# Convoy ON 92

Convoy ON 92 was a trade convoy of merchant ships during the Second World War. It was the 92nd of the numbered series of ON convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America. The ships departed from Liverpool on 6 May 1942 and were joined on 7 May by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Group A-3.
The convoy was discovered by Wolfpack Hecht on 11 May; seven ships were sunk before the U-boats lost contact with the convoy on 13 May. Surviving ships reached Halifax, Nova Scotia on 21 May.

## Prelude

ON 92 was a west-bound convoy of 42 ships, either in ballast or carrying trade goods, and sailed from Liverpool on 6 May 1942 bound for ports in North America. The convoy commodore was Capt. R Gill in Southern Princess.
It was escorted by mid-ocean escort group A-3, comprising the United States Navy destroyer Gleaves (Capt. J Heffernan as Senior Officer Escort), the United States Coast Guard cutter Spencer, and four Royal Canadian Navy corvettes Algoma, Arvida, Bittersweet and Shediac. The convoy was supported by a rescue ship, the North Sea packet Bury. Two of the merchant ships were equipped as CAM ships, with a catapult-launched Hurricane fighter as temporary air cover. Heffernan had a background in destroyers and anti-submarine warfare but was inexperienced in convoy protection, as was his group. Only Bittersweet had the new 10 cm radar, and only the rescue ship Bury had HF/DF.
ON 92's passage was barred by the patrol group "Hecht", comprising six Type VII U-boats. Of these two commanders were experienced Knight's Cross holders, while the others were on their first Atlantic patrol.

## Action

After making rendezvous with its ocean escort ON 92 proceeded west, following along the great circle route to reduce distance. However German intelligence (B-Dienst) was aware of its passage, and U-boat Command (BdU) was able to send group "Hecht" in pursuit. On the morning of 11 May U-569 made contact and began to shadow. Its transmissions were detected by Bury, which was confirmed by the Admiralty that afternoon but Heffernan made no response until 1700, when he led Gleaves and Spencer in a wide sweep around the convoy. At 1749 Gleaves sighted a U-boat 17 miles (27 km) ahead and both proceeded to attack, continuing until after midnight. Meanwhile two more U-boats were in contact, U-94 and U-124, both commanded by Knights Cross holders. After sunset the commodore ordered evasive maneuvers, but without success, and at 2300 U-124 attacked, sinking Empire Dell and damaging Llanover. A second attack by U-124 hit Mount Parnes and Cristales, while U-94 hit Cocles. Algoma sighted one and counter-attacked but with no success. At this point Gleaves and Spencer rejoined the convoy and no more attacks developed. Arvida and Shediac were able to pick up survivors, with Bury.
On 12 May the three U-boats in contact were joined by three more "Hecht" boats, U-96, U-406 and U-590, and all six continued to shadow. At 1300 Heffernan again detached Gleaves and Spencer in a sweep around the convoy; at 1943 Spencer sighted two U-boats 27 miles (43 km) northwest of the convoy, and engaged with gunfire, while at the same time Gleaves made a sonar contact 18 miles (29 km) southeast and again began an anti-submarine hunt.
At 2253 the U-boats around the convoy attacked again, U-94 hitting Batna. She was counter-attacked by Bittersweet, but escaped. Both ships with both firing star shell, which brought Gleaves and Spencer back to the convoy. At 0310 on 13 May U-94 had a final success, hitting Tolken, but was driven off by defensive gunfire from the merchant. At this point foul weather closed in and the pack lost contact.
No further attacks developed and on 13 May Bury, with 178 survivors on board, was detached to St Johns, escorted by Arvida. The convoy was joined by units of Western Local Escort Force on 17 May and made port at Halifax on 21 May.

## Aftermath

ON 92 lost seven ships of a total of 42 that set out. The Admiralty and Western Approaches Command (WAC) were unimpressed with Heffernan's performance, particularly as he described it in his report as a success, commenting "all escorts are entitled to credit for a highly satisfactory performance." WAC disagreed, feeling the group had "failed lamentably" in its defence of ON 92. The commodores report sums up the episode by commenting "Gleaves was never there when ON 92 was attacked." After this Heffernan was moved to other duties, with leadership of A-3 being passed to USCG commander P Heineman of the cutter Campbell.
BdU had reason to be pleased with the sinking of seven merchant ships from the convoy, although this was the only successful attack on any North Atlantic convoy in the month of May. It was also noticeable that the only success fell to the two experienced commanders; the other four "Hecht" skippers achieved nothing.

## Ships in the convoy
### Merchant ships

| Name | Flag | Tonnage (GRT) | Notes |
| Achilles (1906) | Netherlands | 1,815 | Bound for St John's, Newfoundland |
| Alex (1914) | United Kingdom | 3,932 | Bound for Halifax |
| Batna (1928) | United Kingdom | 4,399 | Sunk By U-94 SE of Cape Farewell, Greenland On 13 May. 1 dead. Survivors picked up by Bury |
| Belinda (1939) | Norway | 8,325 | Bound for Corpus Christi, Texas |
| British Power (1936) | United Kingdom | 8,451 | Bound for Houston |
| Bury (1911) | United Kingdom | 1,686 | Convoy rescue ship bound for Halifax. Carrying equipment for High-frequency direction finding |
| Carras (1918) | Greece | 5,234 | Bound for Father Point, Quebec |
| Chagres (1919) | Panama | 5,545 | Bound for Boston |
| Clearpool (1935) | United Kingdom | 5,404 | Bound for Father Point, Quebec |
| Cocle (1920) | Panama | 5,630 | Sunk By U-94 on 12 May 740 nautical miles (1,370 km) SE of Cape Farewell, Greenland. 5 dead. Survivors picked up by Bury and landed at St. John's, Newfoundland. |
| Cristales (1926) | United Kingdom | 5,389 | Sunk by U-124 on 12 May SE of Cape Farewell, Greenland. 0 dead. Abandoned and sunk by gunfire from HMCS Shediac. Survivors picked up by Shediac and USCGC Spencer and landed at Boston. |
| Dean Emery (1919) | Panama | 6,664 | Bound for Beaumont, Texas |
| Dimitrios Chandris (1910) | Greece | 4,643 | Returned |
| Dorcasia (1938) | United Kingdom | 8,053 | Bound for Houston |
| Dorington Court (1939) | United Kingdom | 5,281 | Bound for New York City |
| Elisabeth Lensen (1910) | United Kingdom | 4,212 | Bound for Father Point, Quebec |
| Empire Antelope (1919) | United Kingdom | 4,945 | Bound for Halifax. Ship's Master is Vice-Commodore |
| Empire Chamois (1918) | United Kingdom | 5,684 | Bound for Baltimore |
| Empire Clive (1941) | United Kingdom | 7,069 | CAM Ship. Bound for Halifax |
| Empire Dell (1941) | United Kingdom | 7,065 | CAM ship. Sunk by U-124 on 12 May. 2 dead. Survivors picked up by HMCS Shediac and Bury, and landed at St. John's, Newfoundland |
| Empire Wolfe (1941) | United Kingdom | 2,888 | Bound for Halifax |
| Errington Court (1925) | United Kingdom | 4,913 | Bound for River Clyde |
| Evanger (1920) | Norway | 3,869 | |
| Fort Binger (1919) | United Kingdom | 5,671 | With torpedo damage (uxb), in the port bow, from U-588 on 18 May. 1 dead. Fog closed in, so U-boat lost contact and the Fort Binger docked for repairs in Yarmouth before making it to Halifax |
| Gazcon (1932) | United Kingdom | 4,224 | |
| Grey Lag (1910) | Panama | 3,312 | Bound for Halifax |
| Ivan Topic (1920) | Yugoslavia | 4,943 | Bound for New York City |
| Juno (1908) | Netherlands | 1,763 | Bound for New York City |
| Langleebrook (1930) | United Kingdom | 4,246 | Bound for New York City |
| Lisbeth (1922) | Norway | 2,732 | Bound for Halifax |
| Llanover (1928) | United Kingdom | 4,959 | Sunk by U-124 SE of Cape Farewell, Greenland on 12 May. 0 Dead. Scuttled by HMCS Arvida. Survivors picked up by Bury and landed at St. John's, Newfoundland |
| Mount Parnes (1917) | Greece | 4,371 | Sunk by U-124 on 12 May 650 nautical miles (1,200 km) SE of Cape Farewell, Greenland. 0 dead. |
| Mount Rhodope (1919) | Greece | 5,182 | Bound for Montreal |
| Mount Taurus (1920) | Greece | 6,696 | Bound for Montreal |
| Portsea (1938) | United Kingdom | 1,583 | Bound for Pictou |
| Ragnhild (1941) | Norway | 2,866 | Bound for Father Point, Quebec |
| San Ambrosio (1935) | United Kingdom | 7,410 | |
| Selvik (1920) | Norway | 1,557 | |
| Selvistan (1924) | United Kingdom | 5,136 | Bound for Halifax |
| Solarium (1936) | United Kingdom | 6,239 | Bound for Baton Rouge |
| Southern Princess (1915) | United Kingdom | 2,156 | Bound for Boston. Capt R Gill CBE Rd RNR (Commodore) |
| Spokane (1929) | Panama | 2,882 | Bound for Charleston, South Carolina |
| Suecia (1912) | Sweden | 4,966 | Returned |
| Titanian (1924) | Norway | 4,880 | Bound for Father Point, Quebec |
| Tolken (1922) | Sweden | 4,471 | Sunk by U-94 675 nautical miles (1,250 km) SE of Cape Farewell, Greenland On 13 May. 0 dead. Survivors picked up by Bury and landed at St. John's, Newfoundland |
| Zypenberg (1920) | Netherlands | 4,973 | Bound for New York City |

### Convoy escorts

| Name | Flag | Type | Joined | Left |
| USS Gleaves | United States Navy | Gleaves-class destroyer | 7 May 1942 | 18 May 1942 |
| USCGC Spencer | United States Coast Guard | Treasury-class cutter | 7 May 1942 | 18 May 1942 |
| HMCS Algoma | Royal Canadian Navy | Flower-class corvette | 7 May 1942 | 18 May 1942 |
| HMCS Arvida | Royal Canadian Navy | Flower-class corvette | 7 May 1942 | 14 May 1942 |
| HMCS Bittersweet | Royal Canadian Navy | Flower-class corvette | 7 May 1942 | 18 May 1942 |
| HMCS Shediac | Royal Canadian Navy | Flower-class corvette | 7 May 1942 | 16 May 1942 |

## U-boats

The convoy was attacked by Wolfpack Hecht, which consisted of U-boats, namely:
* U-94 (Type VIIC) : 3 ships sunk
* U-96 (Type VIIC) : no success
* U-116 Type XB : supply boat
* U-124 Type IXB : 4 ships sunk
* U-406 (Type VIIC) : no success
* U-569 (Type VIIC) : no success
* U-578 (Type VIIC) : no success
* U-590 (Type VIIC) : no success