Mid-Ocean Meeting Point

In the First and Second World Wars merchant ships of the Allies on the Atlantic sailed grouped into convoys to protect them better against enemy attacks.

Anti-submarine escorts initially accompanied convoys only in the vicinity of the British Isles; while a battleship, cruiser, or armed merchant cruiser would accompany the convoy through the central ocean to defend against pocket battleships or merchant raiders.

[1] As Axis submarines patrolled further from coastal Europe, it became difficult for short-range anti-submarine escorts to accompany a convoy through the entire danger zone and advantageous to designate segments of the route for a relay of escorts to accompany the convoy over individual segments.

Some segments began or ended close to naval bases where the escorts could easily locate an assigned convoy.

[4] After the United States declared war the United States Navy suggested moving the convoy route south to shorten the distance between Newfoundland and the British Isles so one escort group of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force could accompany the convoy the entire distance from WOMP to EOMP.