Re: SS Winston-Salem Convoy PQ17
Hi Brian
After returning to the UK with convoy QP-14 the WINSTON-SALEM was in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for a month of repairs and then remained in the Clyde to be loaded and sent to North Africa on 21 January 1943 - eventually arriving back in the US when arriving in New York on 1 April 1943. The crew list made on this occasion shows that William Lovgren was still her master and signed off at New York with the rest of the crew that had made the voyage to North Russia.
So I doubt that Lovgren had returned to the US earlier, but his illness could be the reason why WINSTON-SALEM did not return to the US like the other US merchant ships did that returned from North Russia in convoy QP-14. Maybe a report from the Assistant Naval Attache Capt. Samuel B. Frankel exists somewhere about the whole episode, as he accompanied the Russian vessels to Moller Bay to salvage WINSTON-SALEM.
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