Convoy ON 165 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)

Convoy ON 165 Cruising Order
Departed Liverpool on Febr. 2-1943 and arrived New York on March 1 (Arnold Hague says 32 ships).

Names of ships received from Tony C., supplemented by misc. reports received from Roger Griffiths, England - their source: Public Records Office.

Info on ships sunk has been added with the help of
"The World's Merchant Fleets", R. W. Jordan
"Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer

I do not know why there are no ships listed in the first column.

See also HX 221, HX 223 and SC 122.

Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Yu=Yugoslavian, Da=Danish, Sw=Swedish, Est=Estonian, Hu=Hungarian, Gr=Greek, Am=American (U.S.), Ice=Icelandic.

RV=Rescue Vessel, †=died

21
Empire Magpie
New York
(Br)

31
Bristol City
New York
(Br)

41
Margalan *
Philadelphia
(Br)

51
Radhurst
New York
sunk - 38†
(Br)

61
Empire Mariner
New York
(Br)

71
Empire Activity
Halifax &
Boston
(Br)

81
Csikós
Halifax
(Hu)

91
Empire Morn
Halifax
(Br)

101
Nicolaos Michalos
Halifax
(Gr)

111
Governor John Lind
Boston
(Am)

22
Norjerv
Philadelphia
(Norw)

32
Norlom
New York
(Norw)

42
Riley
Philadelphia
(Br)

52
Empire Norse
New York
(Br)

62
Gulfhawk
New York
(Am)

72
Timok
Halifax &
Boston
(Yu)

82
Elizabeth Massey
Halifax
(Br)

92
Keila
Halifax
(Est)

102
Selvistan
Halifax
(Br)

112
Katla
Halifax
(Ice)

23
Pleiades**
Boston
(Gr? Am?)

33
Rio Verde
New York
(Norw)

43
Empire Porpoise
New York
(went to Halifax)
(Br)

53
Zeno
Halifax
(? see Notes)

63
North Devon
Halifax
(Br)

73
Atlantic Sun
New York
sunk - 65†
(Am)

83
Maliakos
Halifax
(Gr)

93
Senga
Halifax
(Yu)

103
Inger Toft
Halifax
(Da / MOWT 1940)

113
Fjallfoss
Halifax
(Ice)

24
Sälen***
New York
(Sw)

34
Sabine Sun
New York
(?)

44
Pundit
Philadelphia
(Br)

54
Christian Holm
New York
(Da / MOWT 1941)

64
Zamalek
Halifax
(Br)
RV

74
F.J. Wolfe
New York
(Br)

84
Saint Margaret
Pernambuco
sunk - 3†
(Br)

94
Saint Rosario
Rio de Janeiro
(Br)

104

114

* Misspelling of Margalau?
** Pleiades is listed as American in the Commodore's narrative on Page 2.
*** Note that Sälen is listed as Mälaren (her previous name) in some earlier convoys on this website.

Notes:
Commodore D. A. Casey, R.N.R. was in Empire Mariner, Vice Commodore was the captain of Bristol City, who took charge of the convoy after Empire Mariner broke down.

The convoy had 32 + 6 ships, 28 of which were present at arrival Local Escort rendezvous.

Norlom*, Sabine Sun, Sälen, Governor John Lind, Katla and Fjallfoss joined the convoy from Iceland at 13:00N on Febr. 8 in 61 29N 23 18W. (Tony adds Atlantic Sun and Esso Augusta to this portion. Additionally, he believes that the Norwegian Lisbeth and the British Westmoor may also have been in ON 165; the former for New York and the latter for Halifax. However, Lisbeth is also listed in ON 169).

*Note that according to Norlom's Voyage Record for this period, she started out from Loch Ewe on Febr. 2. She was bound for New York, but put in at St. John's, N.F. on Febr. 23. See my page about Norlom.

The Rescue Vessel Zamalek was with the convoy from Clyde to St. John's (being short of fuel), Febr. 2 - Febr. 22-1943, then sailed from St. John's to Halifax with Convoy JH 38, Febr. 24-Febr. 28, and later returned to the U.K. with Convoy SC 122 March 8, to Clyde March 22-1943. ("Convoy Rescue Ships", Arnold Hague).

Average speed: 4.58 knots. (Daily positions of convoy, from Febr. 4 to Febr. 20, are available on request via the contact address provided at the bottom of this page. Later positions can be found in the narrative on Page 2).

Ships leaving (or falling out of) Convoy:
Elizabeth Massey proceeded to Reykjavik at 12:00 on Febr. 9, 61 14N 27 24W, having suffered engine defects. Arrived at Reykjavik on Febr. 11.
North Devon, Keila and Atlantic Sun - Dispersed by gale at 12:00 on Febr. 15 in 54 08N 38 05W.
Empire Norse - Rudder gone at 10:30P on Febr. 16, 52 37N 39 12W.
Norholm - Rudder trouble at 07:00 on Febr. 17, 51 50N 40 12W (not listed in the table above, I believe this should be Norlom).
Radhurst, Greek Zeus and Maliakos - Dispersed by gale at 16:00P Febr. 19, 49 40N 44 05W (Zeus is not included in table above, unless the ship in station 53 is a misspelling for Zeus?).
Empire Mariner - Rudder trouble at 08:00P Febr. 20, 49 22N 45 25W.
Also, Rio Verde reported boiler trouble, eventually broke down and fell out of the convoy - see Commodore's narrative, which also mentions Pleiades as having rudder trouble, and Empire Porpoise as proceeding to Halifax, after having straggled from the convoy.

Ships sunk:
The straggling Atlantic Sun was torpedoed and sunk by U-607 on Febr. 15 - there was only 1 survivor.
The Greek Zeus was torpedoed and sunk by U-403 on Febr. 19 - there were no survivors.
The straggling British Radhurst was torpedoed and sunk by U-525 on Febr. 20, with the loss of 38 men, there were no survivors.
Additionally, R.W. Jordan lists Saint Margaret as torpedoed and sunk by U-66 on Febr. 27-1943, 3 died, 1 was taken prisoner and 46 survived. (There's no mention of a convoy - she may have parted company by then in order to proceed to Pernambuco?).

The Commodore says:
"The work performed by James MacLennan, Ch. Engineer, Alexander Cant, Ch. Officer and George Duncan, Master, all of Empire Mariner in repairing and shoring the steering gear on three occasions in very heavy weather is deserving of commendation. All three Officers took an active and zealous part in these operations. It is considered that a 'mention' would meet the circumnstances".

Commodore's narrative is available on Page 2

Escorts:
Ocean: Eglantine, HMS Kingcup, Acanthus, HMS Vervain joined at Oversay at 13:00A on Febr. 3.
HMS Fame and Wm Berg joined at 13:00N Febr. 8 in 61 29N 23 18W.
HMS Viscount joined at 15:50 on Febr. 9 in 60 57N 28 03W. All Ocean Escorts parted company at 08:30P on Febr. 20 in 49 19N 45 35W.
Local escort (not named, possibly HMS Leamington, HMS Digby, HMS Arrowhead which are mentioned in the Commodore's narrative on Page 2) joined at 16:00P on Febr. 19 in 49 40N 44 05W.
Air Escort was last sighted at 12:00 on Febr. 10 in 59 29N 30 44W.

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The next ON convoy in my list is ON 166