HX convoys

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HX convoys
Part of The Battle of the Atlantic of the Second World War
HMCS Regina K234 CT-252.jpg
Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvettes such as HMCS Regina escorted many of the HX convoys
DateSeptember 1939 – May 1945
Location 0°N25°W / 0°N 25°W / 0; -25
Result Allied victory
Atlantic Ocean laea location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Map of the Atlantic Ocean

HX convoys were transatlantic convoys in the North Atlantic during the First World War and in the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. HX convoys sailed eastwards from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, to Liverpool and other ports in Britain. They were joined the BHX convoys from Bermuda en route. After the United States entered the war, HX convoys began at New York.

Contents

The HX series consisted of 377 convoys, with 17,744 ships. Thirty-eight convoys were attacked (about 10 per cent), with the loss of 110 ships in convoy; sixty stragglers were sunk and 36 lost while detached or after dispersal, with losses from marine accident and other causes, for a total loss of 206 ships or about 1 per cent of the total. [1]

Background

An HX series had run in the Atlantic Campaign of the First World War in 1917 and 1918. [2] HX convoys were revived in 1939 at the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic and were run until the end, the longest continuous series of the war. HX 1 sailed on 16 September 1939 with 18 merchant ships, escorted by the Royal Canadian Navy destroyers HMCS St. Laurent and Saguenay to a North Atlantic rendezvous with Royal Navy heavy cruisers HMS Berwick and York. [3] HX 358 sailed on 23 May 1945 and arrived at Liverpool on 6 June 1945. [4] HX convoys were initially considered fast and made up of ships that could make 9–13 kn (17–24 km/h; 10–15 mph), the voyage from New York to Liverpool taking an average of 15.2 days. A parallel series of slow convoys (SC), was run for ships making 7.7–8 kn (14.3–14.8 km/h; 8.9–9.2 mph), which took about 15.4 days from Sydney, Nova Scotia. [5]

Ships making more than 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph) sailed independently; CU (Caribbean to United Kingdom) series were organised in 1943, most being US war-built tankers of 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)+, which later included troop transports and fast merchant ships. [6] Outbound convoys were usually slower than return convoys and summer voyages usually faster than those in winter. Delays for diversions and bad weather could lead to escort vessels at the ocean rendezvous running low on fuel and having to return. A convoy that went way off course or encountered unusually stormy or foggy weather would be lucky to make rendezvous with its escorts. [5] The largest convoy of the Second World War was Convoy HX 300 which sailed from New York to Britain on 25 July 1944, with 166 merchant ships, arriving at Liverpool without incident, on 3 August 1944. [7]

Convoy battles

Map showing the north Atlantic North Atlantic Ocean laea relief location map.jpg
Map showing the north Atlantic

HX convoy statistics

Sinkings of merchant ships in HX convoys; data taken from Hague (2000). [1]
YearNo. of convoysNo. of shipsConvoy lossesStragglers lostNon-convoy lossesTotalTotal as %
193922431123
1940913,42448222494
1941703,0502118746
1942541,81186317
1943532,958271441
1944554,08522
1945321,98533
Total37717,7741106036206

Notes

  1. 1 2 Hague 2000, p. 116.
  2. Newbolt 2003, p. 104.
  3. Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 4; Roskill 1957, p. 93.
  4. Hague 2000, pp. 123, 129.
  5. 1 2 Roskill 1957, p. 345.
  6. Hague 2000, p. 38.
  7. Hague 2000, p. 129.
  8. Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 44.
  9. Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 48.
  10. Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 58.
  11. Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 63, 65.
  12. Silverstone 1968, p. 9.
  13. Hague 2000, pp. 127–128; Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 203, 208.
  14. Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 236–239.
  15. Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 237–239.

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Further reading