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CONVOY ON 26

Convoy ON 26 Cruising Order
Departed Liverpool on Oct. 14-1941, dispersed on Oct. 29 (Arnold Hague says 33 ships).
Transcribed from several documents received from Roger Griffiths (his source: Public Records Office, Kew).

Ships sailing from:
L=Liverpool, M=Milford, Bel=Belfast, G=Clyde, A=Aultbea, F=Fleetwood, O=Oban.

Crossed out ships did not join, underlined returned to port.

For info, some of the ships in this convoy had previously arrived U.K. with Convoy HX 150, others with HX 151 (see also HX 148 and HX 149).
A few of them later went back to England with HX 160 on Nov. 15 (unfortunately, a lot of the ships in the previous convoys are unnamed, as is also the case for HX 160).

Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Du=Dutch, Po=Polish, Am=American, Pa=Panamanian, Ru=Russian, Sw=Swedish.
T=tanker, CAM=Catapult ships.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
11 (L)
Daltonhall
ballast
Halifax
(Br)
CAM
21 (L)
Pacific Grove
ballast
Halifax / New York
(Br)
31 (Bel)
Empire Rowan
ballast
Halifax
(Br)
CAM
41 (L)
Tuscan Star
general
Curacao / Melbourne
(Br)
51 (L)
Manchester Merchant
general
Quebec / Montreal
(Br)
61 (G)
Mary Kingsley
stores
Trinidad
(Br)
71 (G)
Dorelian
general
Montreal
(Br)
81 (A)
Empire Lugard
ballast
Halifax
(Br)
91 (Bel)
Empire Tide
Halifax
(Br)
CAM
12 (L)
Langleecrag
general
Montreal
(Br)
22 (L)
Leto
stores
Cape / Lourenco Marques
(Du)
32 (L) T
Garonne
ballast
Halifax
(Norw)
42 (L)
Tudor Prince
general
Halifax / Boston
(Br)
52 (L) T
Empire Mica
New York
(Br)
62 (G) T
Dolabella
ballast
New York
(Br)
72 (G) T
Dean Emery
New York
(Pa)

Cairnesk
Montreal
(Br)

82 (A) T
Athelduchess
ballast
Port Everglades
(Br)
92 (A)
Clearpool
ballast
New York
(Br)
13 (L)
Westland
stores
New York
(Du)
23 (L) T
Belinda
ballast
New York
(Norw)
33 (L)
Phrontis
general / stores
Panama / Straits
(Du)
43 (M)
Opawa
general
Aruba? Australia?
(Br)
53 (G) T
President de Vogue
ballast
Curacao
(Norw)
63 (G) T
Leiv Eiriksson
ballast / depth charges
Curacao
(Norw)
73 (G)
Meline
New York
(Norw)
83 (A) T
British Faith
ballast
New York
(Br)

Mirlo
New York?
(Norw)

93 (A)
Stary Bolshevic
tobacco
NewYork
(Ru)
14 (F)
Hel*
Iceland
(Po)

Bretwalda
Mobile
(Br)

24 (A)
City of Norwich
Montreal
(Br)
34 (M) T
Havkong
ballast
Houston
(Norw)
44 (M) T
Daronia
ballast
Providence, R.I.
Curacao / Panama
(Br)
54 (M) T
British Valour
ballast
Curacao?
(Br)
64 (M) T
Fenris
ballast
Curacao
(Norw)
74 (M) T
Thorshøvdi
ballast
New York
(Norw)
84 (A)
Finlande*
ballast
Reykjavik
(Fr)

Coimbra
Philadelphia
(Br)

94
Atland
(Sw)
15 25 35
Northern Sword **
(Am)
45 (A)
Nicoya
general
Montreal
(Br)
55 (G)
Zamalek
Rescue Vessel
Iceland
(Br)
65 (A)
Lochmonar
Bermuda
(Br)
75 (A)
Skjold*
cement
Reykjavik

Rowanoke**
(Br)

85 95 (O)
Pacific Star
Halifax
(Br)
* I'm a little unsure of the ships listed as bound for Iceland in stations 14, 75 and 84. They are all crossed out on the convoy form, but I don't know whether that's because they dispatched for Iceland, or whether it's because they did not sail at all.
** I believe Northern Sword and Rowanoke joined from Iceland on Sept. 20 (at 07:00).


Notes:
Commodore, Vice Admiral G. Macworth (CMG, DSO, RNR) was in Manchester Merchant, Vice Commodore was the captain of Pacific Grove, Rear commodore the captain of Empire Lugard (but this ship is crossed out on the convoy form).

Zamalek was on her 12th voyage as Rescue Vessel, joining ON 26 from Clyde - detached off Iceland on Oct. 20, then returned to Clyde with the eastbound Convoy SC 49, Oct. 22–Oct. 27-1941 (this info from "Convoy Rescue Ships", Arnold Hague).

ON 26 had 37 ships, 29 of which were still present at disperal.

The Milford ships rendezvoused at 07:00 on Oct. 15, the Clyde ships at 07:45 that same morning, Pacific Star joined from Oban at 10:30, while the Aultbea ships joined the following day, Sept. 16 at 13:30.

Average speed: 7.73 knots. According to the Commodore's notes, the slow average speed was due to delay at Loch Ewe rendezvous, bad weather and further delay (ordered) owing to change of date in rendezvous off Iceland. Also, having to reduce every morning to allow stragglers to come up, and to wait for ships with temporary breakdowns "too numerous to mention".

(Please note that the document containing the Commodore's notes is handwritten and hard to decipher in places, so my transcription, especially of misc. numbers, may not be 100% accurate).

Empire Rowan lost touch on the night of Oct. 15/16.
Tudor Prince returned to Loch Ewe at 18:20 Oct. 16 with a seriously injured man.
Atland lost touch in the night of Oct. 16/17.
Leiv Eiriksson proceeded to Iceland at 07:00 Oct. 20.
Northern Sword fell out with condenser trouble, 17:00 Oct. 21 in 58 15N 31 04?W.
Rowanoke lost touch in the night of Oct. 21/22 - rejoined at 11:45 Oct. 23.
Mirlo lost touch in fog on Oct. 24.
Stary Bolshevic lost touch in the night of Oct. 24/25.

Pacific Star, British Valour and Leto left at 15:45 on Oct. 28? in 50 01N 44 30W by order.
Commodore's ship Manchester Merchant, Dorelian, Cairnesk and Nicoya (all bound for Montreal) left convoy at 16:00 Oct. 28 in 50 01N 44 32W, with destroyer Badger. Commodore's group was dispersed at 12:20 on Oct. 29, and Badger left.

The Commodore says
that Mirlo, with a speed of 10 knots, had problems maintaining convoy speed and straggled continuously at night. On Oct. 24, when fog came on she was observed to be dropping astern and would not answer signals to close up. She eventually lost touch and was not seen again. The Commodore adds, "In my opinion this was done deliberately probably from timidity. The master of Manchester Mercant informed me she did the same thing in the last convoy he was with her. I submit she is not fit to go in convoy until her master undertakes not to straggle and to keep a better look out for signals. She was a continual cause of anxiety to me".

Athelduchess and Norwich City (assuming he means the escort) also straggled a lot, and Meline and Bretwalda were bad station keepers, while Empire Tide was slow at repeating signals, keeping bad lookout.

Escorts:
HMS Arab, Lady Madeleine, Norwich City, Beagle, Salisbury, Narcissus, Lobelia, Heather.
US destroyers Mayo (S.O.), Broome, Schenck, Leary, Babbitt, Badger, joining from Reykjavik at 07:30 on Oct. 20 in 59 49N 23 00W. They (except Badger) left with convoy under Vice Commodore at 16:00 on Oct. 28 in 50 01N 44 30W. Badger left at 12:40 on Oct. 29 in 45 58N 53 10W.

Air escort:
Oct. 15 - 1 Hudson, 2 fighters(?)
Oct. 17 - 1 Sunderland and 1 Whitley.
Oct. 18 - 1 Whitley
Oct. 19 - 1 Wellington
Oct. 20 - 3 Catalinas, 1 Hudson.

An American aircraft unsuccessfully bombed a submarine at 16:20 on Oct. 28 (? - part of number missing, could be 23rd or 25th) in 51 14N 53 40?W, and Mayo contacted and attacked a submarine at 12:30 on... (unfortunately, the rest of the text on this document is missing).

Back to Convoy Index

To the next convoy in my list ON 27
will be added, as will ON 28 and ON 29
In the meantime, see Ships sailing in all ON convoys
The next available ON convoy is ON 30


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