SL convoys

SL convoys were a numbered series of North Atlantic trade convoys in the Second World War. Merchant ships carrying commodities bound to the British Isles from South America, Africa, and the Indian Ocean traveled independently to Freetown, Sierra Leone to be convoyed for the last leg of their voyage to Liverpool.

History

Based on World War I experience, SL convoys were one of four trade convoy routes organized at the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. The other routes were HX convoys from North America, HG convoys from the Mediterranean, and a short-lived series of HN convoys from Norway. Eight ships sailed as convoy SL 1 on 14 September 1939 and three faster ships sailed six days later as a faster section -- sometimes designated SL(F) 1 or SL 1(F). The slower convoy was sometimes similarly suffixed with an (S). Early convoys were usually accompanied by an armed merchant cruiser or one of the South Atlantic Station cruisers based at Freetown; but no anti-submarine screen was provided until the slower and faster sections rendezvoused with a single Escort Group in the Southwest Approaches.

Freetown was little more than a protected anchorage, with no shore facilities. The town had been established as a resettlement area for freed slaves, with negligible European development. Convoy operations were coordinated by a naval staff aboard the elderly Union-Castle Liner Edinburgh Castle.