EN convoys

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EN convoys were militarily secured, regular merchant ship convoys . They drove between the Scottish Methil on the east coast and Oban on the west coast in Great Britain during the Second World War . Later the convoys mostly ended in Loch Ewe , some also in Belfast, Northern Ireland .

organization

The EN convoy series connected the East Scottish port of Methil ( Lage ) with the West Scottish Oban ( Lage ). The average journey time was four days. The convoys initially departed irregularly every 4 to 13 days, depending on how many shiploads were ready. The numbering began in August 1940 with EN 1 and temporarily ended in April 1941 with EN 95. After a break, the series was resumed with EN 1 in November 1941 and ended with EN 493 in May 1945. A total of 14 convoys were canceled and their number was not reassigned. After the resumption, the convoys left Methil every one to four days. From EN 100 the destination of the convoy was Loch Ewe ( Lage ). In 1945, seven EN convoys also went to Northern Ireland Belfast ( location ). Only a few were escorted by small escort ships on their journey.

Convoys

The EN convoy series started on August 2, 1940 with EN 1, when the Norwegian cargo ship Korsfjord left the port of Methil on the east coast of Scotland. The Oban destination was reached on August 5, 1940. This first EN convoy was not accompanied by security ships.

During the first successful attack on an EN convoy, the Heinkel He 115 of the Coast Aviation Group 706 sank two cargo ships from EN 23 on November 11, 1940 and damaged another one.

Only on May 7, 1945 was it possible to sink ships again. U 2336 , under Kapitänleutnant Emil Klusmeier , sighted the EN 491 , which consists of five cargo ships, and sank the Avondale Park ( Lage ) and the Sneland I ( Lage ) with one torpedo each . This was also the last sinking by a German submarine in World War II .

A total of 10,381 shiploads were transported in 595 EN convoy trains. Four of these shiploads were sunk.

All EN convoys that have had at least one enemy-related loss of cargo are listed below. The losses were caused by submarines and aircraft. This does not include losses due to collisions, weather, British sea mines or operating errors by the ship's crew.

Convoy Departure Arrivals Shiploads Sunk shiploads GRT
EN 23 November 11, 1940 November 16, 1940 11 2 8594
EN 491 May 7, 1945 May 9, 1945 5 2 4669

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, November 1940 , accessed on August 22, 2014.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Rohwer, Gerhard Hümmelchen: Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, May 1945 , accessed on August 22, 2014.