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:
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