Convoy SC 26 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY SC 26
Departed Halifax on March 20-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Apr. 8.
Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 23 ships in this convoy.
Transcribed from original documents received from Tony Cooper (Advance Sailing Telegram) - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.
The station numbers and names of escorts have been extracted from documents recived from Don Kindell, based on Arnold Hague's database - see ships in all SC convoys.
Further details have been added with the help of:
"Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague
"Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer
"The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan
"Lloyd's War Losses", Vol. I.
Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined returned to port (except those that are linked, which will automatically be underlined. The Norwegian Akabahra, however, did return).
MoWT = Ministry of War Transport
Ship
Nationality
Cargo
Station
Destination
Remarks
Tenax
British
grain
23
Ipswich
Editor
American / MoWT 1941
steel - scrap iron - special
72
Manchester
(Renamed Empire Dunlin - later Norw. Norlom)
From SC 25
(See also HX 114)
Norwegian
nitrates
–
Avonmouth
"
bauxite - pitch
82
Burntisland
(Arr. Reykjavik, Apr. 6)
Leonidas Z. Cambanis
Greek
grain
63
Swansea
Sunk - See Notes
Norwegian
lumber
22
London
Returned to Halifax
Listed in SC 28
Manatee
American / MoWT 1941
steel - scrap iron
–
Methild d.g / Middlesbrough
(Renamed Empire Waterhen)
See also HX 112
To SC 27 - did not sail
Listed in SC 28
Norwegian
scrap iron
–
Ardrossan
From SC 24
To SC 28 - returned
Follow link to Bernhard
Anacortes
American / MoWT 1940
steel - scrap iron
53
Swansea / Newport
(Renamed Empire Mallard 1941)
From SC 25
Norwegian
steel - pulp
33
London
From SC 25
Sunk - Follow link to Helle
"
Tanker B
–
Manchester
Elisabeth Lensen
British
grain
–
Newcastle
Listed in SC 27
Empire Dew
"
flour
32
Leith
–
Ethel Radcliffe
"
grain
21
London
From SC 25
See Notes
Harbledown
"
grain
31
London
From HX 114
Sunk - See Notes
Norwegian
pit props
81
Belfast d.g. / Barry Docks
Eelbeck
American / MoWT 1941
scrap iron - trucks - special
42
Grangemouth
(Renamed Empire Bunting)
See also HX 112
West Wauna
American / MoWT 1940
steel
–
Liverpool
(Renamed Empire Grebe 1941)
From HX 114
To HX 119 - did not sail
Listed in HX 120
Alderpool
British
grain
11
Hull
From HX 114
Sunk - See Notes
Indier
Belgian
steel - trucks - special
43
Glasgow
From HX 115
Sunk - See Notes
Westpool
American / MoWT 1941
scrap iron
41
Leith
From HX 115
Sunk - See Notes
Daleby
British
grain
71
Manchester
From HX 114
Innerton
"
grain
–
Liverpool
Magician
"
lumber - general
51
Liverpool
From HX 115
Norwegian
steel - scrap iron
–
Hull
Listed in SC 27 - sunk
Taygetos
Greek
grain
62
Barry Docks
–
Welcombe
British
grain
12
London
Sunk - See Notes
Athenic
"
grain
61
London
Sunk - See Notes
Blairdevon
"
steel - lumber
–
London
Listed in SC 27
Icarion
Greek
steel - scrap iron
–
Ardrossan
Listed in SC 27
Norwegian
Adm. tanker B
–
Liverpool
Listed in SC 27
Thirlby
British
grain
13
Glasgow
From SC 23
Damaged - See Notes
Tennessee
Danish / MoWT 1940
grain
34
Ipswich
British Reliance
British
Tanker B
52
Clyde
From HX 115
Sunk - See Notes
British Viscount
"
Tanker B
73
Scapa
From HX 115
Sunk - See Notes
Also, Rescue Vessel Hontestroom - see Notes
Notes:
The Rescue Vessel Hontestroom was with this convoy for a while. She was on her 4th voyage as such, having started this voyage from Clyde with Convoy OB 304 on March 31-1941, until detached on Apr. 3, then joined SC 26 that same day to return to Clyde, Apr. 7.
Ships damaged or sunk - listed in chronological order (dates are according to German time - number of survivors and casualties varies according to source):
British Reliance, on a voyage from Aruba for Clyde with 9967 tons of gas oil was sunk by U-46 on Apr. 2. She had a complement of 50, all of whom survived.
Alderpool, on a voyage from New York for Hull with 7200 tons of wheat, was torpedoed and damaged on Apr. 3 by U-46, later sunk by U-73. She had a crew of 39 and 2 gunners, all of whom survived.
Leonidas Z. Cambanis, on a voyage from Halifax for Swansea with 6500 tons of wheat, was torpedoed and sunk on Apr. 3 by U-74. 2 died, 27 survived.
Westpool, on a voyage from Baltimore for Leith with 7144 tons of scrap iron, was torpedoed and sunk on Apr. 3 by U-73. She had a complement of 43, 35 of whom were lost, incl. 1 gunner.
Shortly afterwards, the Belgian Indier, on a voyage from New York for Glasgow with 6300 tons of steel and general, was also torpedoed and sunk by U-73 - there were only 4 survivors, 42 died.
British Viscount, on a voyage from Curacao for Scapa with 9500 tons of fuel oil, was torpedoed by U-73 on Apr. 3, abandoned on fire and later sank. 28 died, 20 survived, picked up by HMS Havelock. (For info, I've been in touch with one of the survivors of this ship, Harry Knight, who was a senior apprentice at the time and in charge of the lifeboat that got away. If anyone knew him and would like to get in touch, I can provide his address. My contact address is at the bottom of this page).
Thirlby, on a voyage from St. John's for Glasgow with a cargo of wheat, was torpedoed and damaged by U-69 on Apr. 3. She had a complement of 40, 2 of whom perished.
Helle was sunk by U-98 on Apr. 4 - there were no casualties, see my page about Helle for more details, including crew list.
Harbledown, on a voyage from Portland, Maine for London with 94157 bushels of wheat, was torpedoed and sunk on Apr. 4 by U-94 - She had a crew of 37 and 2 gunners - 14 crew and the 2 gunners perished.
Welcombe, on a voyage from Baltimore for London with 7900 tons of grain, was torpedoed and sunk on Apr. 4 by U-98 - She had a crew of 41, 20 died.
Athenic, on a voyage from Portland, Maine for London with 8400 tons of grain, was torpedoed on Apr. 4 by U-76 and sank the next day - she had a crew of 38 and 2 gunners, all of whom survived. (U-76 was later sunk on Apr. 5 by HMS Wolverine and HMS Scarborough).
Ethel Radcliffe was also lost before her voyage was completed. Her voyage information is given as St. John, N.B. for London with 7982 tons of wheat, about 2000 tons of which was salved. She was torpedoed by E-boat on Apr. 17, near No. 6 Buoy, Great Yarmouth, and beached off Yarmouth north of North Pier, Gorleston. Bombed on several occasions and on May 20 she was considered no longer salvable. There were no casulaties out of her crew of 38 and 2 gunners.
The convoy arrived rendezvous on Apr. 4.
Escorts:
Ocean: Surcouf (French submarine - left before the attacks).
Later (joining after the attacks): HMS Worcestershire (damaged by U-74, Apr. 3), Wolverine, Havelock, Scarborough and Arbutus.
A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of SC convoy escorts, based on Arnold Hague's database, received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Chelsea - From 04/04/41 to 05/04/41
Cobalt - From 20/03/41 to 20/03/41
Convolvulus - From 04/04/41 to 05/04/41
Havelock - From 05/04/41 to 07/04/41
Porpoise - From 20/03/41 to 29/03/41
Scarborough - From 05/04/41 to 08/04/41
Verity - From 04/04/41 to 05/04/41
Veteran - From 03/04/41 to 08/04/41
Vivien - From 04/04/41 to 05/04/41
Wolverine - From 03/04/41 to 08/04/41
Worcestershire - From 20/03/41 to 03/04/41
Related external links:
Convoy SC 26 battle - Note that this page mentions the ship Daphne (Finnish) as having broken away from this convoy, but as can be seen from the table above, this ship is not included in the Advance Sailing Telegram for SC 26. By going to the page Allied Ships hit by U-boats and entering the name of each of the above ships in the search field, more info on the attacks is available, including the attack on Worcestershire. The loss of Daphne is also available. Strangely, this ship is said to have been en route to occupied Norway at the time of loss - according to "Lloyd's War Losses", she was bound for Petsamo.
To the next SC convoy in my list SC 27