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This short article by Bill Cotton is written as a contribution to the background to the enormous maritime problem of transporting military and civilian supplies and personnel during the war. It is submitted to the site by a member of Market Harborough Branch of the Royal British Legion on behalf of Mr Cotton who fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.
World War II Convoys
by Bill Cotton

There were four types of Wartime Convoy
1. The Atlantic
Merchant Ships carrying goods and troops from the USA were in convoys made up of ships of all sizes and were restricted to the speed of the slowest ship. They were escorted by Destroyers, Corvettes and sometimes armed Merchant Ships. There were times when maybe 40 ships had an escort of only 3 warships. In mid Atlantic they were left unguarded because the escorts never had the range to cross the entire Atlantic. They were met at the eastern end of the "gap" by home based escorts and delivered to the UK.
2. Those which supplied the Desert Armies
had to go via the Cape. These were escorted by home based ships as far as the African coast and then taken over by a cruiser or two. Half would call at Cape Town to refuel and half at Durban. They would then proceed to the Red Sea from where they were joined by units of the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet and escorted to Alexandria.
3. The Arctic convoys
were a different kettle of fish. They were faced with the extra hazards of bitter cold, giant seas with waves 60 feet high and biting winds of 60-80 mph, making the chill factor up to - 50c. And of course there were the devilish hazards of war for good measure.
4. Malta convoys,
weather wise, had a far better time. However, the weather made it much easier for the Bomber-Torpedo planes. There was also the threat of the Italian Fleet. One consolation, if you did land in the "drink" it was nice and warm. In the Arctic is was certain death.
Most convoys faced the same dangers - the main ones being U Boats, and Condor aircraft, but there was always the danger from an enemy surface raider.
These trips for the merchant seamen were dangerous to say the least. If they were sunk and managed to survive their pay was stopped from the day they were sunk. For RN crews for much of the time there was either boredom by being on constant alert or by enduring watches of 4 hours on and 4 hours off.
For all the dangers and discomfort it was an experience you could never buy on any package holiday!

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