Convoy SC 71 - warsailors.com (original) (raw)
CONVOY SC 71
Departed Halifax on Febr. 22-1942 and arrived Liverpool on March 10
(Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" says 23 ships).
Transcribed from original documents received from Tony Cooper, England (Advance Sailing Telegram) - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.
Station numbers and sequence of departure were received from Ted Agar - His source: A diary. These numbers are pendants flown on departure Halifax; stations may have changed as the voyage progressed (as can be seen from these numbers, the convoy had 8 columns and 4 rows).
Names of escorts and cargoes for the tankers have been extracted from documents recived from Don Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for SC 71 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.
Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined returned to port, except those that are linked, which will automatically be underlined.
MoWT = Ministry of War Transport
Ship
Nationality
Cargo
Station
Destination
Remarks
Katingo Hadjipatera
Greek
grain
23
Ipswich
Melmore Head
British
general
51
Liverpool
From SC 69
Commodore Vessel
Anastassios Pateras
Greek
steel - wood pulp
53
Hull
–
City of Dallas
American
general
43
Reykjavik
From SC 69
Radcombe
British
iron ore
73
Middlesbrough
Sarthe
"
general - mail 71
41
Manchester
From SC 70
Llanover
"
grain
31
London
From SC 70
Empire Nightingale
"
general
21
Hull
–
Lorient
French / MoWT 1940
sulphur
64 (63)
Glasgow
–
Kingsbury
British
wheat - general
12
Hull
–
Empire Buffalo
"
general
63 (62)
Newport
–
Norwegian
Adm. tanker B
(FFO)
42 (41)
Hvalfjord
Arica
French / MoWT 1942
general - pitch - sugar
11
Milford Haven / Southampton
–
Bristol City
British
general
81
Bristol
From SC 69
Geo. H. Jones*
"
Tanker B
(lub. oil).
72
Swansea
From SC 70
Empire Moonbeam
"
general
61
Cardiff
From HX 176
Norwegian
phosphates
–
Ipswich
From SC 70
Had been sunk Febr. 11
Follow link to Blink
Opalia
British
Tanker W
(petrol - paraffin)
52
Iceland
–
Tricula
"
Adm. tanker B
–
Clyde
Norwegian
phosphates
–
Leith
Grodno
British
general
–
Mersey
Lake Osweya
American
general
–
Reykjavik
Had already been sunk
(see Notes)
Vulcanus
Dutch
phosphates
–
Ipswich
Listed in SC 72
British Renown
British
Tanker W
–
Avonmouth
Listed in SC 72
Empire Tyne
"
grain
33
London
Returned to Halifax
Listed in SC 74
Lackenby
"
general
–
Tyne
To SC 72 - did not sail
To SC 73 - did not sail
Shows up again in SC 79
Seattle Spirit
American
general
–
Archangel
Listed in SC 72
Later joined Convoy PQ 14 - returned
Joined PQ 15
(see also QP 12)
Norwegian
phosphates
–
Glasgow
To SC 72 - did not sail
To SC 73 - did not sail
Listed in SC 75
"
cereals
–
Avonmouth
See * in Notes
Empire Flame
British
grain
82
Manchester
–
Gerassimos Vergottis
Greek
dates
–
London
Kelso
British
general
22
Manchester
–
Lobos
"
general
71
Liverpool
–
Minotaur
American
general
–
Archangel
Listed in SC 72
Later joined Convoy PQ 14,
see also QP 10
Empire Union
British
general
–
London
Photinia
"
grain
13
London
Norwegian
general
32
Leith / Hull
–
Dettifoss*
Icelandic
general
74
Reykjavik
–
The diary also lists the British Connector (station 14) and Northern Ranger (24), the Canadian Royalite (34) and Sarnolite (54), and a Panamanain Hanjurand (44) as leaving Halifax with the ships in this convoy. As can be seen, they are not mentioned in the Advance Sailing Telegram, and I believe these ships must have left port that day for other reasons than to join SC 71. (For info, Sarnolite, Royalite and Northern Ranger are also mentioned among the ships that went out with Convoy SC 75 on March 18, and the 2 Canadian ships are also named in connection with Convoy SC 73, but again, I don't believe they were actually intended for these convoys).
Also, according to the diary, the British Milcrest (cancelled from SC 68 and SC 69) and the Norwegian Solsten were cancelled from this convoy - again, not mentioned in the Advance Sailing Telegram. (Milcrest sailed in SC 73, while Solsten is listed in SC 72).
*A. Hague says that the Icelandic Dettifoss detached on March 5 and arrived Reykjavik on the 7th. Also, he has listed Geo. H. Jones as Panamanian, calling her George H. Jones (again, see his listing for SC 71 at ships in all SC convoys).
Notes:
* According to Drammensfjord's Voyage Record for this period, she was in Freetown at this time, having arrived there from Buenos Aires on Febr. 14-1942. In fact, at the external website that I've linked to below, she's listed in Convoy SL 101, which departed Freetown on Febr. 21 and arrived Liverpool on March 15. In other words, she could not have been in Halifax on Febr. 22 to join Convoy SC 71. (See also my page about this ship).
Lake Osweya had been sunk on Febr. 20-1942 by U-96. There were no survivors - the 2nd external website that I've linked to at the end of this page has more on this attack.
The ships left port in the following order (according to the diary):
At 11:10 the British freighter Llanove_r went out, followed at 11:22 by Melmore Head (Flagship) and with a few minutes between each ship:
Sarthe, Bristol City, Lobos, Kelso, Empire Moonbeam, Arica, Empire Tyne, Kingsbury, Katingo Hadjipatera, Geo. H. Jones, Photinia, Norse King, Empire Buffalo, Connector (probably not for Convoy SC 71), Radcombe, Lorient, Anastassios Pateras, Opalia_ (at 13:00, with a notation saying "Stops north of Tower, later on a water boat comes alongside and she sails later at 2:12), Empire Flame (Catapult freighter, minus her Hurricane). The last ship to leave at 13:22 was the Norwegian Kaia Knudsen (2 red bands on stack).
There's now a note saying: "The following ships also went out today but times not known":
City of Dallas, U.S. freighter - 43, Empire Nightingale, British - 21, Royalite, Canadian tanker - 34, Sarnolite, Canadian tanker - 54, Northern Ranger, U.S. freighter (I believe this ship was British) - 24, Hanjurand, Panama freighter - 44, Dettifoss, Icelandic freighter - 74. Again, as already mentioned in the table above, it was probably just a coincidence that some of these went out at the same time as the ships destined for SC 71. City of Dallas, Empire Nightingale and Dettifoss, however, did sail in this convoy.
The convoy arrived rendezvous on March 6.
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):
Buctouche - From 27/02/42 to 09/03/42
Chambly - From 22/02/42 to 25/02/42
Cobalt - From 27/02/42 to 10/03/42
Dunvegan - From 27/02/42 to 08/03/42
Goderich - From 22/02/42 to 28/02/42
Mayflower - From 22/02/42 to 25/02/42
Midland - From 22/02/42 to 28/02/42
Napanee - From 27/02/42 to 09/03/42
Quinte - From 22/02/42 to 28/02/42
Ramsey - From 22/02/42 to 28/02/42
St. Francis - From 27/02/42 to 09/03/42
Trail - From 27/02/42 to 08/03/42
USS Babbitt - 05/03/42
USS Badger - 05/03/42
USS Schenck - 05/03/42
Related external links:
Sl & SL/MKS Convoys - As can be seen, Drammensfjord is listed in SL 101 in Febr.-1942. The site also has a section on the Russian Convoy Series (and several others), and Convoy PQ 15, mentioned in the table above, is included.
To the next SC convoy in my list SC 72