Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Du=Dutch, Gr=Greek, Am=American
RV=Rescue Vessel, †=died

The Commodore also mentions a ship named Throckley in his notes.

Also, Empire Marvell, a straggler from Convoy ON 157, joined ON 156 at 15:00 on Jan. 10-1943 in 43 46N 53 32W.

The Rescue Vessel Accrington was on her 3rd voyage as such. She started out in Clyde on Dec. 25-1942, to Halifax Jan. 13-1943, then returned on Jan. 24 with Convoy HX 224 (in which her first rescue took place), to Clyde Febr. 7-1943. ("Convoy Rescue Ships", Arnold Hague).

Average speed: 5.88 (daily positions of convoy are available on request via the contact address provided at the bottom of this page).

The convoy had ships from Liverpool, Milford Haven and Clyde, joined by ships from Loch Ewe at 08:00 on Dec. 27 in 57 53N 11 14W.

Panaghis returned to port with boiler trouble.
Ingerfem straggled at 08:00 Dec. 28-1942. Sunk on Dec. 29 by U-631, with the loss of 40 men. Only 1 survived - see my page about Ingerfem for his harrowing story.
Antigone straggled in 58 01N 14 11W - rejoined at 08:00 on Dec. 29 in 58 39N 17 37W.
Milos became a straggler in 59 23N 22 50W at 08:00 on Dec. 30-1942.
Larranaga straggled at 08:00 on Jan. 6-1943 in 48 04N 43 50W.
Mironych became a straggler at 08:00 Jan. 8-1943 in 47 00N 45 32W.
Ingman became a straggler at 12:00 Jan. 8 in 46 07N 46 57W - rejoined at 12:00 on Jan. 3 in 52 34N 37 25W (the date here makes no sense).

From the Commodore's notes:
Gloucester City, Master F. B. Smith - conduct most unsatisfactory, attributed to inefficient fireman but station keeping throughout very bad.
Ingman, Master J. B. White - twice straggled from convoy. Kept station badly, no satisfactory explanation.
Antigone, Master F. Williams - kept very bad station.
Mathilda, Master A. Monsen - kept very bad station as a rule.

Also, Ingman and Throckley (not included in table above) had problems with smoke - coal obtained at Tyne.

He says that New York and Halifax ships parted company at 13:10 on Jan. 12-1943 in 43 03N 60 55, but he probably means St. John's and Halifax ships.

Escorts:
Spencer (S.O.), USS Badger, HMS Dianthus, HMCS Dauphin, HMCS Trillium and HMCS Rosthern.

Ocean escorts left at 08:00 on Jan. 8-1943 in 46 27N 46 46W and were relived by HMCS St. Clair (S.O.), HMCS New Westminster, HMCS Lachine and HMCS Hepatica.

Air Escort:
On Dec. 26, 27 and 29-1942, and on Jan. 10 and 11-1943.

Related external link:
The history of USS Campbell - According to this page, this coast guard cutter was also with ON 156 for a while.

Back to Convoy Index