Conflict: | Action off Cape Bougaroun |
Partof: | the Battle of the Mediterranean of World War II |
Date: | 6 November 1943 |
Place: | off Cape Bougaroun, Algeria, Mediterranean Sea |
Coordinates: | 37.1667°N 6°W |
Result: | German victory |
Combatant1: | United States United Kingdom Greece Netherlands |
Commander1: | Charles C. Hartman |
Strength1: | 1 cruiser 10 destroyers 4 destroyer escorts 26 transports |
Strength2: | 25 aircraft |
Casualties1: | 17 killed ~9 wounded 1 destroyer sunk 2 merchant ships sunk 1 destroyer damaged 2 merchant ships damaged |
Casualties2: | ~10 killed 6 aircraft destroyed |
The action off Cape Bougaroun (Cap Bougaroûn), or the Attack on Convoy KMF 25A was a Luftwaffe operation against an Allied naval convoy off the coast of Algeria during World War II. The convoy of American, British, Greek and Dutch ships was attacked on 6 November 1943 by 25 German land-based aircraft. Six Allied vessels were sunk or damaged and six German aircraft were destroyed. German forces achieved a tactical victory, though the Allied warships involved received credit for defending their convoy and reacting to their losses quickly. The quick response led to the rescue of over 6,000 servicemen and civilians without further loss of life.
US convoy escorts occasionally sailed all the way across the Atlantic and supplemented British convoy escorts; Task Group 60.2 (Captain Charles C. Hartman USN) escorted Convoy UGF 10 across the Atlantic to Oran and then escorted several convoys in the Mediterranean. On 3 September 1943, the convoy being escorted was attacked by the Luftwaffe, which failed to hit any of the merchant ships but managed to torpedo the destroyer in the stern, the destroyer making its own way to port. The task group escorted two more convoys and was then assigned to cover a troop convoy from Britain, Convoy KMF 25A.