UG convoys

The UG convoys were a series of east-bound trans-Atlantic convoys from the United States to Gibraltar carrying food, ammunition, and military hardware to the United States Army in North Africa and southern Europe during World War II. These convoys assembled in Hampton Roads near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and terminated in various North African locations as Axis forces retreated from 1942 through 1945.

Allied war materials had been transported from North America to the British Isles in HX convoys since 1939 and in slower SC convoys since 1940. These convoys were escorted by the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy. The United States Navy provided a few escorts to HX and SC convoys from September 1941 through April 1943. UG convoys were established as a second, more direct, supply route to support the invasion of North Africa. The first convoy, designated UGF 1, was the invasion convoy sailing on 24 October 1942 and arriving on 8 November 1942. The F designated a convoy of faster ships. Thereafter, fast and slow eastbound and westbound convoys on this southern route were given four separate numbering sequences beginning with 2.

Approximately one fast eastbound convoy per month departed Hampton Roads along the southern trans-Atlantic route beginning with convoy UGF 2 on 2 November 1942. Convoys UGF 2 and UGF 3 terminated in Casablanca in 1942. Convoys UGF 4 through UGF 10 terminated in Oran in 1943. Convoys UGF 8 and UGF 9 sailed in two sections with the second section being identified as UGF 8A and UGF 9A, respectively. Fast convoys were temporarily suspended during preparation for Operation Overlord after convoy UGF 10 reached Oran on 2 September 1943. Sailings resumed on 17 May 1944, and convoys UGF 11 through UGF 21 terminated in Naples in 1944 and 1945. Separate convoys designated UGF 15B and UGF 17B terminated in Marseilles. The last fast eastbound convoy UGF 22 terminated in Oran on 8 April 1945. A total of 382 ships sailed in 26 fast convoys, and none were lost.

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