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CONVOY SC 20
Departed Halifax on Jan. 22-1941 and arrived Liverpool on Febr. 8.
Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" gives 38 ships in this convoy.

Transcribed from original documents received from Tony Cooper (Advance Sailing Telegram) - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.
The station numbers and names of escorts have been extracted from documents recived from Don Kindell, based on Arnold Hague's database - see
ships in all SC convoys.

Further details have been added with the help of:
"Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague
"Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two", Jürgen Rohwer
"The World's Merchant Fleets 1939", R. W. Jordan.
"Lloyd's War Losses", Vol I.

Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined returned to port (except those that are linked, which will automatically be underlined. The Norwegian Bernhard, Ila and Evviva, however, did return to port).

MoWT = Ministry of War Transport

Ship
Nationality
Cargo
Station
Destination
Remarks
Inger Toft
Danish / MoWT 1940
pit props
26
Immingham
Allende
British
steel
11
Newport
Norwegian
paper pulp
Ellesmere Port
To SC 22- returned
To SC 23 - did not sail
Listed in SC 24
See also SC 15 and page about Borgfred
"
scrap iron
25
Ardrossan
Returned to port
To SC 22 - returned
To SC 24 - returned
Follow link to Bernhard
Biafra
British
general - special
74
Liverpool
From SC 19
Blairesk
"
steel - lumber
44
Grimsby
From SC 19
Coultarn
"
general - steel - special
62
Clyde / Hull
Cape Corso
"
steel - general - special
21
Middlesbrough
Coryton
"
grain
61
Hull
From SC 19
Dione II
French / MoWT 1940
iron ore
91
Cardiff
From HX 103
Sunk - See Notes
Norwegian
pit props
65
Tyne
From SC 19
Returned to Halifax
Listed in SC 22
Erna III
Danish / MoWT 1940
lumber
London
From SC 19
Listed in SC 23
Empire Engineer
British
steel
42
Newport
Sunk - See Notes
Fort Médine
French / MoWT 1940
iron ore
Cardiff
From SC 19
Listed in SC 21
Flensburg
Dutch
scrap metal
13
Swansea
From SC 19
Hadleigh
British
grain
31
London
From SC 19
Norwegian
pit props
Clyde
To SC 21 - did not sail
Listed in SC 24
"
pit props
35
W. Hartlepool
Ioannis M. Embiricos
Greek
lumber
64
Preston
(See also SC 13)
Sunk - See Notes
Kordecki
Polish
basswood - steel
92
Sharpness
From SC 19
Returned to port (St. John's)
Listed in SC 23
Lars Kruse
Danish / MoWT 1940
pit props
34
Tyne
From SC 19
Maclaren*
British
lumber
41
London
From SC 19
Myson
French / MoWT 1940
general
83
Avonmouth
Norwegian
steel - pit props
22
W. Hartlepool
Maplecourt
Canadian
general - special
84
Preston
From HX 103
Sunk - See Notes
Narocz
Polish
newsprint
53
Glasgow
From SC 19
Returned to Halifax w/engine trouble
Listed in SC 22
Norwegian
timber
93
Belfast for water / Dublin
From SC 19
"
pit props
15
Hull
From SC 19
"
Tanker B
River Mersey
From SC 19
Listed in SC 21
Sevilla
British
grain
94
Belfast
From SC 19
The tonnage for Sevilla is given as 7022 gt in the Advance Sailing Telegram, and this was the British whale factory by that name (it seems odd that she would have a cargo of grain). A. Hague says the ship in this convoy was the Norwegian Sevilla of 1383 gt, but note that this does not match up with her voyage record for this period, so it must have been the British ship.
Rozenburg
Dutch
wood pulp
46
Methil d. g. / Grimsby
From SC 19
Returned to Halifax
Listed in SC 22
Telesfora de Larrinaga
British
steel - special
23
London
From HX 103
Trident
"
grain
63
Liverpool
From SC 19
Yearby
"
grain
London
From SC 19
Listed in SC 21
Kervégan
French / MoWT 1940
dry pulp
London
To SC 21 - did not sail
To SC 22 - foundered
(no survivors)
Pilar de Larrinaga
British
steel
14
Newport
Norwegian
pulp
33
London
Returned to port (St. John's)
Listed in SC 23
"
lumber
Belfast
(See also SC 15)
Listed in SC 21
Baron Yarborough
British
pit props
24
Barry
Gravelines
French / MoWT 1940
timber
Preston
To SC 21 - did not sail
Listed in SC 23
Stalowa Wola
Polish
general
Manchester
Listed in SC 21
Fylingdale
British
wheat
81
Sharpness
Milcrest
"
steel
12
Hull
Flowergate*
"
steel
52
Glasgow
Pontypridd
"
pig iron - trucks
16
Middlesbrough
Abercos
American / MoWT 1941
phosphates
Hull
Became Empire Ptarmigan
later Norwegian Norelg
Listed in HX 106
Emmy
Greek
pit props
72
Swansea
(See also SC 19)
Returned to Halifax for repairs
Listed in SC 24
Norwegian
pit props
32
Hull
From HX 102
Philip T. Dodge
British
iron - newsprint
Liverpool
Listed in SC 21
Lylepark
"
steel - trucks - special
36
London
From HX 105
Returned to Halifax
To HX 112 - did not sail
Listed in HX 113
Baron Ogilvy
"
steel
43
Hull
From HX 105
Quistconck
American / MoWT 1941
scrap - steel
45
Middlesbrough
(Became Empire Falcon)
From HX 104
Maplewood
British
grain
51
Glasgow
From HX 103
Alcor
Dutch
grain
54
Hull
From HX 105
Willesden
British
wheat
71
Manchester
Sinnington Court
"
steel - special
73
London
In collision - put into St. John's
Calafatis
Greek
steel - special
75
Glasgow
Sunk - See Notes
Manchester Division
British
general
82
Manchester
From HX 105
The Rescue Vessel Copeland was with this convoy for a while. She was on her 1st voyage as such, having started this voyage from Clyde on Jan. 31-1941 with Convoy OB 280 until Febr. 3, then joined SC 20 on Febr. 4, to Clyde Febr. 7 (having rescued 8 survivors from HMS Crispin from OB 280).

*According to A. Hague, Flowergate arrived with furnace defects. He also says that Maclaren was wrecked, but salved and repaired. Again, see his listing for SC 20 at ships in all SC convoys.

A. Hague also says that the Norwegian Ranella, a straggler from Convoy BHX 104, joined Convoy SC 20.


Notes:
Commodore was in Maplewood, Vice Commodore in Hadleigh.
Barry Commodore in Fylingdale.

Empire Engineer, on a voyage from Sydney, C.B. for Newport with steel ingots, became a straggler and was sunk on Febr. 4 by U-123. She had a complement of 39, all of whom perished.

Dione II, on a voyage from Wabana, N.F. for Cardiff with 2650 tons of iron ore, became a straggler (A. Hague says she had romped) and was bombed & damaged by German aircraft on Febr. 3, later shelled and sunk Febr. 4 by U-93. She had a crew of 30 and 1 gunner - 29 crew and the gunner were lost (numbers vary according to source).

Calafatis, on a voyage from Philadelphia for Glasgow with a cargo of steel, was sunk by German aircraft on Febr. 4. 18 died, 13 survived. (A. Hague says she had become a romper)

Ioannis M. Embiricos, on a voyage from Montreal for Preston with 1700 standards of pine, was bombed by German aircraft on Febr. 5, sank Febr. 6 - no casualties.

Maplecourt, on a voyage from Montreal for Preston with 3604 tons of general cargo, which included 1540 tons of steel, also became a straggler and was sunk on Febr. 6 by U-107. All 37 on board died.

The convoy arrived rendezvous on Febr. 3.

Escorts (extracted from this list of SC convoy escorts, based on Arnold Hague's database, received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Arbutus - From 04/02/41 to 08/02/41
Camellia - From 04/02/41 to 08/02/41
Erica - From 04/02/41 to 08/02/41
Harvester - From 04/02/41 to 08/02/41
Otter - From 22/01/41 to 23/01/41
Philante - From 04/02/41 to 08/02/41
Ranpura - From 22/01/41 to 04/02/41

Related external links:
The loss of Empire Engineer
The loss of Dione II
The loss of Maplecourt

Empire Ships

Back to Convoy Index

To the next SC convoy in my list SC 21


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