The opening moves November 12, 1941
The Allied naval forces are all approaching and some are within range of long range Luftwaffe patrol planes as of midday. The Allied surface groups are all steaming at 15 knots and the minesweeping groups are the closest to the French coast. All of the Allied naval task forces have air and surface search radar and patrols consisting of a RAF Coastal Command Hudson and pair of Beaufighters which have the new Mk VII air search radar, while the Hudson’s have Mk II Air to surface vessel radars and several have been issued large numbers of flares at the cost of reduced bomb load to illuminate surfaced Uboats detected at night. The carriers also have much of their bomber force up conducting sweeps looking for surfaced Uboats. Patrolling over Force X and Z, at least until that evening, are standing patrols of RAF Spitfires as the Allied ships have not yet steamed out of fighter cover range as they exist the Irish Sea and begin their approach into the Bay of Biscay. .
First blood is drawn that day as a squadron of Dauntless dive bombers from the Yorktown spot and attack the U-208 which is part of a wolfpack patrolling the approaches of the Irish Sea, while other aircraft force the remaining 4 U-boats of this group to dive and stay below the surface, preventing them from intercepting the Allied ships passing within detection range of them, or surfacing to send a radio message until darkness. Fighters from the Ark Royal shoot down in two different encounters FW200 Condors that were patrolling within radar range of Force Y, but one manages to get a contact report that it is being attacked by carrier aircraft and the Kriegsmarine radios instructions to a second wolf pack to move into that area to look for the enemy. However heavy air patrols keep that group submerged until nightfall soon after they receive their orders.
The Germans do however pick up the increased aerial chatter over the Bay of Biscay and Irish Sea, and while still well out of radar range, this chatter and the loss of at least one patrol aircraft to naval fighters indicates that the Allied operation is in its early stages. Admiral Ciliax at Brest is worried that the Allies are coming earlier than expected, and requests permission to launch Operation Cerebus that night, instead of waiting even if the Luftwaffe is not yet ready. Ciliax makes the point to Admiral Schultze, commander of the Kriegsmarine in France, that better now than to wait in port if the Allies are coming. Schultze, widely respected and although old, a highly decorated war hero (including holding the Pour le Merite) is listened to when he sends a message and then makes a call to Raeder, who after consulting with Hitler, orders the operation to begin as soon as the ships can make steam and leave port. By the time communications times allow reports and orders to be transmitted, the German fleet is making steam and will be ready to leave port at 2003 hours, an hour after nautical twilight and at ebbing high tide.
While the Kriegsmarine is making its preparations the Luftwaffe is ordered to move its aircraft from northern Italy to bases around Lorient by midafternoon, and most take off within an hour of that message, reaching their new forward bases just as the sun is going down in most cases. Mechanical problems reduce the Fliegerkorps X strike group to 45 JU88 dive bombers, 12 Fokker TVIII torpedo bombers (floatplanes) and 15 He111 torpedo bombers as a number of aircraft are forced to abort during their ferry flight or before take off from their bases around Genoa. At the same time, Luftwaffe squadrons in France prepare for a surge the next day and fighters patrol heavily over Brest until nightfall.
Night November 12
The German fleet leaves port escorted by Eboats and covered by 5 Uboats just at the edge of the minefields. The sea state is choppy, with 2 meter wave heights, and there is a 1.5 meter swell so that there are up to 4 meters between crest and trough further offshore. This is rough weather for the Eboats, which are rapidly forced to break off, and the Uboats find that between the sea state and mist from the clouds, as well as 25 knot wind gusts, their visibility is essentially negligible. The Allies also find the weather difficult but the forecast is for it to calm before dawn, with winds dropping to 10 knots and the sea state dropping by roughly half. While not ideal conditions for minesweeping this is adequate enough. Ashore in France, as night falls the weather closes in with rain and low clouds preventing flying before morning while conditions are better in southern England, where it is partly cloudy at present as the weather system in the Bay of Biscay has deflected south by a high pressure area. The Germans are moving at 10 knots initially as they carefully stay in the cleared area off the port of Brest as there are serious concerns that the British have recently mined the area. This uses up almost 3 hours in all, placing the Germans about 10 miles northwest of the island of Quessant at 2300 hours.
The two Allied carrier forces turn west as night falls, moving off at 20 knots to leave the relatively close confines of the Bay of Biscay behind them and plan to return to launch position 150 miles west of the surface groups they are supporting just after dawn. This leaves the two Uboat wolf packs far behind who never sight the two carrier forces in the seas. The Bay of Biscay, well known for some of the heaviest seas in the entire Atlantic basin, is a difficult place to fight in the late Fall through early Spring as in the Atlantic send in large waves and frequent follow right behind. The other Uboat Wolf pack is deployed within 50 miles of Brest and the sea state makes operating on the surface difficult for them as well. The Uboats also lack radar and will not have it until the next year, making their role as picket ships problematic to begin with. The Germans assumed that the Allies would only come in decent weather, and in the near gale conditions present are forced to operate with what is on hand.
The closest forces to the German fleet are Force M, which is at 50 miles and closing, and has shifted track due to drifting off course slightly due to high seas, and Force Z, which is 30 miles behind Force M, and thus 80 miles from the German fleet. If both sides had kept to their planned courses they would have missed each other in the darkness and poor weather. However, the German fleet commander decides to swing a little wider from the dangerous ground near Ushant (Ouessant) and with the weather being poorer than expected, the dangerous ground near the Channel Islands as well. Thus Allied Force M and the German Fleet are on a collision course, with the minesweeping group steaming at 15 knots, and the Germans have now accelerated to 20 knots as they are well clear of coastal minefields and no longer have to worry about the Eboats which were struggling in the heavy seas.
(orange- Uboat wolf packs, Red- German fleet, Blue- minesweeping forces, Green- battleship forces, light green- carrier forces)
