| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | ASW Trawler |
| Class | [No specific class] |
| Pennant | FY 159 |
| Built by | Cochrane & Sons Shipbuilders Ltd. (Selby, U.K.) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | |
| Launched | 11 May 1933 |
| Commissioned | Sep 1939 |
| End service | |
| History | Completed in July 1933. Sold in 1945. |
Commands listed for HMS Saon (FY 159)
Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.
| Commander | From | To | ||
| 1 | Lt.Cdr. (retired) Arthur Geoffrey Gascoyne Webb, RN | 24 Sep 1939 | 9 Feb 1940 | |
| 2 | A/Skr.Lt. Richard Bland, RD, RNR | 29 Nov 1940 | 8 Sep 1941 | |
| 3 | Ch.Skr. George Wilfred Holliday, RD, RNR | 8 Sep 1941 | Apr 1943 | |
| 4 | Skr. John Birnie Henderson, RNR | Apr 1943 | 24 Sep 1943 | |
| 5 | T/Lt. John Charles Payne, RNVR | 24 Sep 1943 | early 1945 | |
| 6 | T/Lt. William Sidney Bates, RNVR | early 1945 | ||
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Notable events involving Saon include:
28 Sep 1943
Operation Alacrity.
The object of this operation was to land at the Azores (Portugese territory) and establish air bases there.
Negotiations with the Portugese were still ongoing to effect this through diplomatic ways and eventually this succeeded and the airbases were established with Portugese consent.
For this operations three convoys left the U.K., these were the following; Convoy UA 1. This convoy departed the Clyde on 28 September 1943 and was made up of the following transports / tankers Corfell (British, 1802 GRT, built 1934), Dux (Norwegian, 1590 GRT, built 1934) and Empire Garden (British (tanker), 8966 GRT, built 1920) which were to proceed to Horta and the Corfirth (British, 1803 GRT, built 1934) and Crane (British, 785 GRT, built 1937) as well as the landing ship HMS LST 13 (Lt.Cdr. R.A. Crozier, RD, RNR) which were to proceed to Angra. The Corfith and HMS LST 13 were however unable to sail with the convoy and remained behind.
Escort for this convoy was made up of the destroyer HMS Volunteer (Lt.Cdr. G.J. Luther, RN), corvette HMS Lavender (Lt. L.G. Pilcher, RNR), A/S trawlers HMS Cape Portland (T/Lt. K.F. Rasmussen, RNR), HMS Saon (T/Lt. J.C. Payne, RNVR), HMS Vascama (T/Lt. H.A.R. Twomey, RNR) and the M/S trawlers HMS Bruray (T/Lt. G.H. Clark, DSC, RNVR), HMS Hayling (T/Lt. G.F. Bryant, RNVR), HMS Mangrove (T/Lt. J.K.M. Warde, RNVR) and HMS Whalsay (T/Lt. F.J.S. Crawford, RNVR).
Convoy UA 2. This convoy departed the Clyde on 30 September 1943 and was made up of the following transports Empire Outpost (British, 6978 GRT, built 1943) and Scottish Monarch (British, 7004 GRT, built 1943). The landing ships HMS Bachaquero (Lt.Cdr. P.G. Britten, RD, RNR) and (RFA) Dewdale (8265 GRT, built 1941) were also part of this convoy.
Convoy UA 2 was escorted by the destroyers HMS Havelock (Cdr. R.C. Boyle, DSC, RN), HMS Warwick (Cdr. Y.M. Cleeves, DSO, DSC, RD, RNR), corvettes HMS Buttercup (T/Lt. R.J. Jonckheere, RNR), HMS Godetia (T/Lt. M.A.F. Larose, RNR), A/S trawlers HMS Kingston Agate (Lt. J. Simms, RNR), HMS Kingston Amber (T/Lt. R. Adams, RNR), HMS St. Elstan (Lt. R.M. Roberts, RNR) and HMS Vizalma (T/Lt. B. James, RNVR).
Convoy UA 3. This convoy departed Liverpool on 2 October 1943 and was made up of the troop transport Franconia (British, 20175 GRT, built 1923). She was escorted by the destroyers HMS Inconstant (Cdr. R.H. Mills, RN) and ORP Garland (Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) S. Biskupski). These ships were fist to proceed to Belfast Lough were the destroyers were to be fuelled and then on 3 October 1943 they were to rendezvous with the escort carrier HMS Fencer (Capt. E.W. Anstice, RN) and the destroyers ORP Burza (Kmdr.ppor. (Cdr.) F. Pitulko) and HMS Whitehall (Cdr. C.L.de H. Bell, RD, RNR) coming from the Clyde which they had departed also on 3 October 1943. The destroyers HMS Wrestler (Lt. R.W.B. Lacon, DSC, RN) and HMS Viscount (Lt.Cdr. L.E. Woodhouse, RN) joined coming from Londonderry which they had departed also on 3 October 1943.
The convoys arrived near the Azores on or around 8 October 1943. [Further research is required regarding the exact movements of the convoys and the ships in it.]