Convoy OS.33 | |||
Convoy OS.33 (code word
"PAROLE") sailed from Liverpool at 1605 hrs. on July 1, 1942,
bound for Freetown, Sierra Leone. Twenty merchant
vessels sailed in line, 5 cables* apart,
down the river to the The Liverpool contingent had only been at sea for two and a half hours when HMS Ophelia (unconnected with the convoy) was in collision with SS Ocean Honour (74) and returned to Liverpool for repairs. SS Ocean Honour, however, was only slightly damaged above the waterline and continued with the convoy. The passage to the Azores was uneventful except that on July 10, 1942, SS Empire Attendant finally lost contact with the convoy after breaking down for the seventh time (she was later torpedoed with the loss of all hands). At 0900 hrs on July 11, 1942 the vessels bound for South America (SS Shaftesbury, SS Radcombe, SS Sithonia, SS Bruyere, SS Cortona and SS Siris) together with SS Consuelo and those bound for South Africa (SS Port Hunter, SS Glenberg, SS Dona Aurora, SS Sophocles and SS Marsdale) were detached from the convoy to proceed independently. It was not until 1534 hrs on July 11 that the Admiralty reported to the convoy that they had picked up a radio signal from a U-boat giving a sighting report of Convoy OS.33 (at 1258 hrs). Unfortunately, the report came too late for the vessels that had been detached and nearly half of them were torpedoed and sunk. The arrival of the convoy at Freetown was signalled at 1313Z on July 20, 1942. |
|||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |