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North Atlantic convoys


Chantry

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HMS Nairana in heavy seas during one of her trips to Russia during WWII and yes planes took off, flew patrols and landed in that weather.  Although the only plane that could fly in those conditions were Fairey Swordfish.  The F4F Wildcat (Martlet in British service) and TBM-1 Avenger remained on the carriers.  While pilots and crew appreciated the better living conditions aboard American built escort carriers, the Britihs built escort carriers handled the bad weather far better and the enclosed hanger was greatly preferred over the open hanger of the American escort carrier.

 

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8 hours ago, Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381 said:

The North Atlantic was/is unforgiving.

 

Very true...and the Arctic Ocean on the Russian convoys was even worse....;)   Of course the weather gets interesting in most oceans....even the oft-misnamed "Pacific"... Lol

 

 

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6 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

Those Corvettes, I'm told, were really bad .....   :mellow:

 

Mixed, in  heavy seas they rolled a lot and were miserable to serve in, but I have not read anything about them being lost to bad weather.  British warship design  pays more attention to seaworthiness than the other major navies, including the US Navy.  It's notable that most of the US destroyers used in the Atlantic during WWII were the pre-war designs with the raised forecastle while the larger, more modern Fletcher class and the two follow up designs to the Fletcher spent most of WWII assigned to the Pacific fleets.

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3 hours ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

The smaller DE's were used in both oceans as well. The Fletchers were the work horses and helped a lot during the Guadal-Bouganville campaigns and beyond:FlagAm::blush:

I don't think the American destroyer escorts made any of the convoys to Russia.  I can not say it with 100% confidence, but I can't recall ever reading about US Navy warships being involved in any of the convoys to Russia.

 

I am reasonably certain that American warships involved in the Atlantic convoys took their convoys to a meeting point in the Atlantic and handed it over to the British and in return taking the convoy the British were escorting back to either Canada or the U.S.

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Have a look at the British and Canadian corvettes on the Murmansk Run.

Open bridges etc.etc.

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On 2/14/2021 at 5:50 PM, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Have a look at the British and Canadian corvettes on the Murmansk Run.

Open bridges etc.etc.

 

Not just the Corvettes...  British frigates and destroyers were usually open-bridged as well.    I will never understand that.     Back to the Corvettes...the Flower class - perhaps the best known -with 276 (!) constructed - were not actually "Naval" vessels... not in design anyway.    When the Admiralty made the requirement known the Smiths Dock Company offered a variation on their 700 ton Whale catcher  design.  The beauty of such a vessel was that - being built with Merchant ship techniques - they could be built in smaller yards that were not equipped to build to naval standards.  In addition the use of Triple Expansion engines instead of Steam turbines kept cost and construction difficulty down, and ensured that the largely Reserve/Volunteer reserve crews would likely be familiar with their operation.   Given that Whale catchers were designed to operate in extreme conditions it should be no surprise that they were highly sea worthy... if not terribly sea kindly....:D  Ships that roll and pitch freely survive conditions that "stiffer" ships can not....  small comfort to someone in the throes of seasickness I suppose.....

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The movie "The Cruel Sea" does a very good job of portraying life aboard a corvette during WWII, showing both the convoy run to Russia as well as a convoy run to Gibraltar.

 

On edit:  The writer of the book 'The Cruel Sea' was Nicolas Monsarrat who served as both executive and commanding officer on 5 different corvettes and frigates in the Atlantic during WWII.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Monsarrat

 

 

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