Convoy SC 68 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY SC 68
Departed Halifax on Febr. 4-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 20th
(Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" says 20 ships).
Transcribed from several original documents received from Tony Cooper, England (Advance Sailing Telegram) - His source: Public Records Office, Kew. Station numbers were received from Ted Agar, England (his source: A diary). Names of escorts have been extracted from a document recived from Don Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see also his listing for SC 68 at ships in all SC convoys. It'll be noticed that in some cases, he has given different station numbers than those provided in the diary and these have been added in parenthesis below. Station numbers are stations upon departure Halifax; may have changed as the voyage progressed. |
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Ship | Nationality | Cargo | Station | Destination | Remarks |
British | Tanker B | London | From SC 66 Listed in SC 69 | ||
Lieutenant St. Loubert Bié | French / MoWT 1941 | general | 41 | Liverpool | Commodore |
British | general | – | Londonderry | To SC 69 - did not sail Listed in SC 70 (became Norw. Norvarg) | |
Bridgepool | " | grain | 12 | Hull | From SC 67 |
Senga | Yugoslavian | general | 23 | Milford Haven / Southampton | From SC 67 |
Belgian | nitrates | Milford Haven f. o. | From SC 67 Listed in SC 69 | ||
Norwegian | grain | – | Ipswich | From SC 67 Listed in SC 69 | |
British | steel | Cardiff | To SC 69 - did not sail Listed in SC 73 | ||
Arosa | Norwegian | wheat | 82 (81) | Barry Docks | From SC 67 |
Gallant Fox | Panamanian | general | 62 (61) | Clyde / N. Russia | From SC 67 (Later joined Convoy PQ 13, returned w/QP 11) |
Colytto | Dutch | iron ore | 42 | Middlesbrough | From SC 67 |
British | general | – | Liverpool | From SC 67 To SC 72 - did not sail Listed in SC 73 | |
" | general | – | Holyhead / Liverpool | From SC 67 To SC 69 - did not sail Listed in SC 70 | |
Oilreliance | " | Adm. fuel oil | 22 | Scapa | From SC 67 |
Fjordheim | Norwegian | general | 72 | Avonmouth | From SC 67 |
Greek | grain | – | London | From SC 67 Listed in SC 70 | |
Lord Byron | British | grain | 11 | London | From SC 67 |
" | iron ore | – | Barrow | To SC 69 - returned To SC 70 - did not sail Listed in SC 71 | |
Grey County | Norwegian | general | 71 | Avonmouth | From HX 171(?) |
Empire Gannet | British | steel - general | 21 | Hull | – |
La Paz | " | general | 33 (31) | Liverpool | – |
Athelduchess | " | Tanker - molasses | 51 | Liverpool | – |
Danish / MoWT 1940 | railway ties | – | London | Listed in SC 69 | |
Norwegian | Tanker B | – | Grangemouth | Listed in SC 69 | |
Dutch | general | – | Liverpool | To SC 69 - did not sail Listed in SC 70 | |
Irish Willow | Irish | general | 83 (82) | Dublin | – |
American | general | Archangel | (See also SC 61) Listed in SC 69 (Later joined PQ 13, returned w/QP 11). | ||
British | general | – | Tail of the Bank | Listed in HX 174 | |
" | general | Liverpool | Listed in SC 70 | ||
Pennington Court | British | iron ore | 13 | Immingham | – |
American | general | – | Archangel | Listed in SC 69 (Later joined PQ 13 - sunk) | |
Kingman | Panamanian | general | 34 (32) | Reykjavik | From HX 173 |
Alcedo | " | general | 43 | Reykjavik | From SC 67 See also HX 173 |
The diary also lists the Norwegian Tore Jarl (station 32 - from SC 67), the Belgian Brabo (53) and the British Empire Liberty (63 - From SC 63) as cancelled from this convoy - these ships are not mentioned in the Advance Sailing Telegram. All 3 are listed in the next convoy, SC 69. | |||||
Joining from Newfoundland (Convoy WSC 68) Sailed Febr. 7 | |||||
Baron Ruthven* | British | iron ore | not known | Newport | From SC 66 |
Empire Cabot | " | phosphates | not known | Hull | From SC 66 |
" | general | not known | Londonderry | From SC 66 Listed in SC 69 | |
Panamanian | general | not known | Clyde / North Russia | From SC 65 Shows up again in SC 72 - returned Joined SC 73 (Later joined PQ 14) | |
Spero | Norwegian | general | not known (A. Hague gives 73) | Bristol | From SC 67 |
*A. Hague has a note for Baron Ruthven saying that she arrived with boiler defects (again, see his listing for SC 68 at ships in all SC convoys). |
Notes: The French Lieutenant St. Loubert Bié, which was the Commodore Ship for SC 68, had been stopped on May 18-1941 off St. Helena by the Royal Navy and became a British prize on May 29, then sailed under the control of Ministry of War Transport. (Returned to France on May 9-1945). Source: "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan.
The ships departed Halifax in the following order (according to the diary):
The first to go out at 10:00 was the British tanker Athelduchess, followed 15 minutes later by the former French passenger vessel Lieutenant St. Loubert Bié, then with a few minutes between each ship the following went out: Fjordheim, Empire Gannet, Alcedo, Lord Byron, Grey County, La Paz, Oilreliance, Bridgepool, Senga, Pennington Court, Colytto, Irish Willow, Gallant Fox, Kingman, Arosa.
The convoy arrived rendezvous on Febr. 16.
A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of SC convoy escorts, received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Boadicea - From 16/02/42 to 20/02/42
Bodo - From 20/02/42 to 20/02/42
Burwell - From 07/02/42 to 16/02/42
Chicoutimi - 07/02/42
Clayoquot - From 04/02/42 to 07/02/42
FS Lobelia - From 16/02/42 to 20/02/42
Heather - From 16/02/42 to 20/02/42
Lunenburg - From 04/02/42 to 07/02/42
Matapedia - From 07/02/42 to 16/02/42
Nanaimo - From 07/02/42 to 16/02/42
Narcissus - From 16/02/42 to 20/02/42
Nasturtium - From 07/02/42 to 16/02/42
Red Deer - From 04/02/42 to 07/02/42
Sudbury - From 07/02/42 to 17/02/42
The Pas - From 04/02/42 to 07/02/42
To the next SC convoy in my list SC 69
Aa–Al | An–Ar | As–Av | Ba | Be | Bi–Bl | Bo | Br–Bu | C | D |
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E | F | G | Ha | He | Hi–Hy | Hø | I | J | K |
L | M | N | O | PQ | R | Sa–Sc | Se–Sj | Sk–Sn | So |
Sp–St | Su–Sø | Ta–Te | Th–Ti | To | Tr–Tø | U | V | W | Ø |