Convoy HX 200 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)

Convoy HX 200 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on July 27-1942 and arrived Liverpool on Aug. 7 (Arnold Hague gives 34 ships).

List received from Ted Agar, supplemented by info received from Roger Griffiths (his source: Public Records Office, Kew.

Br=British, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Bel=Belgian, Sw=Swedish, Am=American, Pa=Panamanian.

For info, quite a few of the ships in this convoy subsequently returned to the U.S. on Aug. 21 with the westbound Convoy ON 123, others with ON 125.

11
Fernmoor
general
Belfast
(Norw)

21
Tibia
gasoline
Belfast
(Du)

31
Athelprince
(Athelprincess?) *
molasses
Greenock
(Br)

41
Empire Redshank
phosphates
Mersey
(Br)

51
Tetela
general
Belfast
(Br)

61
Stuart Prince
general
Liverpool
(Br)

71
Pacific Exporter
general
Cardiff
(Br)

81
Beaconoil
gas oil
Clyde
(Pa)

91
Daltonhall
grain
Clyde
(Br)

12
William Moultrie
general
Clyde
(Am)

22
Esek Hopkins
general
Clyde f. o.
(Am)

32
Daylight
fuel oil
Londonderry
(Am)

42
Norfjell
gasoline
Belfast
(Norw)

52
San Venancio
petr. alcohol
Manchester
(Br)

62
Morgenen
lub. oil
Mersey
(Norw)

72
Arabian Prince
general
Cardiff
(Br)

82
Ville d'Anvers
steel - general
Belfast
(Bel)

92
Thomas Stone
general
Clyde
(Am)

13
Fort Alexandria
general
Liverpool
(Br)

~~Rio Novo~~

general
Clyde f. o.
(Norw)

33
Mary Luckenbach
general
Clyde f. o.
(Am)

43
Patrick Henry
general
Clyde f. o.
(Am)

53
Esso Dover
diesel oil
Mersey
(Am)

63
Gallia
petrol
Manchester
(Norw)

73
Vaalaren
refrig.
Belfast
(Sw)

83
Fanad Head
grain - explosives(?)
Liverpool
(Br)

93
William Johnson
general
Mersey
(Am)

14
Ocean Strength
general
Manchester
(Br)

24
Belle Isle **
general
St. John's
(Br)

34
Mobile City
general
Liverpool
(Am)

44
Aruba
general
Belfast
(Du)

54
Samuel Bakke
general
Belfast
(Norw)

64
Abangarez
general
Belfast
(Am)

74
Ocean Vista
general
Manchester
(Br)

84
Alcoa Voyager
general
Belfast
(Am)

94
Parismina
general
Belfast
(Am)

35
Fort Townshend **
general
St. John's
(Br)

William Moultrie, Mary Luckenbach, Esek Hopkins and Patrick Henry had been cancelled from the slow Convoy SC 93. They all later joined Convoy PQ 18 to Russia (available at this external site).

Notes:
Commodore E. O. Cochrane RNR was in Tetela, Vice Commodore was the captain of Stuart Prince.

* The ship in station 31 is listed as Athelprincess in the diary, but as Athelprince on the A 1 form - My guess is the latter is correct(?). She was the Clyde Commodore vessel.

** As can be seen, Belle Isle was only going as far as St. John's. For info, she's also mentioned in HX 198, as well as in HX 202 (Aug. 9-1942) and HX 204.
Fort Townshend (also destined for St. John's) shows up again in HX 203.

Rio Novo sailed in the next convoy.

The ships left in the following order:
The first to leave at 12:37 was Ocean Strength, followed at 13:17 by the Commodore Vessel Tetela, then with a few minutes between each ship, Ocean Vista, Fernmoor, Arabian Prince, Morgenen, Samuel Bakke, Thomas Stone, Empire Redshank, Pacific Exporter, Alcoa Voyager, Ville d'Anvers, Daltonhall, Daylight, Mobile City, William Johnson, Stuart Prince, William Moultrie, Parismina, Esso Dover, Abangarez, San Venancio, Belle Isle, Athelprince(ss), Fort Townshend, Vaalaren, Tibia, Aruba, Norfjell, Fort Alexandria, Mary Luckenbach, Gallia, Beaconoil, Patrick Henry, and the last to go out at 16:04 was Fanad Head (or, may have gone at 14:04, following Ville d'Anvers at 14:02?). (The Liberty Ship Esek Hopkins is not listed in the diary).

Commodore's notes:
The convoy had 36 ships on departure, 34 were still present on arrival local rendezvous (Belle Isle and Fort Townshend having parted company for St. John's, N.F. at 05:30 on July 30 in 47 40N 51 10W).

Station keeping was "above average", San Venancio particularly good.
Signalling "good", especially Esso Dover. Athelprince had great problems maintaining convoy speed, and "not a satisfactory ship for Clyde Commodore on account of slow speed".

The Commodore suggests that New York should be used for convoy assembly and sailing port, adding "very good facilities for repair and refuelling of merchant ships, saving of time for ships loading at American and Gulf ports".

Commodore's narrative of passage (hand written - some words hard to decipher):
"Three very fine days were followed by five days of fog and low visibility, succeeded by 3 days of cloudy weather ending up with heavy rain when in North Channel. Easterly winds prevailed throughout.

SS Ocean Strength a new ship built in U.S.A. and fitted with N.D. attempted to place it on 29 July, but blocker carried? away and she failed to get it out. No other occasion arose during voyage to neccesitate? the use of it.

At 17:00 on 31st July when in 51 55N 44 45W was ordered by Washington to A/C to the northwest? as a U-boat was ahead of us. Escort pointed out that convoy was ahead of U-boat and diversion was cancelled at 17:30. Convoy was turned back to 009°?"

Western Local Escorts (from Halifax): HMS Verity, HMCS La Malbaie, HMCS Hamilton, HMCS Rimouski. Parted company at 17:00 on July 30 in 49 35N 48 49W.

Ocean Escort: HMS Viscount, HMS Ramsay, HMS Villain(? hard to read), corvettesMontbretia, Acanthus, Potentilla (the latter 3 are listed on this website - follow link to Montbretia). HMS Ramsay joined at 09:30 on Aug. 1 in 53 42N 41 44W and parted company at 20:00 on Aug. 6 in 55 30N 07 20W, while the other escorts had joined when the Western Local Ecort left at 17:00 on July 30 (49 35N 48 49W) and departed at the same time as Ramsay, except Potentilla, which remained with the convoy.

Eastern Local Escort: HMS Man of War should have joined at 22:00 on Aug. 6 in 55 35N 07 00W but was never seen.

The convoy had air escort from 05:30 on July 28 (relieved by a Catalina at 08:25), and from 06:30 July 29 as well as 05:40 July 30 and 05:05 Aug. 5(? date hard to decipher).

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