HX convoys

Coordinates: 0°N 25°W / 0°N 25°W / 0; -25
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HX convoys
Part of The Battle of the Atlantic of the Second World War

Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvettes such as HMCS Regina escorted many of the HX convoys
DateSeptember 1939 – May 1945
Location
Atlantic Ocean
0°N 25°W / 0°N 25°W / 0; -25
Result Allied victory
HX convoys is located in Atlantic Ocean
HX convoys
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Map of the Atlantic Ocean

HX convoys were transatlantic convoys in the North Atlantic during the First World War and in the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. HX convoys sailed eastwards from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, to Liverpool and other ports in Britain. They were joined the BHX convoys from Bermuda en route. After the United States entered the war, HX convoys began at New York.

The HX series consisted of 377 convoys, with 17,744 ships. Thirty-eight convoys were attacked (about 10 per cent), with the loss of 110 ships in convoy; sixty stragglers were sunk and 36 lost while detached or after dispersal, with losses from marine accident and other causes, for a total loss of 206 ships or about 1 per cent of the total.[1]

Background[edit]

An HX series had run in the Atlantic Campaign of the First World War in 1917 and 1918.[2] HX convoys were revived in 1939 at the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic and were run until the end, the longest continuous series of the war. HX 1 sailed on 16 September 1939 with 18 merchant ships, escorted by the Royal Canadian Navy destroyers HMCS St. Laurent and Saguenay to a North Atlantic rendezvous with Royal Navy heavy cruisers HMS Berwick and York.[3] HX 358 sailed on 23 May 1945 and arrived at Liverpool on 6 June 1945.[4] HX convoys were initially considered fast and made up of ships that could make 9–13 kn (17–24 km/h; 10–15 mph), the voyage from New York to Liverpool taking an average of 15.2 days. A parallel series of slow convoys (SC), was run for ships making 7.7–8 kn (14.3–14.8 km/h; 8.9–9.2 mph), which took about 15.4 days from Sydney, Nova Scotia.[5]

Ships making more than 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph) sailed independently; CU (Caribbean to United Kingdom) series were organised in 1943, most being US war-built tankers of 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)+, which later included troop transports and fast merchant ships.[6] Outbound convoys were usually slower than return convoys and summer voyages usually faster than those in winter. Delays for diversions and bad weather could lead to escort vessels at the ocean rendezvous running low on fuel and having to return. A convoy that went way off course or encountered unusually stormy or foggy weather would be lucky to make rendezvous with its escorts.[5] The largest convoy of the Second World War was Convoy HX 300 which sailed from New York to Britain on 25 July 1944, with 166 merchant ships, arriving at Liverpool without incident, on 3 August 1944.[7]

Convoy battles[edit]

Map showing the north Atlantic

HX convoy statistics[edit]

Sinkings of merchant ships in HX convoys; data taken from Hague (2000).[1]
Year No. of convoys No. of ships Convoy losses Stragglers lost Non-convoy losses Total Total as %
1939 22 431 1 — 2 3 0.70
1940 91 3,424 48 22 24 94 2.75
1941 70 3,050 21 18 7 46 1.51
1942 54 1,811 8 6 3 17 0.94
1943 53 2,958 27 14 — 41 1.39
1944 55 4,085 2 — — 2 0.05
1945 32 1,985 3 — — 3 0.15
Total 377 17,774 110 60 36 206 1.16

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Hague 2000, p. 116.
  2. ^ Newbolt 2003, p. 104.
  3. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 4; Roskill 1957, p. 93.
  4. ^ Hague 2000, pp. 123, 129.
  5. ^ a b Roskill 1957, p. 345.
  6. ^ Hague 2000, p. 38.
  7. ^ Hague 2000, p. 129.
  8. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 44.
  9. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 48.
  10. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 58.
  11. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 63, 65.
  12. ^ Silverstone 1968, p. 9.
  13. ^ Hague 2000, pp. 127–128; Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 203, 208.
  14. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 236–239.
  15. ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 237–239.

References[edit]

  • Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
  • Newbolt, H. J. (2003) [1931]. Naval Operations (accompanying Map Case). History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. V (facs. repr. Imperial War Museum Department of Printed books and Naval & Military Press, Uckfield ed.). London: Longmans, Green & Co. ISBN 978-1-84342-493-2 – via Archive Foundation.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  • Roskill, S. W. (1957) [1954]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The War at Sea 1939–1945: The Defensive. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. I (4th impr. ed.). London: HMSO. OCLC 881709135. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022.
  • Silverstone, Paul H. (1968). US Warships of World War II. New York: Doubleday. OCLC 460376599.

Further reading[edit]

  • Vat, Dan van der (1988). The Atlantic Campaign. london: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-37751-8.
  • Woodman, Richard (2013) [2004]. The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939–1943 (repr. Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley ed.). London: John Murray. ISBN 978-1-84884-415-5.

External links[edit]

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