Convoy HG.73 | |||||||
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Part of the Battle of the Atlantic of the Second World War | |||||||
Map of the Bay of Biscay | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Regia Marina | United Kingdom | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Karl Dönitz | Kenelm Creighton | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5 U-boats 3 Italian submarines |
25 merchant ships 16 escorts | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
10 ships sunk 301 killed |
Convoy HG 73 (17 September – 1 October 1941) was a trade convoy of merchant ships during the Second World War. It was the 73rd of the numbered HG convoys Homeward bound to the British Isles from Gibraltar. The convoy departed Gibraltar on 17 September 1941 and was spotted by a German reconnaissance aircraft on 18 September. The convoywas attacked over the next ten days. Nine ships were sunk from the convoy before the submarines exhausted their torpedo inventory on 28 September. The convoy reached Liverpool on 1 October.