Mid-Ocean Escort Force - Long-Range Escort Organization

Long-Range Escort Organization

As the United States Navy struggled to find enough destroyers to meet escort needs for both the Pacific and the vulnerable Atlantic coastal shipping, the shorter great-circle route from Newfoundland to the British Isles was considered as a means of eliminating meeting point delays and reducing the number of destroyers required for escort of convoys between Canada and the United Kingdom. Initial proposals by the United States on 24 January 1942 produced an agreement in early February for a Mid-Ocean Escort Force organization of fourteen Escort Groups. American-led Escort Groups were prefixed with the letter "A"; while "B" indicated British-led Escort Groups and "C" designated Canadian-led Escort Groups. Fifteen United States destroyers, fifteen Royal Navy destroyers and twelve Canadian destroyers were to provide the striking power of these escort groups while fifty-two British and forty-nine Canadian Flower class corvettes were to perform the patrolling role. Approximately one-third of the theoretical MOEF escort Group strength of three destroyers and seven corvettes was unavailable at any given time. Half of the unavailable ships needed storm or battle damage repairs, and the remainder were undergoing normal refit and training.

Each MOEF escort Group worked in a 33-day cycle allowing nine and one-half days with a westbound ON convoy, six days in St. John's, Newfoundland, nine and one-half days with an eastbound HX or SC convoy, and 8 days refit in Derry. The shorter routing away from Iceland eliminated the need for most escorts to attempt maintenance in Iceland's poorly equipped Hvalfjörður anchorage; but the United States was required to maintain an additional force of five destroyers in Iceland to escort ships between trans-Atlantic convoys and United States military occupation bases. The Royal Navy continued to provide an eastern local escort force of Naval trawlers in the Western Approaches while Canada continued to provide a Western Local Escort Force (WLEF) of corvettes, minesweepers, and short-range destroyers between Halifax Harbour and Newfoundland.