HX convoys


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 rendezvoused with BHX convoys from Bermuda en route. After the United States entered the war, HX convoys began at New York and New Jersey|New York].
The HX series consisted of 377 convoys, with 17,744 ships. Thirty-eight convoys were attacked, 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.

Background

An HX series had run in the Atlantic U-boat campaign of [World War I|Atlantic Campaign] of the First World War in 1917 and 1918. 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 and to a North Atlantic rendezvous with Royal Navy heavy cruisers and. HX 358 sailed on 23 May 1945 and arrived at Liverpool on 6 June 1945. HX convoys were initially considered fast and made up of ships that could make, the voyage from New York to Liverpool taking an average of 15.2 days. A parallel series of slow convoys, was run for ships making, which took about 15.4 days from Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Ships making more than sailed independently; CU series were organised in 1943, most being US war-built tankers of +, which later included troop transports and fast merchant ships. 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. 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.

Convoy battles