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CONVOY OB 287

Convoy OB 287 Cruising Order
Departed Liverpool on Febr. 16-1941, dispersed Febr. 21 (Arnold Hague says 44 ships).
Received from Tony Cooper, England (his source: Public Records Office, Kew).

Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined ships were bombed by aircraft.

For info, a few of the ships in this convoy are also listed in the eastbound North Atlantic Convoy HX 116 the following month, others can be found in HX 117.

The ships denoted (L) sailed from Liverpool, others originated in Aultbea, Glasgow or Oban as noted.

†=dead
Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Gr=Greek, Du=Dutch, Bel=Belgian, Sw-Swedish, Da=Danish.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
11 (L)
Housatonic
ballast
bombed/sunk - 3†
(Br)
21 (L)
Edam
(Du)
31 (L)
Lautaro
(Br)
41 (L)
Eastern Star
(Norw)
51 (L)
San Ernesto
(Br)
61
Gregalia
general
Glasgow-St. John
(Br)
71
Luculus
Aultbea-Curacao
(Br)
81
Daldorch
coal
Aultbea-Lagos
(Br)
91
Starcross
coal
Aultbea-Lagos
(Br)
12 (L)
Leonidas M
(Gr)
22 (L)
Dumfries(?)*
(Br)
32 (L)
Durenda
(Br)
42 (L)
British Resource
(Br)
52 (L)
Mahia
(Br)
62
Empire Kittiwake**
ballast
Glasgow-Philadlephia
(Br)
72
Athenic
ballast
Aultbea-Halifax
(Br)
82
Cristales
ballast
Aultbea-Halifax
(Br)
92
Oregon
ballast
Aultbea-Durban
(listed as Du [?])
13 (L)
Gracia
ballast
bombed/sunk - 0†
(Br)
23 (L)
Lista
(Norw)
 33 (L)
Clan Macfadyen
(Br)		 43 (L)
Gard
(Norw)		 53 (L)
Emile Francqui
(Bel)		 63
Denbydale
ballast
Glasgow-Trinidad
(Br?)		 73
Themisto
general
Aultbea-Capetown-Calcutta
(Du)		 83
Cape Rodney
ballast
Aultbea-Freetown
(Br)

Scottish Standard
ballast
From Aultbea?
bombed/later sunk - 5†
(Br)

 93
Toorak
From Aultbea
(Br)
14 (L)
Leonidas
(Gr)		 24 (L)
Daytonian
(Br)		 34 (L)
Grey County
(Norw)		 44 (L)
D. L. Harper
(Br)		 54
Nanking
coal
Glasgow-Capetown-Aden
(Sw)		 64
Saganaga
ballast
Glasgow-Halifax
(Br)		 74
La Pampa?
(Aultbea)
(Br)		 84
Caspia
From Aultbea
(Br)		 94
Duke of Athens
(From Aultbea)
(Br)
15
Nigerstroom
Oban-Freetown
(Du)		 25
Boskoop
general
Oban-Capetown-Karachi
(Du)

St. Rosario
From Aultbea
bombed/damaged
(Br)

 35
San Alvaro
ballast
Oban-Curacao
(Br)		 45
Bristol City
From Aultbea
(Br)		 55
Tudor Prince
From Aultbea
(Br)		 65
Monkleigh
From Aultbea
(Br)		 75
Kars
From Aultbea
(Br)		 85
Mokambo
From Aultbea
(Bel)		 95
Llanberis
From Aultbea
(Br)
16 26 36 46 56
Rosenborg
ballast
Oban-Halifax
bombed/damaged
(Da/Br 1940)

**

 66 76 86 96


Notes:
* A visitor to my site (Marek Twardowski) has told me that according to Dumfries' log she left Liverpool at 12:10 on Febr. 13-1941, arrived Capetown on March 25 for bunkers, then proceeded to Durban, with arrival on Apr. 1.
** Empire Kittiwake later became the Norwegian Norfalk.
** Under Rosenborg in station 56, the word OZUG is added by hand - not sure if this was a ship, or signal letters?

Note that quite a few of these ships had been cancelled from the previous convoy, OB 286.

Duke of Athens and Lista are listed in the next convoy, OB 288.
If the ship cancelled from station 74 is La Pampa (difficult to decipher), she too sailed in the next convoy.

Commodore T. E. Coombs, R.N.R. was in San Ernesto (Captain B. E. Bate, bound for Halifax and Baltimore), Vice Commodore was intended to be the captain of Lautaro (for Panama), but owing to defect she did not sail, so the captain of Gregalia took over. Rear Commodore was the captain of Luculus (for Curacao).

The convoy had 40 ships, 35 of which remained at time of dispersal.
Average speed: 7 knots.

Bad weather was encountered at the beginning of the voyage. The convoy was attacked by 1 aircraft 3 days in a row, which according to R. W. Jordan's "The World's Merchant Fleets 1939" was/were German FW 200 Kondor aircraft.

Ships were hit as follows:
Gracia - Bombed and sunk at 13:25 on Febr. 19 in 59 34N 07 18W, no casualties, 48 survivors.
Housatonic - Bombed at the same time, date and position as given for Gracia. Fate given as unknown, last reported afloat, however, according to Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System", this ship was also sunk, with the loss of 3 men. R. W. Jordan says she sank the next day, and gives 31 survivors.
St. Rosario and Rosenborg were bombed at 11:00 on Febr. 20 in 58 49N 12 00W, having lagged behind the convoy. They were damaged in the attack and returned to port.
Scottish Standard - Bombed at 09:23 on Febr. 21 in 59 19N 16 14W, 5 died, 39 survived - sunk the next day by U-96. Uboat.net has more about this incident, ref. the external link below.

D. L. Harper proceeded to Halifax for repairs, having sustained a leak in bunkers due to enemy action.

Escorts:
HMS Wanderer, Nasturtium, Periwinkle, Witch, Montgomery.

Air Escort was seen after passing Bar Light Vessel for about 1 hour on Febr. 16, and again for about 1 hour when passing through North Minch on Febr. 18. Also, at 13:50 on Febr. 20 in 58 43N 12 48W for about 1 hour.

Related external links:
The loss of Scottish Standard

OA and OB Convoys - Chronological list, starting with 1939.

OB Convoys

Back to Convoy Index

To the next OB convoy in my list OB 288


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