Transcribed from Advance Sailing Telegram, received from Tony Cooper, England - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.

The Advance Sailing Telegram, consisting of 4 pages, contains ships in the 2 convoys HN 23A and HN 23B all together, and I've extracted the HN 23A ships and placed them on a separate page (see HN 23A). Page 3 of the AST is very blurry, hence my question marks. Stations are not known, except for the few mentioned in Bedouin's report.

(W= the ship was bound for the west coast, according to the AST).

A document listing all the Norway-U.K. Convoys states that Convoy HN 23B had a total of 15 ships, incl. 3 joining from the Orkneys, bound for the east coast - 22 of 34 returned to Bergen, 12 sailed from Norway.

* These ships are also listed in HN 24, so may have been among the ships that returned to Bergen. Fylingdale may also have returned; she's mentioned in a report about the last convoy from Norway, HN 25. As will be seen, several other ships in HN 23B also appear in that convoy.

When comparing this list to a list of ships received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database, I find that A. Hauge has not included the Norwegian Lysaker IV and the British Brighton and Fylingdale in this convoy.

* The Advance Sailing Telegram says this was the 575 gt Tordenskjold, while A. Hague claims it was the 921 gt ship by the same name.

Note that the Danish Skagen is also mentioned as being in this convoy in Bedouin's report below. This ship is listed in the Advance Sailing Telegram for HN 23A.

All the Norwegian ships mentioned here are discussed on this website, some are listed in the Homefleet section. The easiest way to find them all is via the Master Ship Index.

Summary of Bedouin's Report:
Bedouin had just completed her escort duties for Convoy ON 23 from the U.K. to Norway, having arrived on March 31. At 20:30 that same date, Bedouin took over Convoy HN 23B, counting 20 ships coming out. Majorca (Commodore Vessel) was ordered to proceed at 5 knots, but after a short while she altered course to port and increased speed, followed by other ships in the convoy, which then became badly scattered during the night.

At daylight, Apr. 1, Bedouin collected 13 ships; 1 ship, which could not be identified, had turned back during the night. That afternoon, Cathrine fell badly astern and was ordered to proceed to Methil independently (this ship is spelt Catherine in the report). Fanö was also later ordered to proceed directly to Methil, having reported engine trouble at 19:00. Convoy speed at this time was about 6 knots.

At daylight on Apr. 2, Fanö was found to be in the convoy still, but Maria Toft (42) and Skagen (station 17) had lost touch, while Fylingdale had joined, taking station 33 (note that Skagen is listed as part of Convoy HN 23A in the Advance Sailing Telegram and Fylingdale is mentioned in Convoy HN 25, so may have returned to port). That afternoon (15:10) the convoy was attacked by enemy bomber, but no damage was done*. At 20:00, Hirondelle, Becheville and Foss Beck joined the convoy from Kirkwall.

*A document about Convoys attacked by aircraft states that in the afternoon of Apr 2-1940, 3 convoys were attacked almost simultaneously as follows:

1 aircraft bombed the eastern portion of HN 23A at 14:57, 18 miles north of Kinnairds Head. Fighters were sent in support.
Also, 2 aircraft attacked ON 24 southeast of Fair Island, dropping 4 bombs.
1 aircraft attacked HN 23B at 15:15, 6 bombs dropped - no damage caused.

The following morning, Apr. 3, Saimaa and Hirondelle were detached to Aberdeen. Maria Toft and Cathrine had rejoined during the night.

At 10:00 on Apr. 4, Bedouin parted company off Methil. At that time the convoy consisted of Majorca (station 11), Eikhaug (station 22), Cathrine (station 35), Foss Beck, Knut (station 15), Vega (station 25), Ceres (station 41), Lab (station 42), Leonardia (station 21), Harmonic (station 32, spelt Harmonica in the report), Maria Toft (station 44) and Becheville.

Commanding Officer J. A. McCoy of Bedouin adds that after the first night Majorca's signalling and station keeping improved considerably, and Leonardia and Ceres were good throughout the passage.

Escorts mentioned on this page are:
Sheffield, Penelope, S/M Porpoise, Javelin, Eclipse, Eskimo, Juno, Bedouin, Punjabi.

See also the text under March 31 on this external page as well as Apr. 3 on this page (scroll down in the text), which mentions this convoy and its escorts.

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