OPERATION TORCH - The tragic losses of the crews of HMS Karanja, Hecla and Avenger

Initially this 2nd post about Operation Torch and the Tunisian campaign was going to be about the sinking of HMS Karanja a Landing Ship Infantry at Dijidjelli near BOUGIE in Algeria. It will cover the loss of Karanja, but it will also highlight the forgotten fact that RN losses associated with op TORCH were higher than Army or RAF losses.

HMS Karanja had been a British passenger ship which was converted in Brooklyn Navy Yard to be an LSI whose function was to carry and land troops using Landing Craft Assault (LCA). LSIs are a bit like the Tunisian campaign in that they are largely forgotten. However, in terms of naval operations and especially amphibious operations they are a bit like minesweepers nothing important really happens unless they do their job. HMS Karanja had already taken part in Operation Ironclad the landing to capture Vichy held Madagascar before being involved in Operation Torch.

After landing troops at Algiers HMS Karanja then took on stores and troops of the 5th Buffs to move them to near the port of BOUGIE. This landing 100 or so miles east of Algiers by Karanja and 7 other transports was designed to enable the 11 Brigade to advance rapidly toward Tunis. It was a risky venture but air cover was supposed to be provided by aircraft operating out of the nearby airfield. This did not happen and at 0540 Karanja was the subject of a JU 88 attack and was sunk. It appears most of the troops and stores had been unloaded but Karanja's crew were not so fortunate. 39 men were killed on November 12th and 4 more died of wounds.
HMS CATHAY was also hit while it had 1200 troops onboard the ship but by some miracle casualties were limited though there are reports of troops being killed on a lighter. A major disaster was thus avoided on this occasion though Cathay eventually sank.

A few days later the Royal Navy's luck ran out when U Boats tracked and torpedoed HMS AVENGER an escort carrier. In a blink of eye over 561 officers and ratings of the AVENGER lost their lives when the ship blew up. There were only 12 survivors.

In his report to the Admiralty Lieutenant Commander N. F. Kingscote, Commanding Officer of the HMS ULSTER MONARCH, wrote;

"At 03:15, a vivid reddish flash appeared on the Starboard side of AVENGER stretching the whole length of the ship and lasting for about 2 seconds. This flash made a perfect silhouette of the ship,and was followed by a pall of black smoke.
After the flash, nothing more was seen of AVENGER but one or two small twinkling lights were observed in the water, obviously from floats. H.M.S. ULSTER MONARCH passed over the position of AVENGER within 3 minutes and nothing was seen...."

A further 281 men were killed when HMS HECLA a destroyer dept ship was hit by German torpedoes. One of the destroyers trying to rescue survivors was also hit. Along with the losses incurred during Operation TERMINAL and RESERVIST and also of the sloop IBIS and destroyer HMS TYNEWALD and a no of other ships that were damaged this led to losses during the Operation TORCH of more than 1000 men from the Royal Navy.

This post is therefore designed to highlight these losses which are so often forgotten by historians who write about Operation TORCH and the campaign into Algeria and then Tunisia.

 

Also, 108 men on board HNMS Isaac Sweers, sunk by U-431 on 13 November 1942.

Operation MF3 – Convoy to Malta

All the best

Andreas

 

Minor correction.

HMS Tynwald (not Tynewald. Named after the Isle of Man Parliament) was not a destroyer. It was an Irish Sea ferry built for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1936/37. Taken up by the Admiralty in 1940, she was converted into an Auxiliary AA Ship and given an armament based around 3 twin 4” mounts and 2 quad Pom-Pom.
SS Tynwald (1936) - Wikipedia
Allied Warships of WWII - Anti-Aircraft ship HMS Tynwald - uboat.net

There was a Type I Hunt class destroyer named Tynedale. She was under repair in Britain in Nov 1942 but went to the Med in March 1943. She was sunk off Bougie in Dec 1943.