Convoy SC 3 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)

CONVOY SC 3 Departed Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 2-1940 arrived Liverpool on the 18th.
Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 47 ships in this convoy.

Notes:
Commodore was in Gullpool, Vice Commodore in Empire Soldier.

Commodore's name and notes are not available.

One of the documents contains a note saying:
Not traced
Noreg (Norw) - fuel oil for Clyde
Gezina (Norw) - aluminium bars for London (not mentioned in Advance Sailing Telegram. She's crossed out from SC 4, sailed in SC 5)
Iron Baron (listed as Norwegian Baron, but there was no Norw. ship by this name, so this should probably be Iron Baron) - pit props for Immingham. According to this document, showing her voyages in this period, she arrived Clyde from Sydney, C.B. on Sept. 17 (Immingham Sept. 28).
Orqun (Gr) - sulphur for U.K. (not included in Advance Sailing Telegram, however, this might be a mis-spelling of Greek Orion, which

included in the above table).

Ships sunk:
Empire Volunteer, on a voyage from Wabana for Glasgow with 7700 tons of iron ore, was sunk on Sept. 15 by U-48 - She had a crew of 39, 6 of whom died. Some of of the survivors were rescued by the Norwegian Fido, others by the Norwegian Granli (page 2 has an account on the rescue).

Alexandros, on a voyage from Montreal for Sharpness with 4500 tons of lumber and paper, was also sunk on Sept. 15 by U-48 - She had a crew of 30, 5 died.

Kenordoc, on a voyage from Quebec for Bristol with 2000 tons of lumber, was shelled on Sept. 15 by U-99 - She had a crew of 21, 7 died. Sunk by gunfire.

Lotos, which had lost touch with the convoy shortly after departure, was sunk on Sept. 16 by U-99 - see my page about Lotos for more details.

Additionally, the British Magdalena is said to have come from Convoy SC 3, though, as can be seen, she's not listed in the table above. She was sunk by U-48 on Sept. 18, on a voyage from St. John's for Holyhead and Liverpool with 4600 tons of iron ore - She had a crew of 30 and 1 gunner, no survivors. Looking at the map showing her sinking position at the external link below, we see that she was quite a distance away from the U.K. at the time; she's said to have become a straggler, but still, had she been part of Convoy SC 3? (the convoy arrived Liverpool on that date).

With regard to the Greek Kalliopi S, the following can be found in "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939":
"Bombed by German aircraft 11 m SW of Tory Is, abandoned, drifted on rocks Sheephaven Bay, 10 m E of Tory Is, broke in two". There were no casualties. R. W. Jordan agrees with A. Hague's date of Sept. 17-1940, mentioned in the table above and adds she became a total loss.

The escorting HMS Dundee was also sunk in this convoy, by U-48 on Sept. 15. The Norwegian Fido, Vigsnes, and Granfoss picked up survivors.

The convoy arrived rendezvous on Sept. 15.

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):
Drangey - From 15/09/40 to 16/09/40
Dundee - From 02/09/40 to 14/09/40
Ottawa - From 15/09/40 to 18/09/40
Reindeer - From 02/09/40 to 04/09/40
Skeena - From 15/09/40 to 18/09/40
St. Laurent - From 17/09/40 to 18/09/40
Wanderer - From 17/09/40 to 18/09/40
Witch - From 15/09/40 to 18/09/40

HMS Dundee

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