Convoy HX 212 was the 212th 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 of merchant ships from HalifaX to

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. The ships departed

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on 18 October 1942 and were met on 23 October by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group A-3 consisting of the

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, the destroyer and the s , , , , , and . The first five escorts had worked together previously, but the last three corvettes were attached to the convoy only for passage to the eastern Atlantic in preparation for assignments on Operation Torch. ''Summerside'' was the only escort equipped with modern Type 271 centimeter-wavelength radar.Milner pp.175-177

Background

As western Atlantic coastal convoys brought an end to the second happy time, Admiral Karl Dönitz, the '' Befehlshaber der U-Boote'' (''BdU'') or commander in chief of U-Boats, shifted focus to the mid-Atlantic to avoid aircraft patrols. Although convoy routing was less predictable in the mid-ocean, Dönitz anticipated that the increased numbers of U-boats being produced would be able to effectively search for convoys with the advantage of intelligence gained through '' B-Dienst'' decryption of British Naval Cypher Number 3. However, only 20 percent of the 180 trans-Atlantic convoys sailing from the end of July 1942 until the end of April 1943 lost ships to U-boat attack.Hague pp.132,137-138,161-162,164&181

26 October

'' U-436'' reported the convoy and shadowed it without being detected by the convoy escort.Rohwer & Hummelchen pp.169&170

27 October

''U-436'' launched five torpedoes at 2110Z hitting ''Sourabaya'', ''Gurney Newlin'' and ''Frontenac''. ''Alberni'' and ''Summerside'' dropped back to rescue survivors from the torpedoed ships.

28 October

'' U-606'' torpedoed ''Kosmos II'' on the starboard side at 0345Z. ''Barrwhin'' dropped back to rescue survivors, and both ships were sunk while the convoy proceeded ahead. A patrolling Consolidated B-24 Liberator from No. 120 Squadron RAF in

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prevented five U-boats from reaching attack positions during daylight hours but ''Bic Island'' and ''Pan-New York'' were torpedoed after sunset.

29 October

Northern routing enabled the convoy to pass through the narrowest portion of the air gap, and continuous daylight air patrols forced the U-boats to lose contact with the convoy. The Naval trawlers ''Bodo'' and ''Molde'' escorted the convoy through the Western Approaches on 1 November; and the convoy reached

on 2 November.

Ships in convoy

Notes

References

* * * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 HX212 Naval battles of World War II involving Canada C