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

The dates refer to departure from the channel through the Norwegian Islands and arrival at Methil. The number of hours on passage does not include time spent inside the Norwegian "Indre Led".

Click on the links provided for more information on each convoy.

75 merchant ships of various nationalities were sunk by U-boat action during the first 2 months of the war (before the convoy system was properly implemented), others were sunk by aircraft. (See also the 3rd link at the end of this text for information on air attacks on convoys).

Notes and general information on HN Convoys:

A report regarding attacks on HN and ON convoys states that apart from the loss of HMS Daring (HN 12 in Notes below), the number of true U-boat contacts close enough to the convoys to merit attack was only 7 throughout the 5 months under review. 2 of these are claimed to be successful. Included in this assessment is Somali's attack on a U-boat on Oct. 31-1939, however, this U-boat was not "hunted to destruction" as claimed. My text for the first Narvik to Mehil convoy has more details. The report adds that on Febr. 25-1940, U-63 was destroyed and prisoners taken by the escort with HN 14, HMS Inglefield. Both of these attacks were in the Moray Firth. (This external link, Uboat. net's page about U-63 confirms this sinking). The incident is also mentioned in HMS Escapade's report for HN 14.

Heavy weather with snow and very high winds were prevalent during the winter 1939/1940. In these conditions several ships lost touch, some of which were sunk by enemy action while sailing alone. A number of convoys were forced to heave to, resulting in them becoming scattered overnight. Frequent fog was another hazardous problem.

No merchant ships were sunk while in convoy, but 3 ships that had lost touch with their convoy were lost or damaged, as follows:
British Eskdene - See HN 3
Swedish Svartön - See HN 6
Finnish Signe (HN 23A)

The first 4 convoys each way (HN and ON convoys), as well as ON 5, were quite small and consisted mainly of British ships.

2nd Narvik-Methil Convoy
All the ships in the 2nd Narvik-Methil convoy, which left on Dec. 18-1939 escorted by 4 destroyers of the Humber Force, were loaded with iron ore for East Coast ports. The convoy encountered a southwesterly gale, forcing it to heave to for a few hours, but arrived safely at Methil on Christmas Eve. My page about this convoy has some details on its passage.

HN 5
As can be seen in the above table, HN 5 left Bergen just before Christmas of 1939, and in addition to the British ships, it included 19 ships from 6 neutral countries. After that, all Scandinavian and Baltic countries, except Denmark and Russia, were represented in HN convoys, though up until the beginning of Febr.-1940 the majority of neutral ships sailed outward independently.

HN 5 had originally left Bergen on Dec. 18-1939 in order to meet the escort the next day, but the N.C.S.O. at Bergen was told to delay its departure for 48 hours while a heavier covering force, Repulse and Barham, was brought up. This was due to the fact that it was believed the Germans might attack the convoy in order to regain prestige, following the defeat of Admiral Graf Spee*. The message to postpone sailing could not immediately be passed to the convoy, but with the help of the Norwegian Admiral this was done. The escort, meanwhile, remained off the coast, in case the convoy should emerge on the 20th. However, contact was made at 14:00 on Dec. 21-1939 as planned, at which time the convoy left.

* Admiral Graf Spee had been scuttled in the La Plata River off Montevideo in Dec.-1939, following the Battle of the River Plate.

HN 9A - HN 9B
The heavy congestion at Bergen towards the end of Jan.-1940, necessitated the formation of a double convoy, HN 9A and HN 9B. This arrangement again became necessary in Febr. that year, when a second extra convoy was formed on Febr. 11, namely HN 10B (HN 10 had sailed on Febr. 8-1940).

HN 12
A report regarding attacks on HN and ON convoys states that HMS Daring, which had joined the escort for HN 12 for the Orkneys-Methil part of the voyage was torpedoed and sunk to the east of Duncansby Head during the night of Febr. 17/18-1940. Jürgen Rohwer ("Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two") lists the culprit as U-23 (Kretschmer). Uboat.net has a page about this sinking (external link).

HN 14
Considerable enemy activity was reported following the Cossack-Altmark affair. Convoy ON 14, which had left Methil on Febr. 17-1940, had been ordered into Kirkwall on the 18th, until a heavy covering force (Rodney, Hood and Warspite) arrived in the area (ON 14 sailed again on Febr. 20). The early diversion of this convoy had enabled the N.C.S.O. at Bergen to receive a message in time to postpone the departure of HN 14, but heavy fog prevented them from seeing the escort at the appointed rendezvous on Febr. 22. A sweep carried out by the escort to find the convoy was unsuccessful, and in the end 22 out of the 37 ships returned to Bergen. HMS Electra eventually met up with the majority of the remaining ships and the escort was reformed. Summary of a report is available on my page for ON 14. (Includes details on the attack on U-63).

HN 17
A collision occurred between HMS Kelly (ON 18) and HMS Gurkha (HN 17). Both ships reached port.

HN 20
Attacked by aircraft March 20 - see also my page about convoys attacked by aircraft.

HN 22
Attacked by aircraft March 29.

HN 23A - HN 23B
The accumulation of ships in Bergen at the end of March-1940, again resulted in a convoy having to be split up into 2 portions; HN 23A and HN 23B.
The Finnish Signe from HN 23A was sunk.
Both convoys were attacked by aircraft Apr. 2. Follow the links to these convoys for more details.

With the German invasion of Norway on Apr, 9-1940, the last convoys to complete a full voyage were ON 24 and HN 24, the latter having left on Apr. 4-1940.

Back to Convoy Index