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Convoy SC 70 - warsailors.com

️Sat Feb 15 2042

Convoy SC 70 Cruising Order
Departed Halifax on Febr. 16-1942 and arrived Liverpool on March 7 (Arnold Hague's "The Allied Convoy System" says 31 ships). A 1 form received from Ted Agar, England. (His source: A diary. Although the information is usually incomplete, I consider this diary valuable and important in and of itself and, therefore, I've chosen to transcribe it and keep it "as is" on this website, adding further details and/or corrections from other sources separately, rather than within the form itself, as seen below).

Please note that the unnamed ships are named in the table and Notes below.

Br=British, Am=American, Gr=Greek, Norw=Norwegian, Hon=Honduran, Bel=Belgian, Fr=French, Fi=Finnish, Du=Dutch.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

11
Hartlepool
Loch Ewe
(Br)

21
Winkleigh
Loch Ewe
(Br)

31
freighter
(Br)

41
freighter
(Br)

51
Empire Day
Mersey
(Br)

61
freighter
(Br)

71
freighter
(Br)

81
freighter
(Br)

12
freighter
(Br)

22
freighter
(Norw)

32
freighter
(Br)

42
Eldena
Clyde f. o.
(Am)

52
freighter
(Du)

62
freighter
(Br)

23
freighter
(Br)

33
freighter
(Bel) 43
Anneberg
Manchester
(Fi) 53
freighter
(Norw) 63 73
Philip T. Dodge
Belfast
(Br)
returned to port 83
freighter
(Norw) 14
freighter
(Du) 24 34
freighter
Loch Ewe
(Gr) 44
Mana
Clyde f. o.
(Hon) 54
freighter
(Bel) 64
Saltersgate
Loch Ewe
(Br) 74
freighter
(Norw) 84
Alberte le Borgne
Liverpool
(Fr/MoWT 1940) 15 25
freighter
(Br) 35
freighter
(Gr) 45
Kirsten B*
St. John's
(Norw) 55 65 75 85 * Not mentioned in Advance Sailing Telegram. Please see the notes further down on this page.

Advance Sailing Telegram

Transcribed from original documents received from Tony Cooper, England - His source: Public Records Office, Kew.
The station numbers in this case have been extracted from a document recived from Don Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague's database - see his listing for SC 70 at ships in all SC convoys.

Crossed out ships did not sail, underlined returned to port, except those that are linked, which will automatically be underlined.

MoWT = Ministry of War Transport

Ship

Nationality

Cargo

Station

Destination

Remarks

Empire Elk

British

general

Londonderry

Empire Plover

general

Liverpool

From SC 69

Kalliopi

Greek

grain

Leith

Empire Beaver

British

general

Holyhead / Liverpool

Spar

Dutch

general

London

From SC 69

Margot

British

general

Liverpool

From SC 68

Mana

Honduran

general

Clyde / N. Russia

Hartlepool

British

linseed

Hull

From SC 69

Megara

Tanker B

–

Manchester

From SC 69
Returned to Halifax
To HX 176 - returned
Listed in HX 177

Saltersgate

iron ore

Middlesbrough

From SC 69

Lumen

Tanker W
(petrol)

Belfast

–

Winkleigh

general

Hull

–

Anneberg

Finnish / MoWT 1941

pulp wood

Manchester

Norwegian

sugar

Liverpool

–

Cap Cantin

French / Br

timber

Milford Haven f. o. / Southampton

Empire Scout

British

grain

Swansea

–

Radcombe

iron ore

–

Barrow

From SC 69
Listed in SC 71

Norwegian

general

Liverpool

From SC 69

flour

Glasgow

–

Aruba

Dutch

sugar

Greenock

Norwegian

phosphates

Ipswich

–

Alberte le Borgne

French / MoWT 1940

palm kernels

Liverpool

–

Philip T. Dodge

British

general

Avonmouth

From SC 69
Returned
(unable to maintain convoy speed)
Listed in SC 72

Norwegian

general

Avonmouth

–

Sarthe

British

general - mail 70

–

Milford Haven / Southampton

Listed in SC 71

Eldena

American

general

Clyde f. o. / Archangel

Empire Ridley

British

general

Milford Haven / Southampton

–

Empire Snow

steel ingots

–

Middlesbrough

Listed in SC 72

Maycrest

general

Hull

–

Bruxelles

Belgian

sugar - general - mail 100

Clyde

–

Alex

British

general

Cardiff

–

Blink

Norwegian

phosphates

–

Ipswich

Had been sunk Febr. 11
Follow link to Blink

Llanover

British

grain

Loch Ewe f. o.

Telesfora de Larrinaga

general

Cardiff

–

Spyros

Greek

general

–

Loch Ewe f. o.

Ashore, sank Febr. 17
(near Lawrencetown, N.S.)

Geo. H. Jones

British

Tanker B

–

Londonderry

Listed in SC 71

Harmonic

general

Hull

–

Photinia

grain

–

Ipswich

Listed in SC 71

Polyktor

Greek

grain

Glasgow

–

Empire Day

British

grain

Liverpool

Belgique

Belgian

general

Liverpool

It'll be noticed, when going to A. Hague's listing for Convoy SC 70 at ships in all SC convoys, that he has not included Megara in this convoy.

Notes:
Commodore was in Empire Day, Vice Commodore in Hartlepool.

The ships left Halifax in the following sequence (as per the diary):
The first ship to go out at 10:21 was the American freighter Eldena* (KEVG), followed at 11:15 by an unnamed British freighter (station 61) and a few minutes later another unnamed British freighter (31), then an unnamed Belgian freighter (54), a British freighter (41), British freighter (81), British freighter (23), Hartlepool, then a British freighter (71, 'B' flag), Empire Day (Catapult freighter, Flagship), an unnamed Norwegian freighter (22), a Greek freighter (34) then strangely the Greek freighter Kalliopi is also listed for station 34. The next one out at 12:03 was Anneberg, then a Belgian freighter (33) followed by Alberte le Borgne (FNOG), Philip T. Dodge, an unnamed British freighter (32), an unnamed Norwegian freighter (74), a British freighter (62, 'B' flag), a Dutch freighter (14), a British freighter (25), then Saltersgate, Skottland, Winkleigh, an unnamed Dutch freighter (52), a Norwegian freighter (53), a British freighter (21), Mana*, an unnamed British freighter (12), a Greek freighter (35), then Kirsten B (with a note saying "she is loaded with Red Cross Ambulances, trucks and automobiles). The last ship to go out at 13:45 was an unnamed Norwegian freighter for station 83, with a 'B' flag. I believe this means she was carrying explosives. As already mentioned, Kirsten B is not included in the Advance Sailing Telegram for this convoy. According to her Voyage Record for this period, she left Halifax for St. John's, N.F. on Febr. 16-1942, with arrival Febr. 20. The author of the diary who saw her leaving with the other ships that were destined for SC 70 probably assumed that she too was intended for this convoy.

* As mentioned in the table above, Eldena joined Convoy PQ 13, departing Loch Ewe on March 10-1942, arrived Reykjavik a week later, sailed from there for Russia on March 20. Mana also joined this convoy. (See also this thread on my Ship Forum).

According to Lloyd's list, these ships left as follows (received from Roy Martin):
Norwegian Kirsten B (for St Johns, Newfoundland), Hartlepool (Loch Ewe), Maycrest (Hull), Norwegian Skottland (Loch Ewe), Dutch Spar (Loch Ewe), Winkleigh (Loch Ewe), Norwegian Veni (Loch Ewe), Saltersgate (Loch Ewe), Alex (Hull), Cap Cantin (London), Empire Elk (Londonderry), Belgian Bruxelles (Clyde), Greek Kalliopi (Loch Ewe), Greek Polyktor (Loch Ewe), Harmonic (Hull), American Eldena (Clyde f. o.), Anneberg (Manchester), Honduran Mana (Clyde f. o.), Empire Day (Mersey), Dutch Aruba (Clyde), Norwegian Lista (Liverpool), Belgian Belgique (Clyde), Margot (Liverpool), Telesfora de Larrinaga (Holyhead), Empire Beaver (Holyhead), Empire Plover (Mersey), Lumen (Belfast), Philip T. Dodge (Belfast), Norwegian Bur (Mersey), Empire Ridley (Belfast), Empire Scout (Belfast), Norwegian Para (Belfast), Alberte Le Borgne (Liverpool).

The convoy arrived rendezvous on Febr. 28.

A. Hague names the following escorts (extracted from this list of SC convoy escorts, received from D. Kindell; dates are European style, day/month/year):
Alberni - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Amherst - From 19/02/42 to 26/02/42
Celandine - From 19/02/42 to 03/03/42
Clayoquot - From 15/02/42 to 22/02/42
Collingwood - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Dianthus - From 19/02/42 to 03/03/42
Fennel - From 19/02/42 to 03/03/42
Mahone - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Rosthern - From 15/02/42 to 22/02/42
Saskatoon - From 15/02/42 to 19/02/42
Scimitar - From 03/03/42 to 05/03/42
USS MacLeish - From 20/02/42 to 03/03/42

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