Convoy HX 79

The convoy HX 79 was an Allied convoy of HX Geleitzugserie to supply Britain in World War II . He left Halifax, Canada on October 8, 1940 and arrived in Liverpool on October 23 . The Allies lost twelve cargo ships with 75,063 GRT to German submarines , while there were no losses on the German side. This made the HX 79 one of the most lossy HX convoys.

Composition and securing

The convoy HX 79 consisted of 50 cargo ships. On October 8, 1940, they left Halifax ( Lage ) in Canada for Liverpool ( Lage ). Commodore of the convoy of the convoy was Rear Adm. WB Mackenzie, who had embarked on the Salacia . A local Canadian escort with the corvettes French , Husky , Reindeer and Saguenay took over the security until October 10th . Then an Ocean Escort, consisting of the auxiliary cruisers Montclare and Alaunia and the Dutch submarine O 14 , took over the protection of the convoy until it reached the area of the west approach on October 19 . Here the handover to a British local escort group with the destroyers Whitehall and Sturdy , the minesweeper Jason , the corvettes Hibiscus , Heliotrope , Coreopsis , Arabis , the UJ trawlers Lady Elsa , Blackfly , Angle and the Dutch submarine O 21 took place . 44.63 -63.5453.44 -3.04

Surname	flag	Measurement in GRT	Whereabouts
Athelmonarch	United Kingdom United Kingdom	8,995
Atland	Sweden Sweden	5,203
Axel Johnson	Sweden Sweden	4,915
Baron Carnegie	United Kingdom United Kingdom	3,178
Benwood	Norway Norway	3,931
Biafra	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,405
Bilderdijk	Netherlands Netherlands	6,856	sunk by U 47 on October 19 ( Lage ) 57.2 -10.716667
Blairnevis	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4.155
Brittany	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,772
Cadillac	United Kingdom United Kingdom	12,062
Cairnvalona	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,929
campus	United Kingdom United Kingdom	3,667
Cape Corso	United Kingdom United Kingdom	3,807
Caprella	United Kingdom United Kingdom	8,230	sunk by U 100 on October 20th ( Lage ) 56.616667 -17.25
City of Lancaster	United Kingdom United Kingdom	3,041
Egda	Norway Norway	10,050
Empire Swan	United Kingdom United Kingdom	7,964
Empire Trader	United Kingdom United Kingdom	9,990
Enseigne Maurice Prehac	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,578
Erna III	United Kingdom United Kingdom	1,590
Flowergate	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,161
Gunda	Sweden Sweden	1,170
Harbury	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,081
Harlesden	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,483
Hoyanger	Norway Norway	4,624
Induna	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,848
Janus	Sweden Sweden	9,965	sunk by U 46 on October 20 ( Lage ) 56.6 -15.05
Kiruna	Sweden Sweden	5,484
La Estancia	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,185	sunk by U 47 on October 20 ( Lage ) 57 -17
Loch Lomond	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,452	sunk by U 100 on October 20th ( Lage ) 56 -14.5
marathon	United Kingdom United Kingdom	7,926
Matheran	United Kingdom United Kingdom	7,653	sunk by U 38 on October 19 ( Lage ) 57 -17
Ravnevjell	Norway Norway	1,339
Rio Blanco	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,086
Rupera	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,548	sunk by U 46 on October 19 ( Lage ) 57 -16
Rydboholm	Sweden Sweden	3,197
Salancia	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,495
San Roberto	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,890
Sandanger	Norway Norway	9.432
Shirak	United Kingdom United Kingdom	6,023	sunk by U 47 on October 19 ( Lage ) 57 -16.883333
Sir Ernest Cassel	Sweden Sweden	7,739
Sitala	United Kingdom United Kingdom	6.218	sunk by U 100 on October 20th ( Lage ) 56.616667 -17.25
Thyra	Norway Norway	1,655
Tiba	Netherlands Netherlands	5,239
Tribesman	United Kingdom United Kingdom	6,242
Triton	Norway Norway	6,607
Uganda	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,966	sunk by U 38 on October 19 ( Lage ) 56.616667 -17.25
Wandby	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,947	sunk by U 47 on October 19 ( Lage ) 56.75 -17.116667
Wellington Court	United Kingdom United Kingdom	4,979
Whitford Point	United Kingdom United Kingdom	5,026	sunk by U 47 on October 20 ( Lage ) 56.633333 -16

course

On October 19, 1940, U 47 , which was serving as a weather observation boat at that time, captured the convoy. The BdU then put the submarines U 28 , U 38 , U 46 , U 48 and U 100 on the convoy, which controlled the signals from U 47 . The attack by the submarines began in the evening hours of October 19th and was to drag on until the morning of October 20th. U 38 torpedoed the British ships Matheran , which dragged 9 seamen with them to their death, and Uganda, which had a load of steel and wood and sank without human loss. Subsequently, U 47 sank the Dutchman Bilderdijk , the British freighter Wandby , which had a load of steel and wood, La Estancia , which was loaded with sugar and Withford Point was carrying a load of steel, and the British tanker Athelmonarch of molasses. A total of 37 crew members were killed. U 48 sank the already damaged British tanker Shirak with its kerosene cargo , U 46 sank the British Ruppera who had loaded scrap and took 30 of his 36 crew members down with him and the Swede Janus who transported heating oil and lost 4 crew members. Meanwhile, U 100 destroyed the freighter Caprella, which also carried heating oil, Sitala with a cargo of crude oil and the Loch Lomond with its steel and wood cargo. A total of 3 crew members were killed. After that, the submarines ran out due to a lack of fuel and torpedo. The convoy arrived in Liverpool on October 23. A total of twelve ships with 75,065 GRT were sunk.

In contemporary propaganda, the convoy battle against HX 79 was combined with the attack on convoy SC 7 in the same sea area two days earlier . This gave the impression of an excessively long convoy battle. The propaganda designation " Night of the Long Knives " at the time has been used in publications to this day.

Footnotes

↑ ^a ^b ^c Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, October 1940 , accessed on December 25, 2016.
^ Arnold Hague Convoy Database , accessed December 25, 2016.
^ ^A ^b Clay Blair : Der U-Boot-Krieg, Die Jäger 1939-1942, Wilhelm Heine Verlag , Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 249.

Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

[Rohwer-1] Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the Sea War 1939–1945, October 1940 , accessed on December 25, 2016.

[2] Arnold Hague Convoy Database , accessed December 25, 2016.

[BlairS249-3] A ^b Clay Blair : Der U-Boot-Krieg, Die Jäger 1939-1942, Wilhelm Heine Verlag , Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-12345-X , p. 249.


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