Convoy HX 178 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
Convoy HX 178 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on March 3-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the17th (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy system" gives 22 ships).
List 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 178 at Ships in all HX convoys.
Br=British, Fr=French, Am=American, Norw=Norwegian, Ru=Russian, Bel=Belgian.
†=dead
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
11
Baron Jedburgh
sugar
(Br)
21
Argos Hill
general
(Br)
31
San Venancio
cargo unknown
(Br)
41
Bayano
refrig. - general
99 passengers
(Br)
51
Manchester Commerce
general
(Br)
61
Taranaki
refrig. - general
1091 mails
8 passengers
(Br)
71
Salacia
general
(Br)
81
Ville de Tamatave
general
12 passengers
(Br - Ex Fr)
12
Hegira*
general
(Am)
22
Bello
lub. oil
(Norw)
32
42
Krassin*
ice breaker
(Ru)
52
Emma Bakke
general
10 passengers
(Norw)
62
Empire Airman
grain
(Br)
13
Ironclad*
general
(Am)
23
Francis Scott Key*
general
(Am)
33
Collamer
sunk - 7 †
general
(Am)
43
Brabant
general
(Bel)
53
Polartank
petrol
(Norw)
63
Katy
aviation gas
(Norw)
73
Empire Opal
aviation gas
(Br)
83
Celtic Star
refrig. - general
(Br)
According to a note for Convoy SC 73, the Norwegian Vinga, sailing in that convoy, originally came from HX 178.
Argos Hill and San Venancio had returned to port from the previous convoy, HX 177.
A. Hague has Collamer in station 32 (instead of 33), again, see his listing for HX 178 at Ships in all HX convoys. Straggled March 3 - see also Notes below.
For Francis Scott Key he has a note saying "believed 1st Liberty on N. Atlantic run".
* Hegira, Ironclad and Francis Scott Key later joined Convoy PQ 14 at the end of March. The Russian icebreaker Krassin is also mentioned in the notes for that convoy (listed as sailing in PQ 15 in Arnold Hague's "Convoys to Russia 1941-1945"). See also QP 10, QP 12 and QP 13.
Notes:
Ville de Tamatave was French - under Ministry of War Transport from 1941 (sank in a storm in 1943 - see Convoy ON 160).
The American Collamer became a straggler and was torpedoed and sunk on March 5 by U 404 (44 19N 63 09W), 7 died, 31 survived ("The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan). Ref. external link at the end of this page for more details.
The ships left port in the following sequence:
The first ship to leave at 11:12 was the Russian ice breaker Krassin followed a few mintues later by Manchester Commerce (Flagship), then Baron Jedburgh, Taranaki, San Venancio, Salacia (crated planes), Polarsol, Empire Opal, Ville de Tamatave, Polartank, Emma Bakke (Admiralty flag, decks covered with crates, the ship is a mass of posts), Collamer, a Belgian freighter (Brabant), an American freighter (Hegira - crates with green diagonal stripes, sand bags ahead of super structure, doors, boards etc. flung all over the ship), Skiensfjord, Empire Airman, Francis Scott Key ("B" flag, 3 masts), a Norwegian tanker (Katy, 63 - white painted "V" over "C" on stack), Celtic Star, Bayano, Bello, Argos Hill and then Ironclad as the last ship to leave at 12:53.
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):
Algoma - From 06/03/42 to 16/03/42
Bittersweet - From 03/03/42 to 06/03/42
Calgary - From 03/03/42 to 04/03/42
Chilliwack - From 06/03/42 to 16/03/42
Drummondville - From 03/03/42 to 07/03/42
Narvik - From 17/03/42 to 17/03/42
Oakville - From 03/03/42 to 07/03/42
Shediac - From 06/03/42 to 17/03/42
USCGC Spencer - From 06/03/42 to 16/03/42
USS Gleaves - From 06/03/42 to 16/03/42
Walker - From 03/03/42 to 07/03/42
Witherington - From 03/03/42 to 07/03/42
To the next HX convoy in my list HX 179