Convoy SC 121

Convoy SC 121
Part of Battle of the Atlantic

A depth charge being loaded onto a depth-charge thrower aboard the corvette HMS Dianthus
Date6–10 March 1943
Location
North Atlantic
Result German victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 United States
 Canada		  Germany
Commanders and leaders
Capt. H.C. Birnie RNR†
Capt. P.R. Heineman USN		 Admiral Karl Dönitz
Strength
69 freighters
2 destroyers
3 cutters
4 corvettes		 27 submarines[1]
Casualties and losses
12 freighters sunk (55,673 GRT)
270 killed/drowned		 none

Convoy SC 121 was the 121st of the numbered series of World War II Slow Convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island to Liverpool.[2] The ships departed New York City 23 February 1943;[3] and were met by the Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group A-3 consisting of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Treasury-class cutter USCGC Spencer, the American Wickes-class destroyer USS Greer, the British and Canadian Flower-class corvettes HMS Dianthus, HMCS Rosthern, HMCS Trillium and HMCS Dauphin and the convoy rescue ship Melrose Abbey.[4][5] Three of the escorts had defective sonar and three had unserviceable radar.[6]

  1. ^ Milner p.235
  2. ^ Hague 2000 p.133
  3. ^ Hague 2000 p.135
  4. ^ Milner 1985 p.291
  5. ^ Rohwer & Hummelchen 1992 p.196
  6. ^ Morison 1975 p.342