Convoy HX 126 was the 126th of the numbered series of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
HX convoys of merchant ships from
HalifaX to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
.
Prelude
The ships departed Halifax on 10 May 1941.
[Hague p.127] At this time, there were no escorts to provide protection against
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s for the whole duration of the journey across the
North Atlantic. For the first leg of the crossing, the only escort was the
armed merchant cruiser which task was to provide protection against
merchant raider
Merchant raiders are armed commerce raiding ships that disguise themselves as non-combatant merchant vessels.
History
Germany used several merchant raiders early in World War I (1914–1918), and again early in World War II (1939–1945). The cap ...
s.
On the U-boat side, the submarines were reorganized in the
group West after the attack on
convoy OB 318 and were sent to scout for convoys ever more westward.
[Rohwer &Hummelchen, p.62]
Action
On 19 May, the U-boat found the convoy and she directed the other boats of the group West. The group began their attacks on 20 May. The first attack of ''U-94'' in the early morning misses, but in a second attack she sank one
or two ships.
[Blair, p.286] Then contact with the convoy is lost.
The next U-boat, found the convoy at noon. In two attacks ''U-556'' sank three ships.
As the convoy was still unescorted at the time, it started to break up.
discovered the large 13,000-ton tanker ''San Felix'' and damaged it with a torpedo, but the tanker did not belong to HX 126. It was an outbound vessel from the dispersed convoy OB 322. In the evening sank the freighter ''Rothermere.'' Around the same time ''U-94'' regained contact with the convoy and sank the tanker ''John P. Pedersen''. Just before midnight, sank the straggler ''Harpagus'' with two torpedoes. ''Harpagus'' had fallen behind to rescue survivors from ''Norman Monarch''. The
12th escort group
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
, which comprised at the time five
destroyers, four corvettes and two
anti-submarine trawlers Trawler may refer to:
Boats
* Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing
* Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes
** Trawlers of the Royal Navy
* Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built t ...
, arrived and started to round up the dispersed ships and reform the convoy. Five of the escorts find ''U-109'' and damage the submarine with
depth charges. As a result ''U-109'' aborted to France.
In the early morning of 21 May, struck the tanker ''Elusa'' which was later
scuttled
Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...
. was damaged and forced to abort to France by depth charge attacks from the corvette and a destroyer (either
or
). Upon learning that a strong escort has arrived, German command disengaged the U-boats and reformed them in a new patrol line further south. Only ''U-111'' is left in place in order to transmit decoy radio signals. On 22 May ''U-111'' found and sank ''Barnby'' which either straggled or romped from the convoy.
Ships in the convoy
Allied merchant ships
A total of 33 merchant vessels joined the convoy, either in Halifax or later in the voyage.
Surviving ships reached Liverpool on 28 May.
Convoy escorts
A series of armed military ships escorted the convoy at various times during its journey.
[ Only one escort was present during the German attacks.
]
References
Bibliography
*
*
* {{Cite book , last=Blair , first=Clay , title=Hitler's U-Boat War olume 1 The Hunters , year=2000 , publisher=Cassell , isbn=0-304-35260-8
External links
HX.126 at convoyweb
HX126
Conflicts in 1941
Naval battles of World War II involving Germany
Naval battles of World War II involving Canada
C