HMS Sharpshooter Attack on U Boat 3.3.43

Source: ADM 199/1784 Proceedings of U-boat assessment committee. Attack on U-boat by Sharpshooter

Position: 63° 32’ N, 23° 05’ W
Weather: Wind SW Force 5, Visibility 5 miles

At 2030 SHARPSHOOTER, stationed one mile on the port beam of HAZARD steering 234° speed 14 knots, obtained RDF contact bearing 086° 1,800 yards. This contact was lost on turning towards and not regained.

At 2120 another RDF contact was obtained bearing 064° 3,000 yards. At 2134, when the bearing had drawn aft by 40° and the range had been reduced by 1,000 yards, SHARPSHOOTER turned towards and increased to full speed. The contact was held to 1,800 yards and hydrophone effect was heard by the asdic operator who, shortly after, obtained contact bearing 130° 1,600 yards. The contact was then attacked.

No. of attack	1^st	2^nd	3^rd
Time	2142	2154	2205
Doppler	Closing	Closing	Closing
H E			HE whistle and rattle effect
Movement of target	Yes	Yes	Yes
Range of losing contact	200 yards	100 yards	500 yards
Time to fire obtained by	Stop watch	Stop watch	Stop watch
No. of D/C’s	2	3	3
Depth settings	500 feet	350 & 500 feet	350 & 500 feet
Remarks	-	Throwers failed due to bad drill	HE at 1,000 yards

It is stated that after original attack (described as a counter attack) difficulty was experienced in maintaining contact due to a defective oscillator. Contact was regained astern after the third attack but lost at 2308.

An RDF contact was held to 1,600 yards but the U-boat was not sighted. There was no evidence of damage.

No recorder trace has been received and the oscillator is stated to have been giving very weak results. As stated above severe rattling and whistle effect was heard at about 1,000 yards when closing for the third attack. This was thought to mean that the U-boat was temporarily surfaced.

No evidence of damage to a U-boat, first attack should have been a deliberate attack and shallower settings used. Depth charge drill seems to have been poor and it is considered that a full pattern should have been used for all attacks.

There is no relevant tracking evidence of the presence of a U-boat in this vicinity. On the other hand the phenomena are consistent with the presence of a U-boat and on balance the attack is assessed as ‘U-boat present. Insufficient evidence of damage’.