Convoy HX 65

Action

On 22 August HX 65's Western Approaches escort began to arrive; the destroyer Skeena and the corvette Godetia left the outbound OA 201, arriving later that day. On 24 August the destroyer Westcott and the corvette Gladiolus 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 U-48 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 U-28 and U-32, 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 U-124, 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 (Stakesby) damaged. Harpalyce and Fircrest went down quickly with heavy loss of life. Stakesby was abandoned, but was later salvaged by the tug Thames 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 Jaguar and Javelin, 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 U-57 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 Lowestoft. 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). 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