Convoy HX 65

Convoy HX 65 was a North Atlantic convoy of the HX series which ran during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. It was the 65th of the numbered series of merchant convoys run by the Allies from Halifax to Liverpool. The convoy was attacked by German U-boats and aircraft, losing eight of its 51 ships sunk and a further three damaged. One U-boat was damaged.

Background

HX 65 formed of three sections sailing from the Americas, and was to divide into two sections for the landfall in the United Kingdom.
The main body, of 13 ships, departed Halifax on 12 August 1940; with ships gathered from the US eastern seaboard; it was led by convoy commodore Vice Admiral BG Washington in the steamship ''Harpalyce''. It was accompanied by its ocean escort, the armed merchant cruiser ''Voltaire'', and a local escort of two Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) warships.
It was joined on 14 August by 16 ships from Sydney, on Cape Breton Island, also with a local escort. These had gathered from ports on the St Lawrence and the Great Lakes.
On 16 August the convoy was joined by BHX 65, 22 ships from the Caribbean and South America, that had gathered at Bermuda, departing there on 11 August escorted by the armed merchant cruiser .

Ranged against HX 65 were U-boats of the German Navy's 1st, 2nd and 7th U-boat Flotillas, operating from Kiel and Wilhelmshaven.

Action

On 22 August HX 65's Western Approaches escort began to arrive; the destroyer and the corvette left the outbound OA 201, arriving later that day. On 24 August the destroyer and the corvette arrived from OB 201.

On the morning of 24 August, the tanker ''La Brea'' (one of two ships that had dropped out of HX 65 five days earlier) was sighted by in the North West Approaches west northwest of Rockall. She was attacked and sunk, leaving two boats of survivors in bad weather and rough seas. They made landfall in the Hebrides over the next two days.

On the evening of 24 August the convoy divided, one section (referred to in some sources as HX 65A) of 20 ships bound for Methil on Scotland's east coast via Cape Wrath and the north of Scotland, and a second section (HX 65 B) of 22 ships bound for Liverpool.

The Methil section, led by ''Harpalyce'' and escorted by ''Skeena'' and ''Godetia'' was found by ''U-48'', which attacked during the night of 24/25 August, sinking two ships, ''Empire Merlin'' and ''Athelcrest''. She was counterattacked by ''Godetia'' but escaped without damage.
Later, on the morning of 25 August the convoy was sighted twice more, by and , but the convoy had been joined by a Sunderland from Coastal Command, and both submerged on sighting the aircraft. ''U-32'' made a perfunctory attack, which failed.
That evening the convoy was found again, by , and attacked just before midnight. ''U-124'' fired four torpedoes and claimed four ships sunk; the actual success was two ships sunk (''Harpalyce'' and ''Fircrest'') and another () damaged. ''Harpalyce'' and ''Fircrest'' went down quickly with heavy loss of life. ''Stakesby'' was abandoned, but was later salvaged by the tug and repaired. ''U-124'' was counterattacked by ''Godetia'' and damaged when she ran onto a rock. After the corvette had left, ''U-124'' was unable to continue convoy operations relegated to weather reporting.
Later that day the convoy was reinforced by and , two destroyers from Scapa Flow.
On the evening of 26 August the convoy came under air attack near Kinnaird Head by ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft from occupied Denmark; eight Ju 88s of KG 30 based at Aalborg. four ships were hit; one was sunk and three damaged. ''Nellie'' and ''City of Hankow'' made port safely, but ''Cape York'' sank under tow on the following day. Later on the night of 26/27 August a second air attack by four He 115 torpedo bombers of KuFlGr 506, based in Stavanger, hit ''Remuera'', which sank. The remaining 16 ships arrived at safely at Methil on 27th.

Meanwhile, on 25 August the Liverpool section, led by V.Adm. Leir in ''Manchester Merchant'' and escorted by ''Westcott'', was found by which gave chase. Several tankers had fallen out of the convoy, to be chivvied by the escort, and one of these, ''Pecten'', was torpedoed by ''U-57''. The escort counter-attacked, but ''U-57'' escaped. This section was also reinforced on 26 August, by the sloop . No further attacks developed and the 21 ships arrived without further incident at Liverpool on 27 August.

Conclusion

Of the 51 ships that set out, two turned back and eight were sunk. 41 ships made a safe and timely arrival.
HX 65 was one of three HX convoys attacked during August: HX 60 lost 3 ships in one attack, while HX 66 lost 4 ships over three days.
During the month as a whole the UBW sank 55 ships in the Atlantic; about half of these were unescorted vessels sailing independently (including ships hit after dispersal, or straggling).Tarrant p.89 August 1940 was the third month seeing a marked increase in successes by the U-boat Arm, referred to by them as "The Happy Time".

Forces involved

Allied forces

Merchant ships

Convoy information is from Arnold Hague's Convoyweb

Escort

Escort information is from Arnold Hague's Convoyweb

Axis forces

References

Bibliography

* Blair, Clay (1996) ''Hitler’s U-boat War'' Vol I Cassell
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* Tarrant, VE (1989) ''The U-boat Offensive: 1914-1945''. Arms & Armour

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HX065
Naval battles of World War II involving Canada