Operation FWM

'FWM' was the designation of Allied unescorted military convoys (together with a numerical and sometimes a literal suffix) of vessels returning from France to the Isle of Wight empty after delivering motor transport for 'Overlord' and the campaign in the Normandy lodgement, and as such reciprocals of the 'EWM' series (June/July 1944).

The first of these 'France to the Isle of Wight Military' convoys was FWM.1 of 10/11 June 1944 from the Seine Bay to the Solent with the 7,176-ton US Abiel Foster, 7,176-ton US Amos G. Throop, 7,198-ton US Charles C. Jones, 7,176-ton US Charles D. Poston, 7,176-ton US Clinton Kelly, 7,177-ton US Collis P. Huntington, 7,176-ton US US Enoch Train, 7,176-ton US Eugene G. O’Donnell, Hellas, 7,210-ton US Henry W. Grady, 7,176-ton US John Steele, 7,176-ton US Joshua B. Lippincott, 878-ton Dutch Starkenborgh, 632-ton British Wallace Rose and 7,176-ton US Webb Miller.

The last was FWM.22 of 7/8 September 1944 from the Seine Bay to Southampton with the 449-ton British Beechfield, Julia, 459-ton British Kentish Coast, 7,200-ton US Pearl Harbor, 7,176-ton US Thomas J. Jarvis and 483-ton British Ulster Hero.