Convoy HX 154 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
Convoy HX 154 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on Oct. 10-1941 and arrived Liverpool on the 23rd (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 51 ships).
List received from Ted Agar. (His source: A diary. Although the information is usually incomplete, as it is in this case, I consider this diary valuable and important in and of itself and, therefore, I've chosen to transcribe it and keep it "as is" on this website, adding further details and/or corrections from other sources separately, rather than within the form itself [except for cargoes], as seen below).
Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 154 at Ships in all HX convoys.
See also Convoy ON 15, ON 30, ON 32, ON 34 and ON 35 (and other westbound convoys from this time period).
Br=British, Am=American, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
City of Agra
general
(Br)
21
31
Port Auckland
refrig. - general
8 passengers
(Br)
41
freighter
See below
51
Explorer*
general
4 passengers
(Br)
61
Corner Brook
steel - paper
6 passengers
(Br)
71
Manchester Commerce
general
(Br)
81
tanker
See below
91
Primrose Hill
grain
(Br)
101
Silvermaple
general
42 mails
(Br)
12
freighter
(Br)
See below
22
*
32
*
42
Almaack
(USS AK 27)
general
Iceland
(Am)
52
Nagara
grain
1 passenger
(Br)
62
freighter
(Br)
See below
72
Diala
petrol
(Br)
82
Charles F. Meyer
petrol
(Br)
92
Regent Panther
petrol
(Br)
102
Cornwall
refrig. - general
190 mails
(Br)
13
Jutland
steel
(Br)
23
Cistula
gas oil
(Du)
33
Hadnot
fuel oil
Iceland
(Am)
43
W. E. Hutton
FFO
Iceland
(Am)
53
Hilda Knudsen
FFO
(Norw)
63
Bintang
sugar
19 mails
10 passengers
(Du)
73
Samuel Bakke
general - lumber
1 passenger
(Norw)
83
Polarsol
petrol
(Norw)
93
British Yeoman
FFO
(Br)
103
Glenogle
general
2368 mails
12 passengers
(Br)
14
tanker
(Br)
See below
24
Athelknight
fuel oil
(Br)
34
Kaia Knudsen
fuel oil
(Norw)
44
tanker
(Norw)
See below
54
Ranja
petrol
(Norw)
64
*
74
N. T. Nielsen Alonso
whale oil
7 passengers
(Norw)
84
Mijdrecht
petrol
(Du)
94
Skiensfjord
general
(Norw)
104
Antilochus
general
481 mails
(Br)
15
Toronto
general - steel
(Norw)
25
Noreg
fuel oil
(Norw)
35
British Diligence
aviation gas
(Br)
45
freighter
(Br)
See below
55
Waterland
general
(Du)
65
freighter
(Br)
See below
75
Basil
general
3 mails
(Br)
85
*
95
Tai Shan
general
12 passengers
(Norw)
105
Emma Bakke
general
816 mails
12 passengers
(Norw)
16
26
*
36
46
56
66
76
86
Magdala
dieso
(Du)
96
106
*See also Convoy PQ 6 (and QP 8).
The Norwgian Toronto had returned to port from the previous convoy, HX 153.
The Rescue Vessel Perth was also with this convoy for a while - See Notes below.
The diary also mentions the British Llangibby Castle but station number is not given. According to A. Hague, this ship had station 21, general cargo, 289 passengers (16 days repairs).
*When comparing this information with A. Hague's listing for HX 154 at Ships in all HX convoys, it'll be noticed that he has included some ships that are not mentioned in the diary, as follows:
In station 22 - The American USS Mattole, (USS tanker AO 17), joined from Argentia, N.F., bound for Iceland
In station 32 - The American Algorab, USN vessel, also joined from Argentia, N.F., bound for Iceland
In station 64 - The Panamanian El Almirante, general cargo
In station 85 - The British Tactician, general cargo
In station 26 - The British Martand, general cargo
He says the unnamed freighter in station 41 was the british Corinaldo, cargo of grain and 4 bags of mail
The tanker in station 81 is listed as the British Empire Sapphire, cargo of petrol
The ship in station 12 was Empire Sailor, general cargo
The ship in station 62 was the British Lancaster Castle, cargo of steel and cotton, 2 passengers
The unnamed British ship in station 14 is listed as the British Athelviscount, cargo of molasses, 1 passenger.
The Norwegian tanker in station 44 was Svenør, cargo of fuel oil
In station 45 he has the British Empire Mallory, cargo of steel and cotton - returned to port (Sydney, C.B.), joined Convoy SC 50, Oct. 17 (see Ships in all SC convoys).
The ship in station 65 was the British Orestes, refrig., general, 529 mails
(none of these are named in the diary)
Notes:
Arnold Hague ("Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945") says that the Rescue Vessel Perth was with this convoy from joining to Clyde, Oct. 19 to Oct. 22-1941. She had been with Convoy ON 25 from Loch Ewe to detachment (Oct. 12-16) and was on her 9th voyage as Rescue Vessel (having been requisitioned as such in Oct.-1940).
The ships left port in the following sequence (according to the diary, which lists ships joining from Halifax only):
The British Corner Brook was the first to leave at 11:12, followed a few minutes later by Nagara, then the American Hadnot, Norwegian Ranja, British Athelknight and an unnamed British freighter, the Norwegian Tai Shan (4 bombers on deck), British Regent Panther, Dutch Waterland (3 bombers), another unnamed British freighter followed by the British Port Auckland, Norwegian Hilda Knudsen and Samuel Bakke, British Cornwall, Britsh Yeoman, Primrose Hill, Norwegian Emma Bakke, British Glenogle (2 bombers), unnamed British freighter, Charles F. Meyer, Manchester Commerce, Explorer (2 bombers), Norwegian Polarsol and Skiensfjord followed by an unnamed British tanker, Dutch Cistula, British City of Agra, American W. E. Hutton, British Jutland, the Norwegian whale factory N. T. Nielsen-Alonso, Dutch Bintang, British Basil, then an unnamed Norwegian tanker and an unnamed, camouflaged tanker (nationality not given), the British Silvermaple, Norwegian Kaia Knudsen, the British British Diligence, Norwegian Toronto, American Almaack with airmen and soldiers, British Antilochus, Dutch Mijdrecht, unnamed freighter (no nationality given), British Diala, another unnamed freighter (British), the British Llangibby Castle, Dutch Magdala and the last to leave was the Norwegian Noreg at 15:02.
A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of HX convoy escorts, also received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Abelia - From 19/10/41 to 22/10/41
Amherst - From 10/10/41 to 11/10/41
Annapolis - From 10/10/41 to 13/10/41
Douglas - From 19/10/41 to 22/10/41
Saladin - From 19/10/41 to 23/10/41
Skate - From 19/10/41 to 22/10/41
St. Elstan - 19/10/41
St. Zeno - 19/10/41
USS Charles F. Hughes - From 12/10/41 to 19/10/41
USS Gleaves - From 12/10/41 to 19/10/41
USS Lansdale - From 12/10/41 to 19/10/41
USS Madison - From 12/10/41 to 19/10/41
USS Simpson - From 12/10/41 to 19/10/41
Veronica - From 19/10/41 to 22/10/41
Veteran - From 19/10/41 to 23/10/41
