CU convoys

The earliest convoys of the series were tankers sailing directly from petroleum refineries at Curaçao to the United Kingdom.

CU convoys were established as an emergency measure to maintain petroleum fuel reserves in the United Kingdom for continued strategic bombing of Europe following heavy tanker losses along the east coast of North America during the Second Happy Time.

Seventeen ballasted tankers departed from Liverpool on 15 February 1943 as convoy UC 1 with fifteen fast freighters, escorted by the modern American destroyers Madison, Lansdale, Hilary P. Jones, and Charles F. Hughes, and the British 42nd Escort Group: sloops Folkestone and Weston, River-class frigates Exe and Ness, Town-class destroyer Bradford, and Banff-class sloops Gorleston and Totland.

On 23 February, the 8882-ton Athelprincess was sunk by U-186, and U-202 sank the 7989-ton Esso Baton Rouge and damaged the 9811-ton Empire Norseman, 8482-ton British Fortitude, and 8252-ton Murena.

The surviving tankers arrived in Curaçao on 6 March and the freighters proceeded to South African and Indian Ocean destinations.

CU convoys were designed to protect fast, modern tankers like this mass-produced T2 : Hat Creek
Most of the CU and UC convoys were screened by an escort division (CortDiv) of six destroyer escorts like USS Peterson . [ 2 ] Peterson teamed with USS Joyce and USS Gandy to sink U-550 after the submarine torpedoed the tanker Pan-Pennsylvania from convoy CU 21. [ 3 ]