Operation RB

'RB' was the designation of an Allied convoy (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Newfoundland, Canada, to Liverpool, UK, using small passenger ships (September 1942).

There was only one such convoy, namely RB.1 of 21/28 September with seven British ships in the form of the 4,989-ton Boston, 1,978-ton Naushon, 1,595-ton New Bedford, 4,989-ton New York, 1,814-ton President Warfield, 2,081-ton Southland and 1,547-ton Yorktown. Escort was provided by the destroyers Vanoc and Veteran.

The convoy’s losses were Boston (without casualties) to Oberleutnant Karl-Otto Schultz’s U-216, New York (with all 64 on board) to Kapitänleutnant Heinz Walkerling’s U-91, Yorktown (with 18 lost out of 60 on board) to Oberleutnant Kurt Makowski’s U-619, and Veteran (with all 237 on board including 78 survivors of Boston and New York) to Kapitänleutnant Otto von Bülow’s U-404.