Newfoundland Escort Force

The Newfoundland Escort Force was an Allied formation of escort ships during the Battle of the Atlantic. Created in 1941, the force consisted of ships from the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and United States Navy under the command of Commodore Leonard W. Murray (RCN).

In June 1941, the British decided to provide convoy escort for the full length of the North Atlantic crossing. To this end, the Admiralty on 23 May 1941 asked the Royal Canadian Navy to assume the responsibility for protecting convoys in the western zone and to establish the base for its escort force at St. John's, Newfoundland. On 13 June 1941 Commodore Leonard W. Murray assumed his post as Commodore Commanding Newfoundland Escort Force, under the overall authority of the Commander in Chief, Western Approaches, at Liverpool. Six Canadian destroyers and 17 corvettes, reinforced by seven destroyers, three sloops and five corvettes of the Royal Navy, were assembled for duty in the force, which escorted the convoys from Canadian ports to Newfoundland and then on to a meeting point south of Iceland, where the British escort groups took over.

In February 1942 the NEF was re-organized as the Mid-Ocean Escort Force.

References

• Veterans Affairs Canada: The Battle of the Atlantic
• Museum of Civilization: Canada and Submarine Warfare