Information on WWII Atlantic convoy composition

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

Hi All,

I was wondering if someone knows off hand of a good internet source that would list the ships in the various convoys in the Atlantic during WWII. I am thinking of a diorama possibly of the a Liberty Ship with an appropriate escort ship from one of her convoys.

Thanks, Rick

2

In 350th you can go with Trumpeter’s Liberty Ship and Destroyer Escort kits…

3

Although not on the internet, a great source of info can be found in Vol 1 The Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1943 of the series History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. In the appendixs you will find a complete listing of the ships which participated. For example the Battleships New York and Texas.

Yankee Clipper

4

There is an excellent site for WWII convoy information. The site can be awkward to navigate but there is much information at the Convoy Web: http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/

Hope this helps. Regards, Jay

5

Thanks much for the reference. I’ll see if I can get this through interlibrary loan.

Cheers, Rick

6

Hi Jayman1,

Outstanding web reference! Not the smoothest web site, as you mentioned, but great source of information. Thanks much!

Cheers, Rick

7

Hyperwar also recently posted a post-war report that has some excellent information, albeit not down to the individual convoys.

OEG Report 51: ASW in WWII

8

jayman1 beat me to the convoyweb site - what you want is probably in there. Somewhere. I would suggest picking a particular kind of cargo ship - in 1/700 if you’re going to put two or more in the same display - and then go from there.

9

If you want to use a Liberty ship you should probably look for convoys not much earlier than late 1942 to early 1943.

10

Hi Rick,

Try this site http:/www.warsailors.com/freefleet/index.html. I have found it contains a great deal of stuff on convoys, most of which seems to have come from the UK National Archive at Kew in London. I hope this helps.

Tony.

11

Now, what you may need to do is come up with a “reason” to have convoy vessels close enough to make a diorama of.

1000 yard seperation between convoy vessels is pretty tight navigating quarters; escorts are likely to not be closer than 5000 yards without some good reason.

Now, a Liberty with a boat in the water investigating some flotsam or wreckage with a DE nearby might make sense. An empty lifeboat could add poingnacy, as would flotsam with a smudge (black-sprayed cotton wadding) of smoke drifting off.

Nice touch to that is that the DE can have weapons trained all over the place, alert for all of the dangers that could be out there. Downside is that this really wants dozens of figures, which could be a lot of painting & bending in 1/350 (not that 1/700 would be that much simpler ).

Alternate situation might be if some one were being high lined in a bosun’s chair from the Liberty over to the DE (with the attendant need for lots of teeny-tiny detailing).

Now, a person could take a “British” tack to this and cobble up on of the stop-gap cat-launched Hurricane cargo ships, where the pilot had to ditch afterwards, and the DE & cargo ship could be in close (2-300yd) proximity for that evolution.

12

Hey All,

Excellent responses by one and all - very much appreciated!

CapnMac82: Some outstanding suggestions. I will definitely be giving these some thought.

Cheers, Rick

13

Due to the slow speeds of the liberty and importance of maintaining formation a Liberty would not investigate anything in its path; it would be more accurate perhaps to have the DE stopped and the Liberty cruising by it.