Three U-Boats hunted down

9th February 1944: A long hunt leads to more success for the indefatigable Captain 'Johnnie ' Walker and the Second Escort Group

HMS STARLING: FAMOUS ANTI-U-BOAT SLOOP. 24 MARCH 1943, GREENOCK. HMS STARLING, leader of a group of British sloops which have just added two more victims to their impressive record of U-boats destroyed. During a North Atlantic patrol the first U-boat was illuminated by a starshell fired by HMS KITE NW of the Azores. After forcing her down by depth charges the KITE, WOODCOCK, AND STARLING shadowed the enemy until morning. At dawn HMS WOODCOCK dropped another pattern of depth charges, explosions were heard and the surface of the water littered with tell-tale oil and wreckage. Within 8 hours the second U-boat met her fate . She was detected by HMS Wild Goose, and HMS STARLING delivered the coup de grace

HMS STARLING goes into action again. This shallow pattern of depth charges brought the group's sixth U-boat to the surface.

In the Battle of the Atlantic, the Allies had proved to be the dominant force ever since May 1943. Yet still the Germans sent U-boats to sea in a desperate attempt to halt the flow of men and munitions to Britain. The life expectancy of a U-Boat was now very limited and more and more boats were being sent to the bottom with all their crew.
This battle still relied on the dedicated pursuit of the U-boats by the convoy escort ships and their commanders.

… imagine any one of twenty-four bombs dropping seven hundred feet through the water and getting a direct hit on the twenty-foot diameter hull of an invisible U-boat!

No one man had made more of a contribution to this battle than Captain Frederick 'Johnnie' Walker. He had first earned a Distinguished Service Order in January 1942 for his 'daring and determination' in the hunt for the U-boats. His determination was undiminished two years later when his Second Escort Group set out on its most successful hunting trip.