Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Da=Danish, Ca=Canadian, Bel=Belgian, Pol=Polish, Du=Dutch, Am=American, Pa=Panamanian flag.
MOWT=Ministry of War Transport.

Crossed out ships did not sail.

The convoy had 41 ships, 34 of which were still present at local rendezvous according to the Commodore's report.

* Amberton returned to Halifax on the night of Apr. 26-1941. Welsh Prince returned to Halifax to repair steering gear p.m. May 3.
** Winona County disappeared on the night of Apr. 28 - believed broken down (became Empire Whale in 1941). Stad Vlaardingen dropped out during gale on Apr. 30 (sailed in HX 127).
* These 3 ships were sent back to Halifax for slow convoy in the afternoon of Apr. 26, "unable to make good 8 1/4 knots in moderate beam sea". (In the Commodore's notes there's also another ship listed as missing a.m. 27th, "probably returned for slow convoy", but I'm unable to decipher the name - it might, in fact, be Amberton).
** These ships joined after the convoy had formed.

"Convoy Rescue Ships" by Arnold Hague says that the Rescue Vessel Copeland was with this convoy from May 9 until May 13-1941 (having been with the outbound OB 315 from Clyde to detachment, Apr. 26-May 4, on her 5th voyage as Rescue Vessel).

Commodore's comments:
Station keeping - "Began badly, improved to very good. Kinross, Barbro, Helgøy, Kolsnaren, Empire Oryx were all inclined to drop back at night and in spite of signals made little improvement".

Signalling - "Generally very good. On 20th April British Power was oscillating badly. Barbro (1st time in convoy) and Helgøy were slow. Kolsnaren was slow and slack.

Kinross and Kolsnaren were unable to do more than 8 1/2 knots. Kinross has a foul bottom.

Wellpark, Captain W. W. Rickard did useful work by intelligent use of D/F in connection with W/T watch on 850 meters. It is believed that a German submarine was attacked on information received from oscillations of her receiver by Wellpark and passed to escort. Wellpark deserves official thanks.

Apr. 27 - Moderate E. wind, making 5 knots, fog at night.
Apr. 28 - Patchy fog a.m. 15:00 sighted high wing monoplane flying N.E. We were in 41 59N 53:05W. Presume American clipper.
Apr. 29 - Thick fog p.m. for 3 hours.
Apr. 30 - Westerly gale A/C 20 degrees to starboard to run before it. 15:00 Hove to with wind on port bow.
May 1 - Hove to, weather moderating. A.M.C. (Armed Merchant Cruiser) collected convoy.
May 2 - Convoy correct except Stad Vlaardingen. Proceeded en route. Local escorts were met at R/V's and, apart from avoiding action for false A/C? reports and some re-routing, the rest of the voyage was uneventful and in fine weather.

Since it appears that German submarines do oscillate on 850 meters, it seems worth while for some of local escort to be fitted with the necessary D/F, if this is not already done".

Ocean Escort:
HMS Derbyshire? (difficult to decipher - this was an Armed Merchant Cruiser) met p.m. off Halifax on Apr. 25-1941 - left at 21:00 on May 9.
HMS Ramillies arrived at 07:30 on Apr. 30 - left at 04:30 on May 4.

Local Escort:
From 16:40 on May 6: HMS Wolverine and HMS Begonia .
From 21:30 on May 8: HMS Verity .
During the night of May 8, 2 American Y.B.D.'s joined.
From 09:00 May 9: HMS Rochester, HMS Nasturtium, HMS Marigold, HMS Auricula, HMS Primrose, HMS Dianthus.
From 20:30 May 9: Westcott?, Campbeltown? and Newmarket? (these 3 names are hard to decipher). Verity, Mansfield, Wolverine and Chelsea departed.

More details on all the Norwegian ships named in this convoy can be found in the alphabetical ship lists of this website.

Related external link:
Empire Ships - Provides more information on the Empire ships taking part in this convoy.

Back to Convoy Index