For info, some of the ships in this convoy had previously arrived with Convoy HX 151, others with HX 152, HX 153 or HX 154 (see also HX 150).
For some return voyages, refer to subsequent HX convoys, as well as SC convoys from the same time period (for instance, SC 57).

Br=British, Norw=Norwegian, Sw=Swedish, Da=Danish, Du=Dutch, Pa=Panamanian, Am=American, Po=Polish

Empire ?(illegible - 3 letters)
Providence
(Br)

* King Arthur's destination was later changed to Philadelphia - See Nov. 7, Page 2. For some details on Alaska and Hardanger, see Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 on same page.

** The Commodore says that a Danish ship transferred to Convoy PQ 3 for Iceland at 18:30 on Oct. 28 in 59 30N 7 40W. The name is given as Rota (station 94) in the Commodore's narrative on Page 2 (she is not mentioned on the Convoy form for ON 30). There is no Danish ship listed in PQ 3 on Nov. 9, so it does not look like she continued to Archangel. (See also this external site).

The Rescue Vessel Tjaldur also started out with this convoy from Clyde on Oct. 27 (on her first voyage as such) but had to return to port with engine defects the next day ("Convoy Rescue Ships 1940-1945", Arnold Hague).

Average speed from Bar Light Vessel: 7.3 knots.
Average speed from Butt of Lewis: 8.3 knots.

Celtic Star stopped for engine repairs at 12:15 on Nov. 7 in 44 56N 44 34W, and did not rejoin. See text for Nov. 7 on Page 2.

A CAM ship dropped out in fog on Nov. 8; time and cause unknown, but the ship was missing from convoy in the morning - the Commodore calls her Eastern Star, but he probably means Eastern City(?). (Eastern Star was Norwegian and had been sunk in May that year).

When the convoy was dispersed, 45 ships were present.

Daily positions of convoy at 08:00 are available on request via contact address provided at the bottom of this page. Or, go to this page on Mike Holdoway's website (external link) - I sent him the coordinates, and he made a chart of the voyage (click on "Charted convoy routes"). Daily noon positions are given in the Commodore's narrative on Page 2, link below.

Tarana(n?)ki, Maaskerk, Pomella, El Argentino, San Gerardo, Port Alma, Alexia, Andrea Brøvig and Blankaholm were detached in 43 09N 52 15W.

A British aircraft was shot down by ships in the convoy on Oct. 30. The text for this date on Page 2 has more details on this.

Escorts:
From Western Approaches: Destroyers HMS Malcolm, Sardonyx, and Watchman, corvettes Arabis, Dahlia, Monkshood, trawlers Northern Spray, Northern Gem. - HMS Malcolm, Sardonyx and Watchman left convoy at 21:15 on Oct. 29 in 59 20N 8 10W.
At 11:20 on Nov. 2 in 57 12N 29 00W, the corvettes and trawlers were relieved by the American destroyers Charles F. Hughes, Lansdale, Gleaves, Madison, Simpson (these probably came from Iceland).

Air Escort was present at various times on Oct. 29 until Nov. 2.
U.S. aircraft were present on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

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