Br=British, Am=American, Bel=Belgian, Du=Dutch, Norw=Norwegian, Pa=Panamanian, Can=Canadian, Swe=Swedish.

* Emma Alexander became the British Empire Woodlark shortly thereafter.

The Rescue Vessel Copeland was also with this convoy for a while - see details further down on this page. Additionally, Ted's diary names the following, but pendant numbers not known at the time:
Icelandic Godafoss, British Manchester Citizen, British Prestige, Empire Flamingo (a visitor to my website has informed me that Empire Flamingo had run aground on Nov. 16 while approaching Halifax. She wasn't refloated again until Nov. 20, towed to Halifax in a sinking condition and temporarily repaired, before she was drydocked in New York for major repairs on Dec. 31. If this is so, she could not have been in this convoy).

According to Arnold Hague (via this external page), the above unnamed ships were:
In station 12 - British Levernbank (ran aground Dec. 5, later salvaged)
In station 24 he has the Norwegian Havprins, which is listed in 33 above. Instead he has the Norwegian Thorshøvdi in 33 (returned after a collision with escort - see the note further down on this page).
In station 31 - British Refast
In station 42 - Panamanian George H. Jones
In station 43 - British Donacilla
In station 44 - Norwegian Fernwood (but not a tanker)
In station 55 - British Clan Macilwraith
In station 61 - British Coimbra
In station 64 - Norwegian Taborfjell
In station 72 - British Inverilen
In station 83 - British Empire Gem
In station 93 - British Nebraska
Otherwise, his information agrees on the whole with what can be found in Ted's list, but with the addition of several ships that are not included in Teds diary, namely
British Athos (74), British Colony (73), Broompark (94), and Toltén (95 - returned, listed in next convoy, returned again), Norwegian Brasil (34), Morgenen (23), and Torfinn Jarl (joined at sea from SC 56), American Sapelo (32 -returned).

Arnold Hague ("Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945") says the Rescue Vessel Copeland was with this convoy from Dec. 3 till Dec. 6-1941 (to Clyde). She had been with ON 39 from Clyde to detachment Nov. 22-29, on her 13th voyage as rescue vessel (having started her service as such on Jan. 31-1941, Convoy OB 280).

NOTE: According to Robert Cressman's "The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II", the American destroyer DuPont (DD-152) was damaged in a collision with Thorshøvdi on Nov 24-1941, convoy HX 161 (scroll down to the relevant date at the link to "Hyperwar" below). Thorshøvdi shows up again in Convoy HX 163, which departed Halifax on Dec. 3-1941. I've been told that she was one of 5 ships in HX 161 that had their names removed from the convoy document; the others being the Norwegian Taborfjell and the British Clan Macilwraith, Empire Gem and Donacilla. Thorshøvdi returned to Halifax and may have been repaired before joining HX 163. One piece of information that supports this to a certain extent, though the dates don't quite fit, is a report written by the captain of Daghild, saying that this ship took some cargo from Thorshøvdi because the latter had to go in for repairs after a collision in convoy - see my text for M/T Daghild.

Escorts:
Named on this external page about Convoy HX 161

Related external link:
Hyperwar - linked to the 1941 section of Robert Cressman's book.

Back to Convoy Index