Convoy stations are not known.

The Advance Sailing Telegram, consisting of 4 pages, contains ships in the 2 convoys HN 23A and HN 23B all together, and I’ve extracted the HN 23B ships and placed them on a separate page (see HN 23B). Please note also that the Advance Sailing Telegram for the previous convoy appears to cover both Convoys HN 22 and HN 23A, so that some ships have been extracted from those documents and placed here on this page.

(W= the ship was bound for the west coast, according to the AST).

A document listing all the Norway-U.K. Convoys states that Convoy HN 23A had 1 British, 12 Norwegian, 7 Swedish, 6 Danish, 8 Finnish, 4 Estonian and 1 Latvian ship, for a total of 39, 14 of which were bound for the west coast.

The following ships have been extracted from the Advance Sailing Telegram for Convoy HN 22, which appears to contain ships for HN 23A as well. A list of ships received from D. Kindell, based on the late Arnold Hague’s database, also has these ships in Convoy HN 23A.

In the evening of Apr. 1, the Finnish Signe stopped her engines, and HMS Gurkhawas sent to enquire if she needed assistance, but no reply was received. After a while Signe continued on the proper course, Gurkha remaining in company for 20 minutes, still signalling but getting no reply, so she resumed her station and informed Afridi that the Finnish ship had proceeded and was following in the wake of the convoy, about 5 miles astern. At 23:15 HMS Sikh heard an explosion which she thought might be from Cossack. She called her by V/S and W/T but, receiving no reply, she turned back to investigate, reporting her action to Afridi, but found nothing. Afridi then called Cossack on power, asking if she had anything to communicate, but she did not.

The convoy consisted of 19 ships that evening (Apr. 1) and they were all still present the following morning. As it turned out, the Finnish Signe was sunk. Date of loss is given as Apr. 2, at 00:21, German time – Jürgen Rohwer suggests in his “Axis Submarine Successes of World War Two” that this ship was torpedoed and sunk by U-38 in area AN 1814. In a footnote he adds: “U-38 attacked a ship at the end of a convoy and observed a dense cloud of smoke and vapour. Area AN 1814 was east of Moray Firth and not in a direct line from Bergen to Burntisland” (Signe‘s destination). Uboat.net’s page about this attack has more info (external link).

HMS Afridi‘s report (4th Destroyer Flotilla):
HMS Afridi arrived off the entrance to Hovden at 19:00 on March 30, which was the time appointed for Convoy HN 23A to emerge. The convoy had not yet sailed so a Norwegian T.B. was sent in to send it out, and the first ships emerged at 20:30, others appearing at intervals until 22:00 that night. Due to thick weather, with a southeast force 6 wind, some ships turned back, others had to heave to. When clear of the outlying reefs, the leading ships were eventually turned in order to avoid the incoming Convoy ON 23.

During the night a full southerly gale developed, causing the ships to scatter by as much as 30 miles in the morning, and the convoy consequently never formed up. During the evening (March 31) their approximate positions were established, and the next morning, Apr. 1, 23 ships were gathered up, the gale having abated. 4 of them were westbound and were detached with HMS Mohawk and Encounter in order to pass north of the Shetlands. Mohawk also received orders to intercept and attach 7 more ships that had been reported by aircraft to be 15 miles to the northward, and therefore presumed to be westbound.

Later in the day a northeasterly gale blew up, and the course steered became very erratic, with the wind and sea on the quarter. The starboard columns seemed to have gone about 15° to the westward of the course ordered and were prevented from grounding on Fair Island at about 00:30 by use of the emergency signal.

Afridi was slightly to the west of her allotted course, but by this time it had become evident that the following units were likely to be met between 03:30 and 04:30 that morning, Apr. 2:
Convoy ON 24 with escorts and the Kirkwall portion of ON 24 with escort, as well as HMS Somali and HMS Glasgow.
Because of the rain and sleet squalls the visibility was low. As it turned out, one of the destroyers from the escort of Convoy HN 23B* passed through Convoy ON 24, and another narrowly avoided a collision with HMS Glasgow.

* It looks like the B in HN 23B has been replaced by 23A here – the B has not been crossed out, but it’s underlined, and an A is written by hand next to it. In other words, it might have been one of the destroyers from HN 23A that passed through ON 24, while another nearly collided with HMS Glasgow.

When off Kinnaird Head in the afternoon of Apr. 2 a Junker carried out an abortive attack* on the convoy, the weather being clear at that time. That same day, a 20th ship was seen and added to the convoy; this ship is not named. During the night, the wind shifted to the south and the weather became thick again. The Commodore Vessel, Regin, steered an incorrect course, reducing speed by about 4 knots, and for this reason Afridi‘s commander “applied, without further notice, for an extension of Bell Rock Light, its position being uncertain on account of the failure of the log and D/F in Afridi. It was eventually made, unlit, ahead, in time to alter course”.

*A document about Convoys attacked by aircraft states that in the afternoon of Apr 2-1940, 3 convoys were attacked almost simultaneously as follows:

1 aircraft bombed the eastern portion of HN 23A at 14:57, 18 miles north of Kinnaird Head. Fighters were sent in support.
Also, 2 aircraft attacked ON 24 southeast of Fair Island, dropping 4 bombs.
1 aircraft attacked HN 23B at 15:15, 6 bombs dropped – no damage caused.

HN 23A arrived in Largs Bay at 11:40 on Apr. 3. Speed made good: 5.3 knots.

Afridi‘s commander mentions that the convoy guide, Regin “proved unable to steer a course, nor to maintain her speed except in calm”.

Escorts mentioned on this page:
Galatea, Arethusa, Calcutta, Afridi, Gurkha, Mohawk, Sikh, Encounter, Cossack.

Convoy HN.23 A of one British, twelve Norwegian, seven Swedish, six Danish, eight Finnish, one Latvian, four Estonian ships departed Bergen escorted by destroyers GURKHA, AFRIDI, SIKH. Antiaircraft cruiser CALCUTTA accompanied the convoy for anti-aircraft protection. Destroyer COSSACK departed Scapa Flow on the 31st at 0540 to join the convoy escort. En route, she stood by the disabled trawler SOPHOS (217grt) from 1130 to 1415 until another trawler arrived to take her in tow. At 0021/2 April, U.38 attacked the convoy, but was driven off by COSSACK. Destroyers ENCOUNTER and MOHAWK escorted 14 ships of the west coast section of the convoy. ENCOUNTER arrived at Scapa Flow at 0420 on 3 April and MOHAWK was detached in the evening of 2 April for an anti-submarine hunt. The 26 ships of convoy arrived at Methil at 0900 on 3 April, escorted by AFRIDI, SIKH, GURKHA, COSSACK, after being divided in heavy weather.