The UG convoys were a series of east-bound trans-Atlantic convoys from the United States to Gibraltar carrying food, ammunition, and military hardware to the United States Army in North Africa and southern Europe during World War II. These convoys assembled in Hampton Roads near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and terminated in various North African locations as Axis forces retreated from 1942 through 1945. [1]
Allied war materials had been transported from North America to the British Isles in HX convoys since 1939 and in slower SC convoys since 1940. These convoys were escorted by the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy. The United States Navy provided a few escorts to HX and SC convoys from September 1941 through April 1943. UG convoys were established as a second, more direct, supply route to support the invasion of North Africa. The first convoy, designated UGF 1, was the invasion convoy sailing on 24 October 1942 and arriving on 8 November 1942. The F designated a convoy of faster ships. Thereafter, fast and slow eastbound and westbound convoys on this southern route were given four separate numbering sequences beginning with 2. [1]
Commencing with UGF 2, sailing New York 6 November 1942, fast eastbound convoys were sailed along the southern trans-Atlantic route at irregular intervals of about 25 days until June 1943. Convoys UGF 2 and UGF 3 terminated in Casablanca, and the termination point was extended into the Mediterranean port of Oran with convoy UGF 4. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily, convoys UGF 8 and UGF 9 sailed in two sections with the second section being identified as UGF 8A and UGF 9A, respectively. Sailing frequency to the Mediterranean was then reduced by preparations for Operation Overlord. Convoy UGF 10 was the last convoy terminating at Oran on 2 September 1943; and convoy UGF 11 was the first reaching the southern European port of Naples on 31 May 1944. With UGF 12 sailing Hampton Roads 1 July 1944, the interval was set at 27 days, at which it remained the rest of the war. This schedule called for two escort groups based at Norfolk and two convoy commodores. [2] Separate convoys designated UGF 15B and UGF 17B terminated in Marseilles. The last fast eastbound convoy UGF 22 terminated in Oran on 8 April 1945. A total of 382 ships sailed in 26 fast convoys, and none were lost. [1]
Approximately two slow eastbound convoys per month departed Hampton Roads along the southern trans-Atlantic route beginning with convoy UGS 2 on 13 November 1942. Frequency of sailing increased to three convoys per month in the summer of 1943 and increased again to six convoys per month in 1945. The last slow eastbound convoy, UGS 95, left Hampton Roads on 28 May 1945. Approximately 5,800 ships sailed in 100 slow convoys. Additional sections were identified as UGS 5A, UGS 6A, UGS 7A, UGS 8A, UGS 33A, and UGS 55B. [1]
Convoy UGS 6 came under attack by wolf packs Unverzagt, Wohlgemut, and Tummler during the submarine offensive including the battle of convoys HX 229/SC 122. Three ships were sunk: [3] [4]
These were the only ships lost during the Atlantic crossing of these convoys, although the following ships were lost in the Mediterranean Sea: [4]
A total of 335 ships returned to the United States along the southern trans-Atlantic route in 24 fast convoys beginning with the sailing of convoy GUF 2 from Casablanca on 29 November 1942. The last fast westbound convoy GUF 22 left Oran on 16 April 1945. Additional sections were identified as GUF 2A, GUF 15B, and GUF 17B. No ships were lost from these fast convoys. [1]
Approximately 5200 ships returned to the United States along the southern trans-Atlantic route in 98 slow convoys beginning with the sailing of convoy GUS 2 from Oran on 21 December 1942. The last slow westbound convoy GUS 92 left Oran on 27 May 1945. Additional sections were identified as GUS 5A, GUS 5B, GUS 6A, GUS 7A, GUS 8A, GUS 10X, and GUS 55B. [1] There were no losses from these convoys during the Atlantic portion of their voyage, but five ships were lost within the Mediterranean Sea:
The United States Navy provided all escorts between Hampton Roads and Gibraltar, although some of the destroyer escorts providing anti-submarine screens for these convoys had United States Coast Guard crews. A typical screen was provided by an escort division (CortDiv) of six destroyer escorts. [10] Most of these convoys were given air coverage from escort carriers and patrol bombers flying from the Azores. The Royal Navy initially provided escorts within the Mediterranean, although United States escorted these convoys as far as Oran as the front moved east. [1]
USS Card was an American Bogue-class escort carrier that saw service in World War II. She was named for Card Sound, a continuation of Biscayne Bay, south of Miami, Florida. She was the flagship of Task Group 21.14, a hunter-killer group formed to destroy German submarines in the North Atlantic.
The Second Happy Time was a phase in the Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines attacked merchant shipping and Allied naval vessels along the east coast of North America. The First Happy Time was in 1940–1941 in the North Atlantic and North Sea. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, and as a result their navies could begin the Second Happy Time.
USS Bristol was a Gleaves-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral Mark Lambert Bristol. She was launched 25 July 1941 by Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny, New Jersey; sponsored by Mrs. Powell Clayton.The destroyer was commissioned on 22 October 1941.
USS Charles F. Hughes (DD-428) was a Benson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Charles Frederick Hughes.
USS Robert I. Paine (DE/DER-578), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Marine Corps Private Robert I. Paine (1923–1942), who was killed in action during the attack on Tulagi on 7 August 1942. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
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SS Samuel Huntington was an American liberty ship during World War II. She was the 248th liberty ship authorized by the United States Maritime Commission and was named in honor of Samuel Huntington, a Founding Father and signer of the American Declaration of Independence. SS Samuel Huntington was launched in 1942 and sailed to ports in the Pacific, South America, Africa, and the United Kingdom. She was one of a select group of liberty ships that were outfitted to carry a limited number of either troops or prisoners of war. As part of a convoy to resupply the Allied troops at Anzio, she sank after a successful German bomb attack in January 1944.
USS Stanton (DE-247) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
The ON and later ONS convoys were a series of North Atlantic trade convoys running Outbound from the British Isles to North America during the Atlantic campaign of the Second World War. The ON convoys replaced the earlier OA/OB series of outbound convoys in July 1941 and ran until the end of the campaign in May 1945. They were organized as alternating fast and slow convoys until March 1943, when the ONS series was begun to take over the slow trans-Atlantic traffic, after which all in the ON series were fast.
SS Andrew Furuseth was a Liberty ship built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. The ship was named in honor of American merchant seaman and labor organizer Andrew Furuseth. The ship was assigned by the War Shipping Administration to Matson Navigation Company who operated it throughout the war in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Andrew Furuseth was one of 220 Liberty ships converted to carry a limited number of troops or prisoners of war.
Convoy SC 118 was the 118th of the numbered series of World War II slow convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island, to Liverpool. The ships departed New York City on 24 January 1943 and were met by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group B-2 consisting of V-class destroyers Vanessa and Vimy, the Treasury-class cutter Bibb, the Town-class destroyer Beverley, Flower-class corvettes Campanula, Mignonette, Abelia and Lobelia, and the convoy rescue ship Toward.
Convoy ON 154 was a North Atlantic convoy of the ON convoys which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. It was the 154th of the numbered series of merchant ship convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America. It came under attack in December 1942 and lost 13 of its 50 freighters; one U-boat was sunk.
Prior to World War II, the Indian Ocean was an important maritime trade route between European nations and their colonial territories in East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, British India, Indochina, the East Indies (Indonesia), and Australia for a long time. Naval presence was dominated by the Royal Navy Eastern Fleet and the Royal Australian Navy as World War II began, with a major portion of the Royal Netherlands Navy operating in the Dutch East Indies and the Red Sea Flotilla of the Italian Regia Marina operating from Massawa.
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The CU convoys were a World War II series of fast trans-Atlantic convoys to the British Isles. The earliest convoys of the series were tankers sailing directly from petroleum refineries at Curaçao to the United Kingdom. Most convoys of the series assembled in New York City and included fast freighters and troopships, with tankers arriving from Aruba via TAG convoys to Guantánamo Bay and GN convoys from Guantánamo to New York.
SS Louise Lykes was a Type C2-F ship built in 1941 at Federal Shipbuilding of Kearny, New Jersey. She sailed for the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company out of New Orleans, Louisiana. On 9 January 1943, she was sunk with all hands in the North Atlantic by U-384.
Arctic naval operations of World War II were the World War II naval operations that took place in the Arctic Ocean, and can be considered part of the Battle of the Atlantic and/or of the European Theatre of World War II.
Convoy ON 144 was a trade convoy of merchant ships during the Second World War. It was the 144th of the numbered series of ON convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America. The ships departed Liverpool on 7 November 1942 and were joined on 8 November by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group B-6 consisting of the Flower-class corvettes Vervain, Potentilla, Eglantine, Montbretia and Rose and the convoy rescue ship Perth. Group B-6 had sailed without the destroyers Fame and Viscount which had been damaged in the battle for eastbound convoy SC 104. The United States Coast Guard cutters Bibb, Duane, and Ingham accompanied the convoy from the Western Approaches with ships that detached for Iceland on 15 November.
The Gibraltar convoys of World War II were oceangoing trade convoys of merchant ships sailing between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom. Gibraltar convoy routes crossed U-boat transit routes from French Atlantic ports and were within range of Axis maritime patrol aircraft making these convoys vulnerable to observation and interception by bombers, submarines, and surface warships during the Battle of the Atlantic. OG convoys brought supplies from the United Kingdom to Gibraltar from September 1939 until September 1942. Beginning with Operation Torch, OG convoys were replaced by KM convoys transporting military personnel and supplies from the United Kingdom to and past Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. HG convoys brought food, raw materials, and later empty ships from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom from September 1939 until September 1942. After Operation Torch, HG convoys were replaced by MK convoys returning mostly empty ships from the Mediterranean to the United Kingdom. KM and MK convoys ended in 1945.
HMS Dart (K21) was a River-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Dart was built to the RN's specifications as a Group I River-class frigate.
Media related to UG convoys at Wikimedia Commons
