Convoy HX 162 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)

Convoy HX 162 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on Nov. 27-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Dec. 11 (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 31 ships).

Received from Ted Agar (His source: A diary).

Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 162 at Ships in all HX convoys.

Underlined ships returned to port (according to A. Hague), except those that are linked, which will automatically be underlined. The Norwegian Beth, however, did return.

For info, some of the ships in this convoy had previously arrived with the westbound Convoy ON 32.
(See also earlier ON convoys)

Br=British, Am=American, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Pol=Polish.

Empire Hawk

scrap steel
(Br)
See Notes below

21
Empire Ray
general
CAM ship
(Br)

31
Southern Princess
fuel oil
(Br)

41
Athelcrown
gasoil - dieso
(Br)
See Notes below

51
Pacific Grove
general
(Br)

71
Dunster Grange
refrig. - 213 mails
11 passengers
(Br)

81
Primrose Hill
grain
CAM ship
(Br)

91
Fanad Head
general
(Br)

12
Oporto
sugar - cotton
(Br)

Pleiades

general
(Am)
See Notes below

52
Empire Mica
petrol
(Br)
See Notes below

62
Eclipse
petrol
(Br)

82
Sama
bacon
3 passengers
(Norw)

92
Ganges
general
(Br)

13
Fresno Star
refrig.
(Br)

33
Clausina
petrol
(Br)

43
Mijdrecht
paraffin
(Du)

53
Beth
FFO
(Norw)
See Notes below

63
Benlomond
general
(Br)

73
Aruba
sugar
(Du)
See Notes below

83
Astrell
dieso
(Norw)

93
Brant County
general
(Norw)

14
City of
Evansville
sugar - linseed
(Br)

24
Teesbank
general
54 mails
(Br)
See Notes below

34
Katy
petrol
(Norw)

54
Empire Oryx
general
(Br)

64
Empire Eagle
steel - MT
(Br)
See Notes below

74
Lechistan
general
(Pol)

84
Skandinavia
petrol
(Norw)

94
Clan Macnair
general
(Br)
See Notes below

55
Athelprince
molasses
(Br)

85
Toltén
general
(Br)
See Notes below

*When comparing the above with Arnold Hague's listing for Convoy HX 162 at Ships in all HX convoys, we find that he has the Norwegian Bello, cargo of lub. oil, in station 72. As will be seen further down on this page, this ship is also mentioned in the diary, but no station number was known. Also, he has the American Eagle, cargo of fuel oil, in station 35 (also mentioned in the diary, but with no station number), American Sapelo, USN tanker AO 11, station 32 (from HX 161), and USS Redwing, USCG tug, station 22, all 3 for Iceland. The latter 2 are not mentioned in the diary.

A. Hague's info otherwise agrees on the whole with the diary, except he has some ships in different stations, as follows:
He has Eclipse in station 61
Benlomond in station 62
Empire Eagle in station 62 (returned to Halifax, Dec. 7 - Perhaps Benlomond took her place after she had left).

Notes:
2 ships were cancelled; British Bretwalda and the Panamanian Norvinn (Norwegian managers, therefore listed on this site). Both sailed in the next convoy, HX 163.

Beth returned to port and later joined the next convoy. According to A. Hague, Aruba, Empire Eagle, Empire Hawk, Clan Macnair, Pleiades and Toltén also returned to port, while Athelcrown and Teesbank became stragglers and joined the slow Convoy SC 57. Aruba is not mentioned again until HX 174, returned and joined SC 70, Empire Eagle does not appear again in an eastbound convoy until SC 74 in March-1942 (became the Norwegian Norjerv shortly thereafter), Empire Hawk and Clan Macnair are listed in HX 165, and Pleiades in HX 173. Toltén had also returned from the previous convoy, HX 161, joined HX 168, returned following collision. She does not show up again until HX 177.

Empire Mica is listed as scheduled for Convoy HX 160.

List of ships according to sequence of departure (35 ships are listed here - from the diary):
The first to leave was the Norwegian Bello at 10:05 (no pendant No. given) followed by the British Pacific Grove, Clan Macnair, Benlomond, Fresno Star, Dunster Grange, Empire Eagle, Norwegian Astrell, British Empire Ray (Hurricane J), Dutch Mijdrecht, Norwegian Brant County, British Primrose Hill (Hurricane LUN), Empire Hawk, City of Evansville, Norwegian Katy, Sama and Skandinavia (with a notation for the latter "brick colored bridge, yellow stack, was grey when came in), British Teesbank, Empire Oryx, Polish Lechistan, British Eclipse, Clausina (listed as Norwegian, but this can't be right - was originally Dutch - transferred in 1939 to Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co., Ltd., Gt. Britain), British Fanad Head, Athelcrown, Ganges, Oporto, Empire Mica, Norwegian Beth, American Pleiades, Dutch Aruba, Norwegian Høegh Scout (she's listed as British in this diary), British Southern Princess, American Eagle (no No. given), British Toltén and Athelprince, the latter leaving at 15:00.

There's now a note in the diary that says "On Nov. 28th the Glenorga and Manchester Commerce came in reporting that they had left a convoy (not this one, I would assume) but sailed again almost immediately". For info, Manchester Commerce is listed in the westbound Convoy ON 36, which had been dispersed on Nov. 26. The British Glenogle is also listed; perhaps Glenorga is a mis-spelling of this ship?

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):
Annapolis - From 27/11/41 to 29/11/41
Caldwell - From 07/12/41 to 11/12/41
Calendula - From 07/12/41 to 10/12/41
Cobalt - From 27/11/41 to 29/11/41
Gentian - From 07/12/41 to 10/12/41
Hamilton - From 27/11/41 to 29/11/41
Honeysuckle - From 07/12/41 to 10/12/41
USS Charles F. Hughes - From 29/11/41 to 07/12/41
USS Lansdale - From 29/11/41 to 07/12/41
USS Madison - From 29/11/41 to 07/12/41
USS Sturtevant - From 29/11/41 to 07/12/41
USS Wilkes - From 29/11/41 to 07/12/41
Vanoc - From 07/12/41 to 10/12/41

Related external link:
The Empire Ships - More info on the Empire Ships sailing in Convoy HX 162.

Back to Convoy Index

To the next HX convoy in my list HX 163