Received from Olaf Evertse, Holland.

Cargoes and station numbers have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 156 at Ships in all HX convoys.

For info, some of these ships had previously arrived with the westbound Convoy ON 20 (see also ON 15).
A few later returned with ON 36 on Nov. 13.

Additionally, he has listed the British (ex Danish) Gudrun Maersk, the Norwegian Leiv Eiriksson and Munin and the Swedish Mergus, saying they joined from Iceland - no station number or cargo.

Also, A. Hague mentions the British Stanlake, with a note "possibly joined this convoy". He has also included Svanholm, and USS Alchiba, no station number or cargo (the latter ship was bound for Reykjavik - see also * below).

Notes:
*Dominique Lemaire, a visitor to my site, has told me that the American Mormacdove was taken over by the US Navy as USS Alchiba (AK 23) at some point in 1941. This is confirmed by R. W. Jordan's "The Worlds' Merchant Fleets 1939" which adds she was used as a USN stores ship, later as AKA 6 from 1943 (became Dutch Tjipanas in 1948).

The original (handwritten) convoy document says that 3 of the ships were bound for Iceland, adding that there were 3 stragglers at MOMP but all ships arrived "despite several sub attacks".

Escorts (as per original convoy documents):
Western Local: Senior Officer's vessel is given as Broom (should this be USS Broome? - however, see notes attached to links below), USS Niblack, USS Hilary P. Jones, USS Reuben James*, USS Tarbell.
Ocean: HMS Broke (S.O.), HMS Wolverine, HMS Buxton, HMS Larkspur, Camellia, HMCS Moosejaw, HNoMS Montbretia, HMS Begonia, HNoMS Eglantine, and 2 unnamed trawlers.

I've been told that USS Benson was S. O. of the escort for this convoy - again, see also external links below. This ship is not mentioned in the convoy documents.

* Reuben James was sunk on Oct. 31-1941 by U-552, with the loss of 115 men.

A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of HX convoy escorts, also received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Annapolis - From 22/10/41  24/10/41
Begonia - From 01/11/41  04/11/41
Broke - From 01/11/41  04/11/41
Buxton - From 01/11/41  04/11/41
Camellia - From 31/10/41  04/11/41
Eglantine - From 01/11/41  05/11/41
King Sol - 01/11/41
Larkspur - From 31/10/41  05/11/41
Montbretia - From 31/10/41  05/11/41
USS Benson - From 24/10/41  01/11/41
USS Hilary P. Jones - From 24/10/41  01/11/41
USS Niblack - From 24/10/41  01/11/41
USS Reuben James - From 24/10/41  03/11/41
USS Tarbell - From 24/10/41  01/11/41
Verity - From 31/10/41  04/11/41
Wolverine - From 31/10/41  04/11/41

Related external links:
Other eastbound North Atlantic convoys in 1941

Empire Ships

The attack on Reuben James - Note that USS Broome is not mentioned among the escorts here, so the name in the original convoy document might be an error.

USS Benson - The site includes a page about Convoy HX 156 and the sinking of Reuben James. More on this page, showing that she was indeed escort for this convoy (joining from Argentia, N.F.).

Back to Convoy Index