Convoy battles

HX-72

Homeward from Halifax (North Atlantic)

20 Sep 1940 - 22 Sep 1940

The Convoy	41 ships
First sighting	On 20 Sep 1940 by U-47
Escorts	From 21st September Escort Group (Cdr. Knapp) with: Sloop Lowestoft Destroyer Shikari Corvettes La Malouine, Calenduala, Heartsease From 22nd September the destroyer Scimitar and Skate
U-boats	U-29, U-32, U-43, U-46, U-47, U-48, U-65, U-99, U-100* * U-boats that fired torpedo or used the deck gun
The battle	After sighting the convoy by U-47 the BdU tried to bring additional boats to the convoy, but not all ordered boats managed to reach it. U-47 had been for the last days serving as a weather boat and had only one torpedo on board. U-99 under Kptlt. Kretschmer reached the convoy as the first boat and sank 3 ships in the night of 20/21 Sept. On the morning of 21 Sept U-48 under Kptlt. Bleichrodt sank the Blairangus. The next evening U-100 under Kptlt. Schepke reached the convoy and sank during the night 7 ships for a total of 50,340 tons. A masterpiece in view of such a strong escort!

Article compiled by Tom Linclau

Ships hit from convoy HX-72

Date	U-boat	Commander		Name of ship	Tons	Nat.		Map
21 Sep 1940	U-99	Otto Kretschmer		Invershannon	9,154		br	A
21 Sep 1940	U-99	Otto Kretschmer		Baron Blythswood	3,668		br	B
21 Sep 1940	U-47	Günther Prien		Elmbank (d.)	5,156		br	C
21 Sep 1940	U-48	Heinrich Bleichrodt		Blairangus	4,409		br	D
21 Sep 1940	U-99	Otto Kretschmer		Elmbank	5,156		br	E
21 Sep 1940	U-100	Joachim Schepke		Canonesa	8,286		br	F
21 Sep 1940	U-100	Joachim Schepke		Torinia	10,364		br	G
21 Sep 1940	U-100	Joachim Schepke		Dalcairn	4,608		br	H
21 Sep 1940	U-48	Heinrich Bleichrodt		Broompark (d.)	5,136		br	I
22 Sep 1940	U-100	Joachim Schepke		Empire Airman	6,586		br	J
22 Sep 1940	U-100	Joachim Schepke		Scholar	3,940		br	K
22 Sep 1940	U-100	Joachim Schepke		Frederick S. Fales	10,525		br	L
22 Sep 1940	U-100	Joachim Schepke		Simla	6,031		nw	M
22 Sep 1940	U-32	Hans Jenisch		Collegian (d.)	7,886		br	N
					90,905
11 ships sunk (72,727 tons) and 3 ships damaged (18,178 tons). Legend We have a picture of this vessel. (d.) means the ship was damaged.

77 convoys on route HX were hit by U-boats in the war. Read more about them.

Media links

HX72 First Convoy to Die
O\'Brien, David

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