Battle of Sept-Îles

The Battle off Sept-Îles was a naval battle fought on the night of 22 and 23 October 1943 during World War II as part of the Atlantic campaign. The battle took place in the off the Sept-Îles near the French coast in the English Channel between a Light Cruiser and six destroyers of the British Royal Navy, and a destroyer and torpedo boat flotillas of the German Kriegsmarine hoping to intercept and escort a blockade runner. The battle ended with HMS Charybdis being sunk and the destroyer HMS Limbourne (L57) being scuttled after suffering damage; nearly 500 British sailors lost their lives in the battle. The battle was to be the last surface fleet action of the war where the Royal navy were defeated but it was the last German surface fleet action victory of the war.

Background
In late 1943, the British authorities were aware of the approach of the German blockade runner, Münsterland, which had departed Brest and was carrying an important cargo of latex and strategic metals. The British reacted by executing Operation Tunnel, a standard operation whereby available ships would attempt to intercept.

HMS Charybdis was assigned to the operation on 20 October, and on 22 October the British force put to sea from Plymouth. With Charybdis were the fleet destroyers HMS Grenville (R97) and HMS Rocket (H92) and four s; HMS Limbourne (L57), HMS Wensleydale (L86), HMS Talybont (L18) and HMS Stevenstone (L16).

Six German minesweepers of the 2nd flotilla and two radar equipped patrol boats escorted the Münsterland's in a well-rehearsed procedure. The blockade runner was then joined by five s, comprising the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, commanded by Franz Kohlauf.

Soon after midnight the British force conducted a radar sweep at thirteen knots while some seven miles west off Brittany. Meanwhile at the same time German radar operators picked them up and carefully tracked them and then promptly relayed the information to the German ships. These warnings were intercepted by the Hunt destroyers and by Plymouth Command, but Charybdis for some reason did not pick them up.

Battle
The Munsterland was turned back out of harm's way while the German torpedo boats prepared to deal with the British force. Charybdis picked them up on her own radar at a range of 14,000 yards at 0130 and signalled the destroyers to increase speed, but only the rear destroyer, Wensleydale, picked up this signal. Her overtaking the rest of the force however caused confusion, compounded when the first German torpedoes arrived and friendly starshells illuminated the leading British ships instead of the Germans. By now the British formation had lost cohesion.

The British force was visible against the lighter horizon, and the Germans were further aided by a rain squall approaching from the south-west. Visibility was poor with low clouds, and there was a long heavy swell. Kohlaf however saw the silhouette of the larger British cruiser and believing he had been surprised gave the immediate order to turn and flee but not before ordering every ship to launch their torpedoes.

Charybdis could have inflicted considerable damage but the Germans had only been confirmed on radar but visually nothing had been seen. A total of 24 torpedoes were launched by the Germans. Lookouts suddenly saw the white straight foaming tracks of torpedoes and before anything could be done Charybdis was hit on the port side by T-23 under the command of Friedrich-Karl Paul flooding No 2 dynamo room and B boiler room. The port electrical ring main failed and she listed twenty degrees to port and stopped. Torpedoes narrowly missed Wensleydale and Grenville, and then a second torpedo from T-27 struck Charybdis again. This time the aft engine room was hit which flooded and cut all electrical power increased the list to fifty degrees.

Within minutes of the second torpedo hit on Charybdis, T22 scored a hit on Limbourne exploding the forward magazine. She listed heavily to starboard with her bows blown off; the crew subsequently abandoned ship

Charybdis then sank quickly within the space of half an hour with heavy loss of life. The other destroyers had near misses from collisions in the confusion and then withdrew ending the battle.

Aftermath
The British force now under command of Roger Hill of the Grenville only came back when they learned of Limbourne's dilemma and then conducted a rescue operation. 107 of Cahrybdis crew were rescued through the morning and day. The severely damaged Limbourne had lost 42 members of her crew.

An attempt to tow Limbourne was unsuccessful the order was given for her to be scuttled. She was sunk by torpedoes from Talybont and surface gunfire from Rocket. 42 of her ship's company were killed while 100 survivors were picked up.

Franz Kohlauf was awarded the Knight's Cross for this action by Adolf Hitler soon after, while Friedrich-Karl Paul was awarded the German Cross. The action was the last clear German naval victory of the war as well as being the last defeat the Royal Navy would suffer. Lessons were learned by the British and despite the setback Operation Tunnel would eventually bring success with only four out of fifteen blockade runners safely reaching France.

The Münsterland had returned back to port in Saint-Malo unscathed but the blockade running mission had been aborted. On the attempt to eventually move out she was eventually forced ashore and destroyed west of Cap Blanc Nez by fire from British coastal artillery at Dover, on 21 January 1944.

Legacy
The bodies of twenty one Royal Navy and Royal Marine men were washed up in Guernsey. The German occupation authorities buried them with full military honours. The funerals became an opportunity for some of the islanders to demonstrate their loyalty to Britain and their opposition to the Nazi occupiers. Around 5,000 islanders attended the funeral, laying some 900 wreaths - enough of a demonstration against the Nazi occupation for subsequent military funerals to be closed to civilians by the German occupiers.

Every year a commemoration service is held, which is attended by survivors of the action and their relatives, the Guernsey Association of Royal Navy and Royal Marines, Sea Cadets, St John's Ambulance Brigade, the Police and the Red Cross and representatives of the Royal Navy.