| Convoy ON 166 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofBattle of the Atlantic | |||||||
 Adepth charge being loaded onto a depth-charge thrower aboard the corvette HMSDianthus | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom United StatesCanada Poland |  Germany | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| CAPT W E B Magee RN CAPT P.R. Heineman USN | AdmiralKarl Dönitz | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 63 freighters 1destroyer 2cutters 5corvettes | 18 submarines | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 14 freighters sunk (87,994GRT) 262 killed/drowned | 3 submarines sunk 128 killed/drowned 11 captured | ||||||
Convoy ON 166 was the 166th of the numberedON series of merchant ship convoysOutbound from the British Isles toNorth America. Sixty-three ships departedLiverpool 11 February 1943 and were met the following day byMid-Ocean Escort Force Group A-3 consisting of theTreasury-class cuttersCampbell andSpencer and theFlower-class corvettesDianthus,Chilliwack,Rosthern,Trillium andDauphin. The convoy suffered losses before arriving at New York City, US.
As western Atlantic coastal convoys brought an end to the Germans' "second happy time", AdmiralKarl Dönitz, theBefehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU) or commander in chief of U-Boats, shifted focus to the mid-Atlantic to avoid aircraft patrols. Although convoy routing was less predictable in the mid-ocean, Dönitz anticipated that the increased numbers of U-boats being produced would be able to effectively search for convoys with the advantage of intelligence gained throughB-Dienst decryption of British Naval Cypher Number 3.[1] However, only 20 percent of the 180 trans-Atlantic convoys sailing from the end of July 1942 until the end of April 1943 lost ships to U-boat attack.[2]
On 20 FebruaryU-604 sighted the convoy scattered by sailing eight days in a northwesterly gale.U-332 torpedoed the straggling NorwegianStigstad on the morning of 21 February.U-623 was sunk by aNo. 120 Squadron RAFB-24 Liberator that afternoon, andCampbell sank a U-boat that evening. Postwar analysis concluded thatCampbell sankU-225,[3] but later re-evaluation indicated that the attack may have destroyedU-529.[4]
U-92 torpedoed the BritishEmpire Trader at 2032 and the NorwegianNT Nielsen Alonso at 0153 on the night of February 21–22. Both ships were hit by a single torpedo on the port side, flooding the forward hold, and boiler room, respectively.[5]ORP Burza from the following convoy ONS 167 was ordered to reinforce the convoy escort.
U-606 torpedoed the BritishEmpire Redshank and AmericanChattanooga City andExpositor after sunset 22 February, but was damaged bydepth charges from the recently arrivedBurza.Campbell was disabled in a collision withU-606. Twelve men were rescued from the crew of the sinking U-boat.Burza left the convoy to towCampbell back to port. Theconvoy rescue shipStockport was sunk byU-604 while returning to the convoy after rescuing men from the three ships torpedoed byU-606.[6]
U-628 torpedoed the PanamanianWinkler at 0420 and NorwegianGlittre at 0425.U-186 torpedoed the AmericanHastings about 0430 and BritishEulima at 0458 on 23 February.[5]Spencer,Rosthern andChilliwack remained with the convoy andDianthus left to refuel.[7]
U-600 torpedoed the NorwegianIngria at 0520 before dawn on 24 February.[5]U-653 torpedoed the straggling AmericanLiberty shipJonathan Sturges.
U-628 hit the BritishManchester Merchant with two torpedoes on the starboard side at 0527 before dawn 25 February.[5][8]
The U-boats discontinued the attack on 26 February. The surviving ships in the convoy were joined byEmpire Cavalier fromHalifax,Nova Scotia on 28 February with escortsNew Westminster,Blairmore andRimouski.[9] They reachedNew York City on 3 March 1943.[10]
| Name[11] | Flag[11] | Dead[7] | Tonnage[11] | Cargo[7] | Notes[11] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amastra (1935) |  | 8,031gross register tons (GRT) | |||
| Aruba (1929) |  | 3,979 GRT | general cargo | ||
| Beauregard (1920) | | 5,976 GRT | returned to England | ||
| Brasil (1935) |  | 8,130 GRT | |||
| Charles H Cramp (1920) | | 6,220 GRT | straggled 1 March[5] | ||
| Chattanooga City (1921) | | 0 | 5,687 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-606 22 Feb |
| City of Canberra (1927) | | 7,484 GRT | carried convoy commodore Capt W E B Magee DSO RN | ||
| Delilian (1923) | | 6,423 GRT | |||
| Edward Rutledge (1942) | | 7,177 GRT | 16 passengers | Liberty ship; returned to England | |
| El Almirante (1917) |  | 5,248 GRT | returned to England | ||
| El Coston (1924) | | 7,286 GRT | joined from Iceland 16 Feb but returned to Iceland when leaking condenser caused water shortage[5] | ||
| El Oceano (1925) | | 6,767 GRT | |||
| Empire Cato (1942) | | 7,039 GRT | returned to England | ||
| Empire Cavalier (1942) | | 9,891 GRT | joined Halifax to New York; survived this convoy andconvoy HX 229 | ||
| Empire Chivalry (1937) | | 6,007 GRT | |||
| Empire Confidence (1935) | | 5,023 GRT | |||
| Empire Redshank (1919) | | 0 | 6,615 GRT | (in ballast) | torpedoed byU-606 & scuttled by escort 22 Feb |
| Empire Trader (1908) | | 0 | 9,990 GRT | 985 tons chemicals | veteran ofconvoy HX 79; torpedoed byU-92 & scuttled by escort 23 Feb |
| Empire Wordsworth (1942) | | 9,891 GRT | |||
| Eulima (1937) | | 63 | 6,207 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-186 23 February |
| Exilona (1919) | | 4,971 GRT | |||
| Expositor (1919) | | 6 | 4,959 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-606 &U-303 |
| Fort Thompson (1942) | | 7,134 GRT | coal | ||
| Fort Vermillion (1942) | | 7,133 GRT | |||
| Franz Klasen (1932) | | 1,194 GRT | |||
| Gateway City (1920) | | 5,432 GRT | veteran ofconvoy PQ 18 | ||
| George W McKnight (1933) | | 2,502 GRT | |||
| Glittre (1928) | | 3 | 6,402 GRT | (in ballast) | veteran ofconvoy ON 67; acting as escort oiler; sunk byU-628 &U-603 23 Feb |
| Gyda (1934) | | 1,695 GRT | general cargo | straggled and lost following 24 Feb collision withFort Thompson[5] | |
| Hastings (1920) | | 9 | 5,401 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-186 23 Feb |
| Ingria (1931) | | 0 | 4,391 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-600 &U-628 24 Feb |
| Jonathan Sturges (1942) | | 56 | 7,176 GRT | (in ballast) | Liberty ship straggled & sunk byU-653 24 Feb[5] |
| Kaipaki (1939) | | 5,862 GRT | |||
| Lechistan (1929) |  | 1,937 GRT | general cargo | straggled 20 Feb[5] | |
| Lochmonar (1924) | | 9,412 GRT | 28 passengers | ship's master was convoy vice commodore | |
| Madoera (1922) | | 9,382 GRT | straggled 24 Feb & damaged byU-653[5] | ||
| Manchester Merchant (1940) | | 36 | 7,264 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-628 25 Feb |
| Mark Twain (1942) | | 7,176 GRT | Liberty ship straggled with steering failure | ||
| Markay (1942) | | 10,342 GRT | joined from Iceland 16 Feb; romped 23 Feb | ||
| Molda (1937) | | 5,137 GRT | general cargo | ||
| N T Nielsen-Alonso (1900) | | 3 | 9,348 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-92 &U-753 22 Feb |
| Pacific Exporter (1928) | | 6,734 GRT | |||
| Pacific Grove (1928) | | 7,117 GRT | |||
| Pan-Maine (1936) | | 7,237 GRT | |||
| Pan-Maryland (1938) | | 7,701 GRT | |||
| Samuel Chase (1942) | | 7,191 GRT | Liberty ship veteran ofconvoy PQ 17 | ||
| Skandinavia (1940) | | 10,044 GRT | veteran ofconvoy ON 67 | ||
| Stigstad (1927) | | 3 | 5,964 GRT | (in ballast) | straggled & sunk byU-332 &U-603 21 Feb[5] |
| Stockport (1911) | | 63 | 1,683 GRT | (rescued crewmen of sunken ships) | rescue ship; sunk byU-604 while rescuing survivors |
| Tai Shan (1929) | | 6,962 GRT | 12 passengers | ||
| Thomas B Robertson (1942) | | 7,176 GRT | Liberty ship romped & arrived New York 28 Feb | ||
| Thomas Hooker (1942) | | 7,176 GRT | Liberty ship returned to England | ||
| Tortuguero (1921) | | 5,285 GRT | |||
| Tropic Star (1926) | | 5,088 GRT | |||
| Wind Rush (1918) | | 5,586 GRT | |||
| Winkler (1930) | | 20 | 6,907 GRT | (in ballast) | sunk byU-628 &U-223 23 Feb |