The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United States and the United Kingdom to the northern ports of the Soviet Union - Archangel and Murmansk. The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border The Arctic is the area around the Earths North Pole. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... Arkhangelsk (Russian: ), formerly called Archangel in English, is a city in and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. ... Murmansk, Archangelsk, Dikson, Tiksi, on the Arctic Ocean Murmansk coin Murmansk (Му́рманск) is a city in the extreme northwest of Russia (north of the Arctic circle) with a seaport on the Kola Gulf, 20 miles from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia...

Convoys

There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945 (although there were two gaps with no sailings between July and September 1942, and March and November 1943). At first, the convoys sailed from Iceland but after September 1942 they assembled and sailed from Loch Ewe in Scotland. The route was around occupied Norway to the Soviet ports and was particularly dangerous due to the proximity of German air, submarine and surface forces and also because of the severe weather. A convoy is a group of vehicles or ships traveling together for mutual support. ... Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ...

Each convoy had two name-number identifiers: PQ <number> or JW <number> for the journey to Russia, and QP <number> or RA <number> for the return journey.

Four particular convoys are notable:

• On 30 May, 1942, the surviving ships Convoy PQ-16 arrives, most ships to Murmansk and 8 ships to Archangel, the convoy was such a success in terms of the War Stores delivered that the Germans made greater efforts to disrupt the following convoys. the Heavy Lift Ships from PQ17 including Empire Elgar stayed at Archangel and Moltovosk unloading convoys for over 14 months
• In July 1942, convoy Convoy PQ-17 was ordered to scatter following reports that German battleships and cruisers had sailed to intercept the convoy. However, although the German ships were part of Rösselsprung, they were merely changing port and abandoned their sortie the morning after the dispersal order was given. Only 11 of the 36 merchant ships in the convoy succeeded in running the gauntlet of U-boats and German bombers.
• The Battle of the Barents Sea: In December 1942, German surface forces, including the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and pocket battleship Lützow sailed to intercept convoy JW51B. The German force was driven off by a combined force of destroyers and cruisers.
• The Battle of the North Cape: In December 1943, convoy JW55B was attacked by the Scharnhorst. HMS Duke of York and her escorts sank the battlecruiser in a night action.

Artic Convoy PQ16 supported the Allied war effort of World War II In the winter and spring of 1942, Roosevelt and Stalin, continually pressed for more convoys to Russia, to deliver War Stores to help them sustain their fight against the Germans, despite the knowledge that the naval forces were... PQ-17 was a World War II convoy carrying war materiel from Britain and the USA to the USSR. PQ-17 sailed in June-July 1942 and suffered the heaviest losses of any Russia-bound (PQ) convoy, with 25 vessels out of 36 lost to enemy action. ... PQ-17 was a World War II convoy carrying war materiel from Britain and the USA to the USSR. PQ-17 sailed in June-July 1942 and suffered the heaviest losses of any Russia-bound (PQ) convoy, with 25 vessels out of 36 lost to enemy action. ... Sortie is a term for deployment of one military aircraft or a ship for the purposes of a specific mission, whether alone, or with other aircraft or vessels. ... Cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship that carries goods and materials from one port to another. ... U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ... The Battle of the Barents Sea took place on December 31, 1942 between British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR, and German surface raiders. ... A heavy cruiser is a type of large warship which originated with the British Hawkins class during World War I. They entered service after the war. ... The German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper fought as part of the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was named after Admiral Ritter von Hipper, commander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and later commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet. ... Pocket battleship is an English language term for a class of warships built by German Reichsmarine in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. ... ... USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer (French: contre-torpilleur, German: Zerstörer, Spanish: destructor, Italian: cacciatorpediniere) is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers... USS Port Royal, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, launched in 1994. ... The Battle of the North Cape was a naval battle of World War II, fought on December 26, 1943 off North Cape at the north of Norway between the German Kriegsmarine and the British Royal Navy. ... Scharnhorst was a 31,500 tonne Gneisenau class battlecruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, named after the Prussian general and army reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst and to commemorate the World War I armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst. ... HMS Duke of York was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, and the second of the name, the predecessor having been a 4-gun cutter purchased in 1763 and sold in 1766. ...

Strategic Impact

As a result of early raids by destroyers on German coastal shipping and the Commando raid on Vaagso, Hitler was led to believe that the British intended to invade Norway again. This, together with the obvious need to stop convoy supplies reaching Soviet Russia, caused him to direct that heavier ships, centred on the battleship Tirpitz, be sent to Norway. The Channel Dash was partly undertaken for this reason. As a "fleet in being," Tirpitz and the other German capital ships tied down British resources which might have been better used elsewhere, for example combating commerce raiding in the Atlantic. The success of Gneisenau and Scharnhorst in 1941 had shown the potential German damage. However as the air gap over the North Atlantic closed, Huff-Duff (radio triangulation equipment) improved, airborne centimetric radar was introduced and convoys received escort carrier protection, the scope for commerce raiding diminished. Aside from an abortive attempt to interdict PQ12 in March 1942 and a raid on Spitzbergen in September 1943, Tirpitz was sent to spend most of World War II in Norwegian fjords. She was penned in and successively attacked until she was finally sunk in Tromsø fjord on 11 November 1944 by the RAF. The other Kriegsmarine capital ships never got to Norway (eg. Gneisenau), were chased off, or were sunk by superior forces (eg. Scharnhorst). In particular, the unsuccessful attack on convoy JW-51B (the Battle of the Barents Sea), where a strong German naval force failed to defeat a British escort of cruisers and destroyers, infuriated Hitler and led to the strategic change from surface raiders to submarines. Some capital ships were physically dismantled and armament used in coastal defences. The British Commandos were first formed by the Army in June 1940 during World War II as a well-armed but unregimented raider force employing unconventional and irregular tactics to assault, disrupt and reconnoitre the enemy in mainland Europe and Scandinavia. ... German battleship Tirpitz underway for her trials, 1941 Tirpitz was a battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, a sister ship to the German battleship Bismarck, and named for Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. ... Operation Cerberus (German: Zerberus) was the name given to the escape during World War II of the Kriegsmarines ships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen and a number of smaller ships from Brest to ports in Germany and Denmark via the English Channel. ... Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a naval strategy of attacking an opponents commercial shipping rather than contending for control of the seas with its naval forces. ... Gneisenau was a 31,100 ton Scharnhorst class battlecruiser of the German Kriegsmarine. ... High Frequency Direction Finder is usually known by its acronym HF/DF, pronounced Huff-Duff. ... A cavity magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates coherent microwaves. ... The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, was a small aircraft carrier developed by the U.S. Navy in the early part of World War II to deal with the U-boat crisis of the Battle of the Atlantic. ... Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, which is situated in the Arctic Ocean and administered by Norway. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... Fjord in Sunnmøre, Norway A fjord (or fiord) is a narrow inlet of the sea between cliffs or steep slopes, which results from marine inundation of a glaciated valley. ... County Troms District Municipality NO-1902 Administrative centre Tromsø Mayor (2004) Herman Kristoffersen (Ap) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 18 2,566 km² 2,519 km² 0. ... November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ... The Battle of the Barents Sea took place on December 31, 1942 between British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR, and German surface raiders. ...

The major change to naval dispositions on both sides that came about as a result of the Arctic convoys arguably had a major impact on the course of events in other theatres of war.

Role of intelligence

ULTRA intelligence gained from the cracking of the Enigma code at Bletchley Park played an important part in the eventual success of these convoys. Pre-emptive action was not always possible, but the intelligence did allow the Royal Navy to prepare for battle and convoys could be given appropriate escorting forces. Ultra (sometimes capitalized ULTRA) was the name used by the British for intelligence resulting from decryption of German communications in World War II. The term eventually became the standard designation in both Britain and the United States for all intelligence from high-level cryptanalytic sources. ... In the history of cryptography, the Enigma was a portable cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. ... During World War II, British and American cryptographers at Bletchley Park broke a large number of Axis codes and ciphers, including the German Enigma machine. ...

Summary

In summary, about 1400 merchant ships delivered vital supplies to Soviet Union. 85 merchant vessels and 16 Royal Navy warships were lost. The Germans lost a number of vessels including one battleship and at least 30 U-boats as well as a large number of aircraft. Towards the end of the war the material significance of the supplies was probably not as great as the symbolic value hence the continuation - at Stalin's insistence - of these convoys long after the Soviets had turned the German land offensive. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services being the oldest of its three branches. ... (Russian: Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Ста́лин, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin; December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953), also spelled Josef Stalin, was the leader (Premier) of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet...

Literary Depictions

At least two well-known novels were written about the Arctic Convoys: in 1946 HMS Ulysses by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean, considered a classic of naval warfare literature in general, and in 1967 The Captain by Dutch author Jan de Hartog. HMS Ulysses was the first novel by British author Alistair Maclean, and ultimately, one of his most popular. ... Alistair Stuart MacLean (April 28, 1922 - February 2, 1987) was a Scottish novelist who wrote successful thrillers or adventure stories, the best known of which are perhaps The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare. ... The Captain is a 1967 novel by Dutch writer Jan de Hartog. ... Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic, Jan de Hartogs historical memorial The Hospital (1964), which exposed the horrid conditions of Houstons charity hospital in the 1960s, led to significant reforms of that citys indigent healthcare system. ...

The two books are very different from each other in style, characterisation and underlying philosophy (de Hartog was a Pacifist, which cannot be said about MacLean). Still, they both convey vividly the atmosphere of combined extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature, pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond. Pacifist may mean: an advocate of pacifism. ...

Both books are evidently inspired by the fate of Convoy PQ-17 , though not following its course in detail.

See also

• Rösselsprung ("Knights Move") — German naval campaign to sink Arctic convoys
• British military history
  • British military history of World War II

PQ-17 was a World War II convoy carrying war materiel from Britain and the USA to the USSR. PQ-17 sailed in June-July 1942 and suffered the heaviest losses of any Russia-bound (PQ) convoy, with 25 vessels out of 36 lost to enemy action. ... British military history is a long and varied topic, extending from the prehistoric and ancient historic period, through the Roman invasions of Julius Cæsar and Claudius and subsequent Roman occupation; warfare in the Mediaeval period, including the invasions of the Saxons and the Vikings in the Early Middle Ages... The United Kingdom, along with France, declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939 as part of the United Kingdoms pledge to defend Poland to the invasion of Poland. ...

External links

• MOD veterans' agency
• German account of Rösselsprung
• Soviet account on the war in Arctic and the convoys (by admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov)