Convoy HX 156 was the 156th of the numbered series of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

HX convoys HX convoys were transatlantic convoys in the North Atlantic during the First World War and in the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. HX convoys sailed eastwards from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, to Liverpool and other ports in Br ...

of merchant ships from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

.Hague 2000 p.127 Forty-three ships departed Halifax on 22 October 1941, and were met two days later by

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Task Unit 4.1.3 consisting of , , , and s and .Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.94

The Action

31 October 1941

The sighted the convoy at dawn on 31 October 1941, and

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

ed as the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

approached to investigate the

Huff-Duff High-frequency direction finding, usually known by its abbreviation HF/DF or nickname huff-duff, is a type of radio direction finder (RDF) introduced in World War II. High frequency (HF) refers to a radio band that can effectively communicate ove ...

bearing of the sighting report.Morison 1975 p.94 A torpedo struck the port side and detonated the forward

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. The hull aft of the third stack remained afloat for 5 minutes; and 44 men were rescued from the crew of 159. ''Reuben James'' was the first United States warship sunk during

. ''U-552'' was driven off by the escort; but found the convoy that afternoon.

1 November 1941

Task Unit 4.1.3 handed the convoy off to the British 6th Escort Group on 1 November 1941.
''U-552'' and ''U-567'' made two unsuccessful torpedo attacks on 1 November and maintained contact with the convoy through 3 November. launched her

Hawker Sea Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft. Some models were built in Canada by Canadian Car and Foundry. British variants Hurricane Mk I Hurricane Mk I (Early producti ...

to intercept a

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'', also known as ''Kurier'' (German for ''courier'') to the Allies, is an all-metal four-engined monoplane designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Focke-Wulf. It was the first heavier-than-air craf ...

aircraft, which it chased off. The Hurricane pilot was rescued by after ditching his aircraft. The convoy reached

on 5 November.

Ships in the convoy

These ships were members of Convoy HX 156.

Notes

References

* * * * {{cite book, title=U.S. Warships of World War II , author=Silverstone, Paul H. , publisher=Doubleday and Company , year=1968 HX156 HX 156 Naval battles of World War II involving Canada