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COVOY HX 173

Convoy HX 173 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on Febr. 1-1942 and arrived Liverpool on the 14th (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 30 ships).
List received from Ted Agar (His source: A diary. Although the information is usually incomplete, I consider this diary valuable and important in and of itself and, therefore, I've chosen to transcribe it and keep it "as is" on this website, adding further details and/or corrections from other sources separately, rather than within the form itself [except for cargoes], as seen below).

Cargoes have been extracted from a document received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for HX 173 at Ships in all HX convoys.

Br=British, Du=Dutch, Pa=Panamanian, Am=American, Russ=Russian, Norw=Norwegian.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
11
USS Pleiades
transport
(Am)
21
Velma
FFO
(Norw)
31
Inverilen
petrol
(Br)
41
Nicoya
general
(Br)
51
Pacific Enterprise
general
6 passengers
(Br)
61
San Ernesto
petrol
(Br)
71
Empire Gold
petrol - paraffin
(Br)
81

*

12
Artigas
general
(Am)
See below
22
Charles Racine
gas oil
(Norw)
32
Fagerfjell
dieso
(Norw)
42
San Amado
petrol
(Br)
52
British Resolution
aviation gas
(Br)
62
Skaraas
benzine
(Norw)
72
D. L. Harper
petrol**
(Br)
82
Indian Prince
general
(Br)
13

*

23
Norbris
fuel oil
Iceland
(Pa)
33
Havprins
gasoil
(Norw)
See Notes below
43
Oscilla
crude oil
(Du)
53
Murena
fuel oil
(Du)
63
Garonne
petrol
(Norw)
73
Empire Amethyst
petrol
(Br)
83
Empire Mahseer
general
(Br)
14
Ballot
general
(Pa)
24
Dvinoles*
sank
petrol
(Russ)
See Notes below
34
Evita
benzine
(Norw)
See Notes below
44

*

54
Corilla
damaged
petrol
(Du)
See Notes below
64

*

74 84
Fanad Head
general
(Br)
15
USS Mirza
(F 12)
(Am)
See below
25 35 45 55 65 75 85

*

According to a note for the slow Convoy SC 68, the Panamanian Kingman, sailing in that convoy, had originally been scheduled for HX 173.

The Rescue Vessel Bury was also with this convoy for a while; see Notes below.

Indian Prince had returned to port from Convoy HX 172.

For info, Ballot later joined Convoy PQ 13 to Murmansk, returning with Convoy QP 11.

Comparing the above with what can be found in Arnold Hague's listing for HX 173 at Ships in all HX convoys, we see that he has also included the following (not mentioned in the diary):
*In station 81 - The British Empire Ray, cargo of grain, CAM ship
In station 13 - The Panamanian Alcedo, general cargo, returned to port, listed in SC 68 (link above).
In station 44 - The American USS Aquila, general cargo, for Iceland
In station 64 - The Norwegian Gallia, cargo of petrol
In station 85 - The British Pacific Pioneer, general cargo, 2619 mails, 1 passenger
There's no USS Mirza, instead he has USS Mizar, bound for Reykjavik, no station number.
Artigas is listed as Panamanian

He says Evita and Havprins became stragglers.

**See also SC 58.



Notes:
Commodore was in Pacific Enterprise.

According to the diary, station 17 was occupied by Surcouf (French submarine).

First ship sailed at 10:25 AM, last ship sailed at 12:31.

* "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" by R. W. Jordan states that Dvinoles collided with Havprins, while Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" says Dvinoles collided with Evita, Febr. 4, though in his listing for HX 173, he says Havprins, which is correct. Someone who was on board Havprins at the time remembers this collision, follow the link to my page about this ship for more details. The Russian ship sank, no casualties.

M/T Corilla was torpedoed and damaged by U-751 on Febr. 2 - no casualties. See the external link below for more information. According to A. Hague, she returned to port (does not show up again until Convoy HX 210 in Oct.-1942, Halifax portion).

The Rescue Vessel Bury was with this convoy from Febr. 9 to Febr. 13-1942. She was on her 2nd voyage as Rescue Ship, having been requisitioned as such on Aug. 14-1941. This voyage had started out from Clyde with the westbound Convoy ON 62 on Febr. 1, until detached Febr. 7, then returned to Clyde with Convoy HX 173. ("Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague).

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):
Anchusa - From 12/02/42 to 13/02/42
Arabis - From 12/02/42 to 13/02/42
Dahlia - From 12/02/42 to 13/02/42
Gananoque - From 01/02/42 to 02/02/42
Midland - From 01/02/42 to 04/02/42
Monkshood - From 12/02/42 to 13/02/42
Nasturtium - From 01/02/42 to 04/02/42
Quinte - From 01/02/42 to 02/02/42
Snowflake - From 10/02/42 to 13/02/42
St. Clair - From 01/02/42 to 04/02/42
USS Bernadou - From 03/02/42 to 10/02/42
USS Decatur - From 03/02/42 to 10/02/42
USS Edison - From 03/02/42 to 10/02/42
USS Lea - From 03/02/42 to 10/02/42
USS Nicholson - From 03/02/42 to 10/02/42
Watchman - From 09/02/42 to 13/02/42

Related external link:
The attack on Corilla

Back to Convoy Index

To the next convoy in my list HX 174


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