The North Atlantic D+2 (11 July, 1987) Part III

Authors note: Beginning with this entry, the form of calendar date presentation will be altered. 9 July will be referred to as D Day, 10 July- D+1, 11 July D+2 and so forth. I’ll begin making corrections to previous entries over the weekend and explain the main revisions underway sometime next week in a separate blog entry. 

 

There were five NATO convoys at sea in the North Atlantic on D+2. Convoy 27,  originally made up of twelve merchant vessels and six escorting warships, was the easternmost group. Originally there had been seven escorts. A Canadian destroyer had been lost on the previous day when a Victor I struck the convoy. Since then, the convoy had altered course slightly to the south to give a wide berth to potential sub threats closer to Greenland and Iceland. ASW aircraft availability made the detour necessary. The P-3s based in Greenland and Iceland were largely committed to GIUK defense at the moment, leaving fewer aircraft available for convoy support.

Behind Convoy 27, the other NATO convoys remained fixed to their current courses for the moment. Two of the four were headed for Norway and could not afford even a slight alteration in their courses. As they approached the GIUK gap and moved north of it the sub and air threats were expected to increase significantly. The Norway-bound convoys were sailing directly into harm’s way, whereas the convoys bound for the Western Europe still had the main threat ahead of them.

Despite this, Russian SSNs already positioned from south of the GIUK line to the Western Atlantic managed to get off a moderate number of torpedo and cruise missile attacks on west bound convoys. The results were mixed. Twenty attacks launched against NATO convoys on D+2 resulted in 4 NATO merchantmen sunk and three damaged. Two escorts were lost as well, with three receiving moderate to heavy damage. In the exchanges seven Russian submarines were confirmed destroyed, with four others listed as possible kills. SACLANT judged friendly losses to be acceptable, but with large portion of blue water still ahead of the convoys,  he knew a better defensive effort needed to be put forth in the coming days. NATO forces in Western Europe were fighting hard, however, soon they would be in desperate need of reinforcement and resupply. The convoys making the trek across the North Atlantic now, and those that would follow were the lifeblood of the alliance. If the merchant ships failed to reach Europe safely, an effective defense of Western Europe would not be possible for long.