Forums

Finding Information on the ship or the convoy you or your relative sailed overseas on can be quite a challenge. Some of the convoy records were destroyed over the years, others are buried somewhere in the National Archives on separate cards & scattered files so one needs to know the actual ship name and convoy number & sailing dates to request the files from the Archives. If your relalative embarked at the Port of New York on a certain date, the ship probly formed up with a convoy sailing out of Hampton Roads severals later so keep this in mind when trying to pin down exact dates.

There are now several websites that provide reconstructed convoy Data.

One of the best i`ve found is The Arnold Hague Convoy Database, where you can search 28,156 convoys (366,192 ship movements and is found at:

Convoy Web

Arnold Hague Convoy Database

The database contains records for many convoys that are not held in the National Archives, having been lost or purposely destroyed. Without the efforts of Arnold Hague and his co-workers, these records would have been lost forever.

Of particlur interest to this Forum, will be the convoy series that sailed to the MTO, the major ones being, WS/KMF, KMS, UGF, & UGS.

The KMF series initially carried troops and equipment to North Africa in support of Operation Torch. When the Mediterranean became accessible the destination was extended further to Alexandria and Port Said, thus replacing the WS series that previously had to sail via Capetown and Durban to reach Suez. The KMF series ran from October 1942 until the end of the war.

Note that the following convoys were cancelled.

KMF.12

KMF.14

KMF.16

KMF.21

KMF.23

The KMS series of mercantile convoy sailed from the UK to Gibraltar and onward into the Mediterranean. The series began in October 1942 but from April 1943 (KMS.13) it was combined with the OS series (UK - Freetown, Sierra Leone) detaching en route. In this database, the OS/ KMS series is divided into the UK-Gibraltar section (suffix "G") and the subsequent Mediterranean section.

There was no separate KMS.72 convoy.

The UGS series was instigated in November 1942 to support Operation Torch but continued until May 1945. The series sailed from Hampton Roads, intitially to the North African ports but from May 1943 it mainly sailed to Port Said.

UGS.1 did not sail.

The UGF series of fast convoy ran from Hampton Roads, initially to Casablanca but later into the Mediterranean, from October 1942 until the end of the war.

Links to other convoy databases where you can doublecheck or cross reference info you find:

World War II Troop Ships Home Page

http://wow.naval-history.net/

http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/

The 87th Inf.Div. sailed to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth 1. I felt great being on such a large ship.That is till we embarked in Scotland and found out QE1 was the number 1 target of the German U-Boats. Then the Luck of the Irish set in. Thank You God.

My heart and prayers go out to those who lost their lives in these crossings. They sure were amongst our bravests. Rest In Peace.

Jim Hennessey-87th-Inf.Div.

Jim:

Thanks for posting the troopship information. I've been trying to figure out what ship my father took to Fedala. He was in the 36th ECR and training in Virginia just before leaving the states. I think he embarked on the Hugh L. Scott, although not certain. A few days after arriving the Hugh got torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat. Dad's discharge records say he departed from Norfolk, Virginia on 24 Oct 1942 and arrived 8 Nov. The Hugh L. Scott seems to be the only ship listed that fits the schedule. Most others left the next day from Norfolk. But its hard to know if records are accurate and to verify. Were convoy records destroyed for security reasons?

—Sandy

Oh, I know convoy records were kept because my journal reports for the 540th from NARA, include the names of LSTS, etc. Records from that era were restricted, and became available at a later point in history when they were then de-classified.

Many records were of course lost...

Hi Marion,

Regarding the Fedala landing, here's a note from my father's recollections I took in 1990: "There were few casualties on my LCI, but 200 to 300 on others died. We were to secure the beach, set-up dumps, and unload ship supplies—but five ships were torpedoed and sunk on the way in."

After being relieved of operating the port of Fedala it appears that the 36th Engineers were mostly training in Africa. Dad landed at Licata too but the first bloody fighting he spoke of was at Salerno. By all accounts I've heard and read that is where the 36th ECR had their first combat experience outside of a few skirmishes.—Sandy

Yes, you are pretty much right on the money with your assessment. The real nitty-gritty didn't begin until the Sicilian Campaign, which is where the engineers experienced tougher landings, and were constantly on the move with the infantry and armored units. This is where put all their additional infantry and engineer training learned in N. Africa, to the test. Mainland Italy was a brutal experience, which was due to many factors including the weather, terrain, and of course the enemy. Many of the engineer's spent days on end as infantry and fought right alongside with such units as the 34th and 45th Inf Divs.

As Art Cook stated, and which is reiterated in my "green book" (as I so fondly refer to it now), N. Africa saw the engineers spending most of their time in additional infantry and engineer training. This included Bailey bridge training with the British. There were also a lot of initial mistakes made by the combined beachhead parties (navy and army). This began on the American mainland; the engineers had spent hours on end loading all their equipment for the invasion, but the next day were instructed to unload most of it. What? Yep, they were told the space was needed for other things, so most of their "stuff" was left behind. Well that soon proved (oh ya that took a genius huh?) to be a disaster, for the engineer's couldn't function to their full capacity without!

They didn't have the bulldozers to load and unload and clear the beaches. They didn't have the vehicles to even get around. You get the drift. Not a good scenario. The army and navy had a steep learning curve and found that the engineer's weren't secondary "citizens". They actually needed them. WOW!

Art laughed and stated that many of the days in North Africa were actually fun! Hell, that wouldn't last long would it?

Yes, you are pretty much right on the money with your assessment. The real nitty-gritty didn't begin until the Sicilian Campaign, which is where the engineers experienced tougher landings, and were constantly on the move with the infantry and armored units. This is where put all their additional infantry and engineer training learned in N. Africa, to the test. Mainland Italy was a brutal experience, which was due to many factors including the weather, terrain, and of course the enemy. Many of the engineer's spent days on end as infantry and fought right alongside with such units as the 34th and 45th Inf Divs.

 

As Art Cook stated, and which is reiterated in my "green book" (as I so fondly refer to it now), N. Africa saw the engineers spending most of their time in additional infantry and engineer training. This included Bailey bridge training with the British. There were also a lot of initial mistakes made by the combined beachhead parties (navy and army). This began on the American mainland; the engineers had spent hours on end loading all their equipment for the invasion, but the next day were instructed to unload most of it. What? Yep, they were told the space was needed for other things, so most of their "stuff" was left behind. Well that soon proved (oh ya that took a genius huh?) to be a disaster, for the engineer's couldn't function to their full capacity without!

 

They didn't have the bulldozers to load and unload and clear the beaches. They didn't have the vehicles to even get around. You get the drift. Not a good scenario. The army and navy had a steep learning curve and found that the engineer's weren't secondary "citizens". They actually needed them. WOW!

 

Art laughed and stated that many of the days in North Africa were actually fun! Hell, that wouldn't last long would it?

AMEN TO THE FIRST PARAGRAPH.--- ROCKY OF THE 34TH