Convoy OG 71

Convoy OG.71
Part of World War II
Date13–25 August 1941
Location
Result German victory
Belligerents
Germany

United Kingdom

 Royal Norwegian Navy
Commanders and leaders
Admiral Karl Dönitz Vice-Admiral P E Parker DSO
Strength
8 U-boats 23 merchant ships
13 escorts
Casualties and losses
10 ships sunk
(8 merchants, 2 escorts)
360 killed

Convoy OG 71 was a trade convoy of merchant ships during the second World War. It was the 71st of the numbered OG convoys Outbound from the British Isles to Gibraltar. The convoy departed Liverpool on 13 August 1941[1] and was found on 17 August by a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor of Kampfgeschwader 40. Starting on August 19, it became the first convoy of the war to be attacked by a German submarine wolfpack, when reached by eight U-boats from 1st U-boat Flotilla, operating out of Brest. Ten ships comprising a total tonnage of 15,185 tons were sunk before the U-boats lost contact on 23 August.[2]

  1. ^ Hague, pp. 175–176
  2. ^ Rohwer, Jürgen; Hummelchen (1999). Axis submarine successes of World War Two. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781853673405. p. 78