Convoy HX 72

The convoy HX 72 was an Allied convoy of the HX convoy series to supply Great Britain during World War II . He left Halifax, Canada on September 9, 1940 , and arrived in Liverpool on September 22nd . The Allies lost eleven cargo ships with 72,727 GRT to German submarines , while there were no losses on the German side. This made the HX 72 one of the most lossy HX convoys.

Composition and securing

The convoy HX 72 consisted of 43 cargo ships. On September 9, 1940, they left Halifax ( Lage ) in Canada for Liverpool ( Lage ). The convoy's commodore was Rear Admiral HH Rogers, who had embarked on the Tregarthen . At the start, a local Canadian escort with the corvettes French , Laurier , Reindeer and Saguenay took over the security , which stayed with the convoy until September 11th and then turned away. The only securing device for the Atlantic crossing was the British auxiliary cruiser Jervis Bay with the convoy until it reached the western approach area on September 21 . Here the handover to a British local escort group with the destroyers Shikari , Scimitar and Skate , the Sloop Lowesoft and the corvettes Calendula , Heartsease and La Malouine took place . 44.63 -63.5453.44 -3.04

Surname	flag	Measurement in GRT	Whereabouts
Baron Blythswood	United Kingdom United Kingdom	3,668	sunk by U 99 on September 20th
Blue rangus	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,409	sunk by U 48 on September 21 ( Lage ) 55.3 -22.35
Broompark	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,136	Damaged by U 48 on September 21
Bur	Norway Norway	4,343
Cadillac	United Kingdom United Kingdom	12,062
Canonesa	United Kingdom United Kingdom	8,286	sunk by U 100 on September 21 ( Lage ) 54.916667 -18.416667
Collegian	United Kingdom United Kingdom	7886
Dalcairn	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,608	sunk by U 100 on September 21 ( Lage ) 55 -19
Defender	United Kingdom United Kingdom	8258
Eastern Glade	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,057
El Aleto	United Kingdom United Kingdom	7,203
Elmbank	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,156	sunk by U 47 and U 99 on September 21 ( Lage ) 55.333333 -22.5
Empire Airman	United Kingdom United Kingdom	6,561	sunk by U 100 on September 21 ( Lage ) 54 -18
Frederick S. Fales	United Kingdom United Kingdom	10,525	sunk by U 100 on September 21 ( Lage ) 55.5 -13.666667
Gloucester City	United Kingdom United Kingdom	3,071
Hardanger	Norway Norway	4,000
Harlingen	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,415
Invershannon	United Kingdom United Kingdom	9,154	sunk by U 99 on September 20 ( Lage ) 55.666667 -22.066667
Janeta	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,312
Leadgate	United Kingdom United Kingdom	2.125
Leighton	United Kingdom United Kingdom	7,412
Losada	United Kingdom United Kingdom	6,520
Mammy	Syria Syria	1656
Morska Wola	Poland Poland	3,208
Mount Kyllene	Greece Greece	3,703
Muneric	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,229
Nyanza	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,974
Oakcrest	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,407
Pacific Grove	United Kingdom United Kingdom	7.117
Scholar	United Kingdom United Kingdom	3,940	sunk by U 100 on September 21 ( Lage ) 55.183333 -17.916667
Selvistan	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,136
Simla	Norway Norway	6,031	sunk by U 100 on September 21 ( Lage ) 55.183333 -17.966667
Snar	Norway Norway	3.176
OEM	Netherlands Netherlands	6,718
Torinia	United Kingdom United Kingdom	10,364	sunk by U 100 on September 21 ( Lage ) 54.916667 -18.283333
Tregarthen	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,201
Tresillian	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,743
Tudor Prince	United Kingdom United Kingdom	1.914
Ullapool	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4891
Urla	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,198
Venetia	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,728
Zagloba	United Kingdom United Kingdom	2,864

course

On September 20, 1940, U 47 , which was used as a weather observation boat at that time, happened to catch the convoy. At this point in time the only security ship, the auxiliary cruiser Jervis Bay , had already turned off and the convoy entered the western approach area without an escort . The British escort group was scheduled to take over the convoy and bring it to Liverpool on September 21st. U 47 , which only had one torpedo on board, kept in touch with the convoy as instructed and sent bearing signals. Approaching these direction indicators, the other submarines U 99 , U 29 , U 65 , U 48 , U 46 and U 43 approached the convoy. U 99 , which was closest to it, reached the convoy on the evening of September 20 and attacked immediately. It sank the Invershannon with torpedoes , losing 16 of the 33 crew members and the Baron Blythswood who had loaded iron ore and took 33 men out of 34 to the bottom. Subsequently, U 99 damaged the Elmbank with a load of wood and metal, which was later sunk with the deck cannon together with U 47 , whereby 2 of the 56 crew members were killed. The five other submarines that came directly from Lorient Base reached the convoy on the morning of September 21. U 48 attacked in the early morning hours and sank the Blairangus with pit wood on board, losing 7 of the 34 crew members and damaging the Broompark . After the escort group arrived, there were no more attacks during the day. Only in the evening after dark did the U 100 board the convoy and sank the Canonesa , the Torinia , the Dalcairn , the Empire Airman , the Scholar , the Frederick S. Fales and the Simla in several attempts over four hours . A total of 46 crew members went down with the ships. After more security vehicles came up they managed to push the submarines away. The convoy arrived in Liverpool on September 22nd. A total of eleven ships with 72,727 GRT were sunk.

Footnotes

↑ ^a ^b Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, September 1940 , accessed on September 17, 2018.
^ Arnold Hague Convoy Database , accessed September 17, 2018.
^ Clay Blair : Der U-Boot-Krieg, Die Jäger 1939–1942, Wilhelm Heine Verlag , Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , pp. 241–242.

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

[Rohwer-1] Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, September 1940 , accessed on September 17, 2018.

[2] Arnold Hague Convoy Database , accessed September 17, 2018.

[BlairS249-3] Clay Blair : Der U-Boot-Krieg, Die Jäger 1939–1942, Wilhelm Heine Verlag , Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , pp. 241–242.


1939	HX 1 • HXF 1 • HX 2 • HXF 2 • HX 3 • HX 3S • HX 4 • HX 5 • HX 6 • HXF 6 • HX 7 • HXF 7 • HX 8 • HXF 8 • HX 9 • HXF 9 • HX 10 • HXF 10 • HX 11 • HXF 11 • HX 12 • HXF 12 • HX 13 • HXF 13 • HX 14 • HXF 14
1940	HX 15 • HXF 15 • HX 16 • HXF 16 • HX 17 • HXF 17 • HX 18 • HXF 18 • HX 19 • HXF 19 • HX 20 • HXF 20 • HX 21 • HX 22 • HX 23 • HX 24 • HX 25 • HX 26 • HX 27 • HX 28 • HX 29 • HX 30 • HX 31 • HX 32 • HX 33 • HX 34 • HX 35 • HX 36 • HX 37 • HX 38 • HX 39 • HX 40 • HX 41 • HX 42 • HX 43 • HX 44 • HX 45 • HX 46 • HX 47 • HX 48 • HX 49 • HX 50 • HX 51 • HX 52 • HX 53 • HX 54 • HX 55 • HX 56 • HX 57 • HX 58 • HX 59 • HX 60 • HX 61 • HX 62 • HX 63 • HX 64 • HX 65 • HX 66 • HX 67 • HX 68 • HX 69 • HX 70 • HX 71 • HX 72 • HX 73 • HX 74 • HX 75 • HX 76 • HX 77 • HX 78 • HX 79 • HX 80 • HX 81 • HX 82 • HX 83 • HX 84 • HX 85 • HX 85/1 • HX 86 • HX 87 • HX 88 • HX 89 • HX 90 • HX 91 • HX 92 • HX 93 • HX 94 • HX 95 • HX 96 • HX 97 • HX 98 • HX 98/1 • HX 99
1941	HX 100 • HX 101 • HX 102 • HX 103 • HX 104 • HX 105 • HX 106 • HX 107 • HX 108 • HX 109 • HX 110 • HX 111 • HX 112 • HX 113 • HX 114 • HX 115 • HX 116 • HX 117 • HX 118 • HX 119A • HX 119B • HX 120 • HX 121 • HX 122 • HX 123 • HX 124 • HX 125A • HX 125B • HX 126 • HX 127 • HX 128 • HX 129 • HX 130 • HX 131 • HX 132 • HX 133 • HX 134 • HX 135 • HX 136 • HX 137 • HX 138 • HX 139 • HX 140 • HX 141 • HX 142 • HX 143 • HX 144 • HX 145 • HX 146 • HX 147 • HX 148 • HX 149 • HX 150 • HX 151 • HX 152 • HX 153 • HX 154 • HX 155 • HX 156 • HX 157 • HX 158 • HX 159 • HX 160 • HX 161 • HX 162 • HX 163 • HX 164 • HX 165 • HX 166 • HX 167
1942	HX 168 • HX 169 • HX 170 • HX 171 • HX 172 • HX 173 • HX 174 • HX 175 • HX 176 • HX 177 • HX 178 • HX 179 • HX 180 • HX 181 • HX 182 • HX 183 • HX 184 • HX 185 • HX 186 • HX 187 • HX 188 • HX 189 • HX 190 • HX 191 • HX 192 • HX 193 • HX 194 • HX 195 • HX 196 • HX 197 • HX 198 • HX 199 • HX 200 • HX 201 • HX 202 • HX 203 • HX 204 • HX 205 • HX 206 • HX 207 • HX 208 • HX 209 • HX 210 • HX 211 • HX 212 • HX 213 • HX 214 • HX 215 • HX 216 • HX 217 • HX 218 • HX 219 • HX 220 • HX 221
1943	HX 222 • HX 223 • HX 224 • HX 225 • HX 226 • HX 227 • HX 228 • HX 229 • HX 229A ; • HX 230 • HX 231 • HX 232 • HX 233 • HX 234 • HX 235 • HX 236 • HX 237 • HX 238 • HX 239 • HX 240 • HX 241 • HX 242 • HX 243 • HX 244 • HX 245 • HX 246 • HX 247 • HX 248 • HX 249 • HX 250 • HX 251 • HX 252 • HX 253 • HX 254 • HX 255 • HX 256 • HX 257 • HX 258 • HX 259 • HX 260 • HX 261 • HX 262 • HX 263 • HX 264 • HX 265 • HX 266 • HX 267 • HX 268 • HX 269 • HX 270 • HX 271 • HX 272 • HX 273
1944	HX 274 • HX 275 • HX 276 • HX 277 • HX 278 • HX 279 • HX 280 • HX 281 • HX 282 • HX 283 • HX 284 • HX 285 • HX 286 • HX 287 • HX 288 • HX 289 • HX 290 • HX 291 • HX 292 • HX 293 • HX 294 • HX 295 • HX 296 • HX 297 • HX 298 • HX 299 • HX 300 • HX 301 • HX 302 • HX 303 • HX 304 • HX 305 • HX 306 • HX 307 • HX 308 • HX 309 • HX 310 • HX 311 • HX 312 • HX 313 • HX 314 • HX 315 • HX 316 • HX 317 • HX 318 • HX 319 • HX 320 • HX 321 • HX 322 • HX 323 • HX 324 • HX 325 • HX 326 • HX 327 • HX 328 • HX 329
1945	HX 330 • HX 331 • HX 332 • HX 333 • HX 334 • HX 335 • HX 336 • HX 337 • HX 338 • HX 339 • HX 340 • HX 341 • HX 342 • HX 343 • HX 344 • HX 345 • HX 346 • HX 347 • HX 348 • HX 349 • HX 350 • HX 351 • HX 352 • HX 353 • HX 354 • HX 355 • HX 356 • HX 357 • HX 358 • HX 359