boats. U-110 was under the command of Kapitänleutnant Fritz-Julius Lemp
Fritz-Julius Lemp
Fritz-Julius Lemp was a Kapitänleutnant with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and commander of , and . He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
and was working with U-201. Both were attacking the convoy and between them had sunk two merchant ships. Lemp notoriously had been in command of U-30 in 1939 which had controversially sunk the 13,581 ton passenger ship Athenia
SS Athenia
The S.S. Athenia was the first British ship to be sunk by Nazi Germany in World War II.-Description:Athenia was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Ltd., and was launched at Govan, Scotland in 1923. She was built for Anchor-Donaldson Ltd.'s route between Britain and Canada...
. Lemp now targeting a third merchant ship tried to launch a torpedo. This launched failed and soon began to attract attention from the escorting corvette H.M.S Aubretia which was soon to be first on the scene of 3rd escort group.
Action and capture
Lemp left his periscope up too long and it was spotted by Aubretia and then soon located her with ASDIC. The Aubretia gave the alert to other ships while she unloaded and dropped a pattern of depth charges. U-110 performed a deep dive and managed to survive the initial onslaught. She was joined by the destroyers Bulldog and Broadway, and the attack was delivered with such force that Lemp was forced to surface. As he came up a dozen men on U-110 rushed to man the guns but were shot by the waiting British ships. Lemp also saw that Bulldog was preparing to ram so Lemp gave the hurried order to abandon ship. Commander Joe Baker-Cresswell decided to try to capture the U-Boat instead and hove to. The survivors went over the side including Lemp. It turned out that Lemp realising that Bulldog was not going to ram had decided to go back and try to destroy the equipment along with the code books but he failed and died in the attempt. U-110 itself survived the attack, but was seriously damaged and was taking on water.The Bulldog soon had pulled alongside and Sub-Lieutenant David Balme led a boarding party, and began stripping her of what they could find. Balme's team soon began to take off the valuables and these turned out to be codebooks, charts, ciphers and most significantly, a complete and undamaged Enigma machine. The crew hadn't any idea what it was they had captured. Before they transferred the equipment Bulldog had to depart, leaving the u-boat with the prize crew as it had received a message of another submarine in the area. Balme and his men were left onboard U-110 for over an hour before Bulldog returned.
Aftermath and significance
Baker-Cresswell took U-110 in tow, but she sank within hours due to the damage she had sustained. Lemp was lost with 14 members of his crew but a war correspondent, 4 officers and 28 men were rescued and sent to Scapa FlowScapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
as prisoners of war. At Scapa Flow experts from Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
were waiting and were exceptionally surprised with what they collected and took back with them.
The capture of the Enigma machine was highly secretive at the time and none of the crew knew of the significance. The machine itself significantly assisted the work in hand at Bletchley Park in breaking German naval codes. This was the first fully functioning machine and the first one used to break the naval codes along with the capture of codes from a number of German weather ships during the same year. Thanks to this Enigma machine though; Bletchley were able to inform the Royal Navy and thus steered convoys away from where most groups of U-boat packs were present. The difference made was substantial; from when the information began to pour through in June 1941 Allied shipping losses were around 432,000 tons but by August it had dropped to less than 80,000 tons.
The most important find as well being the Reservehandverfahren
Reservehandverfahren
' was a German Naval World War II hand-cipher system used as a backup method when no working Enigma machine was available.The cipher had two stages: a transposition followed by bigram substitution. In the transposition stage, the cipher clerk would write out the plaintext into a "cage" — a shape...
cipher which was first solved at Bletchley Park in June 1941 by means of documents captured from U-110 and then later on with the important capture of code-books and other important documents from U-559 on 30 October 1942. Thereafter it was solved using cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information that is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves knowing how the system works and finding a secret key...
led by Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
for over three years. Some 1,400 signals were read during that period. Baker-Cresswell was awarded the DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
and promoted captain. King George VI
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
told him the capture of the U-110 cipher material had been "the most important single event in the whole war at sea".
U-571 (film)
The film U-571U-571 (film)
U-571 is a 2000 film directed by Jonathan Mostow, and starring Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Thomas Kretschmann, Jon Bon Jovi, Jack Noseworthy, Will Estes, and Tom Guiry...
was partially inspired by the capture of U-110. The film however caused irritation and anger in Britain whereby the films plot was Americanised. The anger came to such a point that at Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime minister's questions is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that takes place every Wednesday during which the prime minister spends half an hour answering questions from members of parliament...
, Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
agreed with questioner Brian Jenkins MP
Brian Jenkins (politician)
Brian David Jenkins is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tamworth from 1997 until 2010, and has lived in the constituency for over 50 years...
that the film was "an affront" to British sailors.
In response to a letter from Paul Truswell
Paul Truswell
Paul Anthony Truswell is an English Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Pudsey from 1997 to 2010.He is a graduate of the University of Leeds and a former Leeds City Councillor....
, MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the Pudsey
Pudsey (UK Parliament constituency)
Pudsey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
constituency (which includes Horsforth
Horsforth
Horsforth is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England, lying to the north west of Leeds. It has a population of 18,928....
, a town proud of its connection with HMS Aubretia), U.S. president Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
wrote assuring that the film's plot was only a work of fiction.
Despite the criticisms however David Balme was interviewed by the director of the film, Jonathan Mostow
Jonathan Mostow
Jonathan Mostow is an American film director, writer and producer.-Biography:A graduate of Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut and Harvard, Mostow also trained at the American Repertory Company and New York City's Lee Strasberg Institute...
in which he described the capture of U-110 and the capture itself was mentioned at the start of the end credits as recognition and response to the criticisms.