- Convoy SC 121
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A depth charge being loaded onto a depth-charge thrower aboard the corvette HMS Dianthus, 14 August 1942
Convoy SC-121 was the 121st of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool.[1] Ships departed New York City 23 February 1943;[2] and were met by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group A-3 consisting of the USCG Treasury Class Cutter Spencer, the Wickes class destroyer Greer, Flower class corvettes Dianthus, Rosthern, Trillium and Dauphin,[3] and the convoy rescue ship Melrose Abbey.[4] Three of the escorts had defective SONAR and three had inoperative RADAR.[5]
Battle
On 6 March U-405 sighted the convoy[4] scattered by nine consecutive days of northwesterly Force 10 gales and snow squalls.[6] The storm damaged the radio communication system aboard the escort commander's ship Spencer; and Dauphin had to leave the convoy with damaged steering gear.[5] U-230 torpedoed British freighter Egyptian on the night of 6-7 March.[7] British freighter Empire Impala stopped to rescue survivors and was torpedoed after dawn by No. 120 Squadron RAF B-24 Liberators from Northern Ireland and by the Wickes class destroyer Babbitt and the USCG Treasury Class Cutters Bibb and Ingham from Iceland.[4]
U-530 torpedoed straggling Swedish freighter Milos on the evening of 9 March; and that night U-405 torpedoed Norwegian freighter Bonneville while U-229 torpedoed British freighter Nailsea Court and escort oiler Rosewood and American ammunition ship Malantic.[8]
Flower class corvettes Liverpool on 14 March.[7] Only 76 of the 275 crewmen of the sunken ships were rescued.[5]
Ships in convoy
Name[9] Flag[9] Dead[7] Tonnage[9] Cargo[7] Notes[9] Alcoa Leader (1919) 
5,041 gross register tons (GRT) petrol Astrid (1942) 
2,861 GRT sugar Badjestan (1928) 
5,573 GRT wheat Baldbutte (1919) 6,295 GRT Bengkalis (1918) 
6,453 GRT general cargo survived this convoy and convoy ONS 5 Bonneville (1929) 36 4,665 GRT 7,196 tons explosives & general cargo carried convoy commodore Capt H C Birnie DSO RD RNR; sunk by U-405 10 March Brant County (1915) 5,001 GRT general cargo returned to Halifax British Freedom (1928) 6,985 GRT furnace fuel oil British Progress (1927) 4,581 GRT petrol veteran of convoy SC 104 Camerata (1931) 4,875 GRT iron ore Clunepark (1928) 3,491 GRT phosphates Coulmore (1936) 3,670 GRT general cargo torpedoed, but towed and salvaged Dilworth (1919) 7,045 GRT gas oil Egton (1938) 4,363 GRT iron ore Egyptian (1920) 44 2,868 GRT oilseed, palm oil & tin ore sunk by U-230 7 March El Grillo (1922) 7,264 GRT fuel oil Empire Advocate (1913) 5,787 GRT general cargo survived this convoy and convoy ONS 5 Empire Bunting (1919) 6,448 GRT general cargo arrived in tow after steering failure on 11 March Empire Caxton (1942) 2,873 GRT bauxite 7,025 GRT general cargo 5,736 GRT general cargo 48 6,116 GRT 7,628 tons general cargo sunk by 7,035 GRT west African produce carried convoy vice commodore Capt A Cocks DSC RD RNR 7,015 GRT refrigerated and general cargo straggled and sunk (probably by U-190) 5,644 GRT grain 4,290 GRT general cargo survived this convoy and convoy ONS 5 Eskdalegate (1930) 4,250 GRT iron ore Fort Lamy (1919) 5,242 GRT steel & general cargo veteran of convoy ON 154; straggled and sunk (probably by 7,127 GRT general cargo Garnes (1930) 1,559 GRT veteran of convoy SC 104 Gascony (1925) 4,716 GRT general cargo Gatineau Park (1942) 7,128 GRT general cargo fitted with Admiralty net defense Guido (1920) 3,921 GRT sugar & cotton romped and sunk (possibly by 2,968 GRT flour Harpefjell (1939) 1,333 GRT general cargo Harperly (1930) 4,586 GRT bauxite survived to be sunk 2 months later in convoy ONS 5 Hollywood (1920) 5,498 GRT general cargo veteran of convoy PQ 18 Katendrecht (1925) 5,099 GRT gas oil Kingswood (1929) 5,080 GRT general cargo L V Stanford (1921) 7,138 GRT furnace fuel oil veteran of convoy SC 107 USS Laramie (1919) 5,450 GRT detached for Greenland Leadgate (1925) 2,125 GRT flour straggled and sunk by 6,479 GRT tin & general cargo Lombardy (1921) 3,379 GRT general cargo Lorient (1921) 4,737 GRT steel & lumber veteran of convoy SC 42; survived to be sunk 2 months later in convoy ONS 5 Malantic (1929) 25 3,837 GRT 8,000 tons ammunition veteran of convoy SC 107; sunk by 5,620 GRT general cargo Melrose Abbey (1929) 1,924 GRT convoy rescue ship Miguel de Larrinaga (1924) 5,231 GRT tobacco veteran of convoy SC 42 Milos (1898) 
30 3,058 GRT 804 tons steel & lumber sunk by U-530 11 March Morska Wola (1924) 
3,208 GRT general cargo veteran of convoy HX 84 Nadin (1904) 
3,582 GRT steel & lumber Nailsea Court (1936) 45 4,946 GRT 7,661 tons copper & general cargo sunk by U-229 10 March Parkhaven (1920) 4,803 GRT general cargo Porjus (1906) 2,965 GRT steel & pulp veteran of convoy SC 104; returned to port & sailed with convoy SC 122 Raranga (1916) 10,043 GRT refrigerated & general cargo Ravnefjell (1938) 1,339 GRT general cargo veteran of convoy HX 79 & convoy ON 154; survived this convoy & convoy SC 130 Reaverley (1940) 4,998 GRT bauxite returned to port Rosewood (1931) 42 5,989 GRT furnace fuel oil escort oiler; sunk by 6,266 GRT furnace fuel oil Scorton (1939) 4,813 GRT sugar Sinnington Court (1928) 6,910 GRT general cargo veteran of convoy SC 104 Suderoy (1913) 7,562 GRT fuel oil veteran of convoy SC 104 Sutlej (1940) 5,189 GRT general cargo Thraki (1941) 7,460 GRT grain & general cargo Trontolite (1918) 7,115 GRT Vancolite (1928) 11,404 GRT Vojvoda Putnik (1916) 
5,879 GRT wheat straggled and sunk by 4,256 GRT iron ore returned to port to be sunk sailing with convoy SC 122 References
- Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-019-3.
- Milner, Marc (1985). North Atlantic Run. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-450-0.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1975). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I The Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943. Little, Brown and Company.
- Rohwer, J. and Hummelchen, G. (1992). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-105-X.
- ^ Hague 2000 p.133
- ^ Hague 2000 p.135
- ^ Milner 1985 p.291
- ^ a b c d e Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.196
- ^ a b c Morison 1975 p.342
- ^ Morison 1975 p.341
- ^ a b c d e Hague 2000 p.137
- ^ Hague 2000 pp.137-8
- ^ a b c d "SC convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/sc/index.html. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
Categories:- North Atlantic convoys of World War II
- World War II Battle of the Atlantic
- Naval battles of World War II involving Canada
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