Convoy Structure
Heroes Remember
Convoy Structure
Convoy is a formation of ships in about four abreast.
Like I said, the most important cargos of air planes and tanks
and ammunition and oil tankers was in the middle of the convoy
and less perilous goods was on the outside of the convoy.
And normally when the war first started, when I started in ‘39,
I signed in ‘39 but I never sailed out til January and there was
two escorts on the front with the commodore, and then if we had
more than. Well, that never happened during my time in the
war that we had more escorts than we needed. So there was
corvettes, when the corvettes come on site, then they would use
the corvettes on the back end and the destroyers on the front end
Convoys was all formed in Halifax and they were housed in
the dockyard. They formed all the convoys, gave them each a
number, every captain knew what he had to do.
If he was a straggler he’d be left behind. They wouldn’t pick
him up. We were told that if there’s suvivors in the water,
the convoy wouldn’t stop to pick them up. They keep on going.
What do you do? Stop and pick up fifteen men
or stop a ship and lose two hundred men?
So the odds were against the people in the water.
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