Convoy PQ 18 order of battle
Convoy PQ 18 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Arctic Convoys of the Second World War | |||||||
A depth-charge explosion near Convoy PQ 18 | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom United States Soviet Union | Germany | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Robert Burnett | Rolf Carls | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
40 merchant ships 40–50 escorts (in relays) 2 submarines 1 escort carrier (12 fighters, 3 reconnaissance aircraft) |
12 U-boats 92 torpedo-bombers 120 bombers long-range reconnaissance aircraft | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
550+ survivors rescued 13 merchant ships 4 Sea Hurricane fighters | 4 U-boats, 22–44 aircraft | ||||||
A Sea Hurricane was washed overboard |
Convoy PQ 18 (2–21 September 1942) was an Arctic convoy of forty Allied freighters from Scotland and Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The convoy departed Loch Ewe, Scotland on 2 September 1942, rendezvoused with more ships and escorts at Iceland and arrived at Arkhangelsk on 21 September. An exceptionally large number of escorts were provided by the Royal Navy in Operation EV, including the first escort carrier to accompany an Arctic convoy. Detailed information on German intentions was provided by the code breakers at Bletchley Park and elsewhere, through Ultra signals decrypts and eavesdropping on Luftwaffe wireless communications. [1] The German B-Dienst code-breakers read some British signals and the Luftwaffe used the lull in convoys after Convoy PQ 17 (27 June – 10 July) to prepare a maximum effort with the Kriegsmarine.[2]
From 12 to 21 September Convoy PQ 18 was attacked by bombers, torpedo-bombers, U-boats and mines, which sank thirteen ships at a cost of forty-four aircraft and four U-boats. The convoy was defended by escort ships and the aircraft of the escort carrier HMS Avenger which used signals intelligence gleaned from Ultra and Luftwaffe wireless frequencies to provide early warning of some air attacks and to attempt evasive routeing of the convoy around concentrations of U-boats. United States Navy Armed Guard and British Naval and Royal Artillery Maritime Regiment gunners were embarked on the freighters to operate anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons, which made air attacks more difficult and because of inexperience, occasionally wounded men and damaged ships and cargo, with wild shooting.[3][4][5]
The convoy handed over its distant escorts and Avenger to the homeward bound Convoy QP 14 near Archangelsk on 16 September and continued with the close escort and local escorts, riding out a storm in the Northern Dvina estuary and the last attacks by the Luftwaffe, before reaching Archangelsk on 21 September. Several ships ran aground in the storm but all were eventually refloated; unloading the convoy took a month. Because of its losses and the transfer in November of its most effective remaining aircraft to the Mediterranean to oppose Operation Torch, the Luftwaffe effort could never be repeated.[6]
Aftermath
[edit]Analysis
[edit]In the official history (1956 [1962]) Stephen Roskill called Convoy PQ 18 an Allied success. The convoy operation brought 28 ships safely to their destinations and the Arctic convoy route, which had been suspended since the loss of Convoy PQ 17, was open again.[7] In 2001, Werner Rahn wrote that the Seekriegsleitung (SKL, Naval War Staff) had called the results "dearly bought and unsatisfactory".[8] In 2004, Richard Woodman referred to Convoy PQ 18 as a Pyrrhic victory.[9] The Luftwaffe torpedo-bomber attacks, while costly, had been highly effective and would have inflicted more losses had not the British Headache operators not given early warning of some attacks, which enabled Sea Hurricanes to be scrambled in time.[10] The Germans failed to prevent the convoy reaching Russia and their losses, particularly in trained pilots, were severe, reducing the ability of the Luftwaffe to repeat its anti-convoy operation. Attacks on Avenger had been defeated and the depth of the escort screen made torpedo attacks on the centre of the convoy extravagantly risky.[9] Coastal Command operations in support of Convoy PQ 18 and the returning convoy QP 14, involved 111 aircraft from 14 squadrons, which flew 279 sorties and logged 2,290 flying hours, most being taken up by the fights to and from the convoy.[11] In November, Luftflotte 5, the German air command in Norway and Finland, was ordered to transfer its Ju 88 and He 111 torpedo-bombers to the Mediterranean against Operation Torch, a decision which the British received through Ultra intercepts. Only the Heinkel 115 floatplanes, suitable for torpedo attacks on stragglers and some Ju 87 dive-bombers remained in Norway, along with a few long-range reconnaissance aircraft to observe for the surface and U-boat forces.[12]
Casualties
[edit]Roskill in 1962 and Woodman in 2004 wrote that the Germans managed to sink thirteen merchant ships for a loss of four U-boats and 44 aircraft, 38 torpedo-bombers and six long-range bombers and reconnaissance aircraft.[13] Michael Howard, in 1972, recorded that the Allies lost 38 aircraft from 309, 126 tanks from 448 and 85 of the 106 lorries carried in the convoy. Convoy PQ 19 was assembled at Loch Ewe but not dispatched, a net loss to the Allied war effort.[14]
Allied ships in convoy
[edit]Convoy, Loch Ewe to Archangel
[edit]Name | Year | Flag | GRT | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
SS Africander | 1921 | Panama | 5,441 | Sunk in air attack |
MV Atheltemplar | 1930 | United Kingdom | 8,992 | Damaged by U-457 Sunk by U-408, 16 casualties |
SS Beauregard | United States | 5,976 | Engine trouble, returned Loch Ewe[16] | |
RFA Black Ranger | 1941 | Royal Navy | 3,417 | Fleet oiler |
SS Campfire | 1919 | United States | 5,671 | |
SS Charles R. McCormick | 1920 | United States | 6,027 | |
SS Copeland | 1923 | United Kingdom | 1,526 | Rescue ship |
SS Dan-y-Bryn | 1940 | United Kingdom | 5,117 | Vice-Convoy Commodore |
SS Empire Baffin | 1941 | United Kingdom | 6,978 | |
SS Empire Beaumont | 1942 | United Kingdom | 7,044 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Empire Morn | 1941 | United Kingdom | 7,092 | CAM ship |
SS Empire Snow | 1941 | United Kingdom | 6,327 | |
SS Empire Stevenson | 1941 | United Kingdom | 6,209 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Empire Tristram | 1942 | United Kingdom | 7,167 | |
SS Esek Hopkins | 1942 | United States | 7,191 | |
SS Goolistan | 1929 | United Kingdom | 5,851 | |
RFA Gray Ranger | 1941 | Royal Navy | 3,313 | Fleet oiler |
SS Hollywood | 1920 | United States | 5,498 | |
SS John Penn | 1942 | United States | 7,177 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Kentucky | 1921 | United States | 5,446 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Lafayette | 1919 | United States | 5,887 | |
SS Macbeth | 1920 | Panama | 4,941 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Mary Luckenbach | 1919 | United States | 5,049 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Meanticut | 1921 | United States | 6,061 | |
SS Nathanael Greene | 1942 | United States | 7,177 | |
SS Ocean Faith | 1942 | United Kingdom | 7,174 | |
RFA Oligarch | 1918 | Royal Navy | 6,894 | Fleet oiler Joined from Spitzbergen group[15] |
SS Oliver Ellsworth | 1942 | United States | 7,191 | Sunk by U-408 1 casualty |
SS Oregonian | 1917 | United States | 4,862 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Patrick Henry | 1941 | United States | 7,191 | |
SS Sahale | 1919 | United States | 5,028 | |
SS Schoharie | 1919 | United States | 4,971 | |
SS St. Olaf | 1942 | United States | 7,191 | |
SS Temple Arch | 1940 | United Kingdom | 5,138 | Flagship Convoy Commodore E. K. Boddam-Whetham |
SS Virginia Dare | 1942 | United States | 7,177 | |
SS Wacosta | 1920 | United States | 5,432 | Sunk in air attack |
SS White Clover | 1920 | Panama | 5,462 | |
SS William Moultrie | 1942 | United States | 7,177 | |
MMS 90 | — | Royal Navy | — | 7–21 September 1942, MMS-class minesweeper rescue ship[17] |
MMS 203 | — | Royal Navy | — | 7–21 September 1942, MMS-class minesweeper rescue ship[17] |
MMS 212 | — | Royal Navy | — | 7–21 September 1942, MMS-class minesweeper rescue ship[17] |
Convoy, Loch Ewe to Reykjavík
[edit]Name | Year | Flag | GRT | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
SS Gateway City | 1920 | United States | 5,432 | Loch Ewe to Reykjavík only |
SS Oremar | 1919 | United States | 6,854 | |
SS San Zotico | 1919 | United Kingdom | 5,582 |
Convoy, Reykjavík to Arkhangelsk
[edit]Name | Year | Flag | GRT | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
SS Andre Marti | 1918 | Soviet Union | 2,352 | Joined from Reykjavík |
SS Exford | 1919 | United States | 4,969 | |
SS Komiles | 1932 | Soviet Union | 3,966 | |
SS Petrovski | 1921 | Soviet Union | 3,771 | |
SS Richard Bassett | 1942 | United States | 7,191 | Joined from, returned to, Reykjavík (engine trouble)[19] |
SS Stalingrad | 1931 | Soviet Union | 3,559 | Joined from Reykjavík, sunk by U-408, 21 casualties |
SS Sukhona | 1918 | Soviet Union | 3,124 | Sunk in air attack |
SS Tbilisi | 1912 | Soviet Union | 7,169 |
Convoy formation
[edit]column 1 | column 2 | column 3 | column 4 | column 5 | column 6 | column 7 | column 8 | column 9 | column 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11 Empire Baffin |
21 Komiles |
31 Empire Snow |
41 Empire Beaumont* |
51 Empire Tristram |
61 Temple Arch |
71 Ocean Faith |
81 Dan-Y-Bryn |
91 Empire Stevenson* |
101 Oregonian* |
12 Kentucky* |
22 Petrovski |
32 St Olaf |
42 Patrick Henry |
52 Sahale |
62 Lafayette |
72 Nathaniel Greene |
82 Virginia Dare |
92 Wacosta* |
102 Macbeth* |
13 Charles R McCormick |
23 White Clover |
33 Exford |
43 Esek Hopkins |
53 Empire Morn |
63 Campfire |
73 John Penn* |
83 William Moultrie |
93 Mary Luckenbach* |
103 Stalingrad* |
14 Andre Marti |
24 — |
34 Hollywood |
44 Meanticut |
54 Black Ranger |
64 Schoharie |
74 Goolistan |
84 — |
94 Africander* |
104 Sukhona* |
15 Copeland |
25 — |
35 — |
45 Atheltemplar* |
55 — |
65 Gray Ranger |
75 Tblisi |
85 — |
95 — |
105 Oliver Ellsworth* |
The Motor Minesweepers MMS 90, MMS 203 and MMS 212 were on transit to the Soviet Northern Fleet and were to act as rescue ships en route, receiving no position number.[15]
Operation EV
[edit]Escorts, Loch Ewe to Iceland
[edit]Name | Class | Navy | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
HMS Campbell | Scott-class destroyer leader | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | Joined Heavy Cover Force |
HNoMS Eskdale | Type III Hunt-class destroyer | Royal Norwegian Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | |
HMS Farndale | Type II Hunt-class destroyer | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 19422 | |
HMS Mackay | Scott-class destroyer leader | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | Joined Heavy Cover Force |
HMS Montrose | Scott-class destroyer leader | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | Joined Heavy Cover Force |
HMS Echo | E-class destroyer | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | |
HMS Walpole | W-class destroyer | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | |
HMT Arab | A/S trawler | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | To Reykjavík as escort |
HMT Duncton | A/S trawler | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | |
HMT Hugh Walpole | A/S trawler | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | |
HMT King Sol | A/S trawler | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 | |
HMT Paynter | A/S trawler | Royal Navy | 2–8 September 1942 |
Escorts, Iceland to Archangelsk
[edit]Carrier group
[edit]Name | Navy | Class | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
HMS Avenger | Royal Navy | Escort carrier | 9–17 September 1942 | |
HMS Wheatland | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 9–17 September 1942 | |
HMS Wilton | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 9–17 September 1942 |
Fighting Destroyer Escort
[edit]Eastern Local Escort
[edit]Name | Flag | Class | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gremyashchi | Soviet Navy | Gnevny-class destroyer | 17–22 September 1942 | |
Kuibishev | Soviet Navy | Orfey-class destroyer | 17–22 September 1942 | |
Sokrushitelny | Soviet Navy | Gnevny-class destroyer | 17–22 September 1942 | |
Uritski | Soviet Navy | Orfey-class destroyer | 17–22 September 1942 | |
HMS Halcyon | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 17–22 September 1942 | |
HMS Hazard | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 17–22 September 1942 | |
HMS Salamander | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 17–22 September 1942 | |
HMS Britomart | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 17–22 September 1942 |
Cruiser Covering Force
[edit]Name | Flag | Class | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
HMS London | Royal Navy | County-class cruiser | 14–22 September 1942 | |
HMS Norfolk | Royal Navy | County-class cruiser | 14–22 September 1942 | Flagship Vice-Admiral Stuart Bonham Carter |
HMS Suffolk | Royal Navy | County-class cruiser | 14–22 September 1942 | |
HMS Bulldog | Royal Navy | B-class destroyer | 14–22 September 1942 | |
HMS Venomous | Royal Navy | W-class destroyer | 14–22 September 1942 |
Distant cover
[edit]Name | Flag | Class | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
HMS Anson | Royal Navy | King George V-class battleship | 11–14 September 1942 | Flagship, Vice-Admiral Bruce Fraser |
HMS Duke of York | Royal Navy | King George V-class battleship | 11–14 September 1942 | |
HMS Jamaica | Royal Navy | Fiji-class cruiser | 11–14 September 1942 | |
HMS Keppel | Royal Navy | Thornycroft type destroyer leader | 11–14 September 1942 | Commander Jack Broome |
HMS Montrose | Royal Navy | Scott-class destroyer leader | 11–14 September 1942 | Joined from local escort group |
HMS Campbell | Royal Navy | Scott-class destroyer leader | 11–14 September 1942 | Joined from local escort group |
HMS Mackay | Royal Navy | Scott-class destroyer leader | 11–14 September 1942 | Joined from local escort group |
HMS Bramham | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 11–14 September 1942 | |
HMS Broke | Royal Navy | Thornycroft type destroyer leader | 11–14 September 1942 |
Spitzbergen fuelling base
[edit]Name | Flag | Class | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
RFA Blue Ranger | Royal Navy | Oiler | 10 September 1942 | |
RFA Oligarch | Royal Navy | Oiler | 10 September 1942 | |
HMS Oakley | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 10 September 1942 | |
HMS Cowdray | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 10 September 1942 | |
HMS Worcester | Royal Navy | Modified W-class destroyer | 10 September 1942 | |
HMS Windsor | Royal Navy | Modified W-class destroyer | 10 September 1942 |
Operation Gearbox II
[edit]Name | Flag | Class | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
HMS Cumberland | Royal Navy | County-class cruiser | 14 September 1942 | |
HMS Sheffield | Royal Navy | Town-class cruiser | 14 September 1942 | |
HMS Eclipse | Royal Navy | E-class destroyer | 14 September 1942 |
Submarine patrols
[edit]RAF
[edit]Sqn | Type | No. | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
144 Squadron RAF | Hampden | 16 | torpedo-bomber | 6 lost in transit 4–5 September 1942 |
455 Squadron RAAF | Hampden | 16 | torpedo-bomber | 3 lost in transit 4–5 September 1942 |
210 Squadron RAF | Catalina | 9 | Reconnaissance/ASW | No losses |
1 PRU | Spitfire PR Mk IV(D) | 3 | Reconnaissance | 1 written off 9 September, 1 shot down 27 September |
Axis order of battle
[edit]Luftwaffe
[edit]Unit | Type | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
I./Kampfgeschwader 26 | Heinkel He 111 | Torpedo-bomber | |
III./Kampfgeschwader 26 | Heinkel He 111 | Torpedo-bomber | |
Kampfgeschwader 30 | Junkers Ju 88 | Bomber | |
1./Kampfgeschwader 40 | Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor | Long-range reconnaissance | |
Küstenfliegergruppe 406 | Blohm & Voss BV 138 | Coastal reconnaissance | Diverted to weather reconnaissance[25] |
Küstenfliegergruppe 906 | Blohm & Voss BV 138 | Coastal reconnaissance | Diverted to weather reconnaissance[25] |
U-boats
[edit]Surface ships
[edit]Notes
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Hinsley 1994, pp. 141, 145–146.
- ^ Kahn 1973, pp. 238–241; Budiansky 2000, pp. 250, 289.
- ^ Woodman 2004, pp. 264–272.
- ^ Roskill 1962, pp. 282–283.
- ^ a b Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 196.
- ^ Woodman 2004, pp. 273–282.
- ^ Roskill 1962, p. 287.
- ^ Rahn 2001, p. 456.
- ^ a b Woodman 2004, p. 283.
- ^ Hinsley 1994, p. 156.
- ^ Richards & Saunders 1975, p. 85.
- ^ PRO 2001, p. 115.
- ^ Woodman 2004, p. 280; Roskill 1962, p. 287.
- ^ Howard 1972, p. 42.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Ruegg & Hague 1993, p. 43.
- ^ Smith 1975, p. 32.
- ^ a b c Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 193.
- ^ a b Ruegg & Hague 1993, p. 42.
- ^ Smith 1975, p. 37.
- ^ Ruegg & Hague 1993, p. 43; Hague 2000, pp. 190–191.
- ^ a b Smith 1975, p. 213.
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, pp. 193–194.
- ^ Schofield & Nesbit 1987, p. 195; Richards & Saunders 1975, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Claasen 2001, pp. 193, 200.
- ^ a b Kington & Selinger 2006, p. 181.
- ^ Blair 2000, pp. 20–21, 250, 268.
- ^ Smith 1975, p. 50.
- ^ a b c Blair 2000, p. 20.
- ^ Smith 1975, pp. 150–151.
- ^ Smith 1975, pp. 132–134.
- ^ Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 195.
References
[edit]- Blair, Clay (2000) [1998]. Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. Vol. II (UK pbk. ed.). Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35261-6.
- Boog, H.; Rahn, W.; Stumpf, R.; Wegner, B. (2001) [1990]. Der globale Krieg: Die Ausweitung zum Weltkrieg und der Wechsel zur Initiative 1941 bis 1943 [Widening of the Conflict into a World War and the Shift of the Initiative 1941–1943]. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg (Germany and the Second World War). Vol. VI. Translated by Osers, Ewald; Brownjohn, John; Crampton, Patricia; Willmot, Louise (eng. trans. Cambridge University Press, London ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt for the Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt. ISBN 0-19-822888-0.
- Rahn, W. "PART III The War at Sea in the Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean IV. Operations on the Northern Flank of Europe". In Boog et al. (2001).
- Budiansky, S. (2000). Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II. New York: The Free Press (Simon & Schuster). ISBN 0-684-85932-7 – via Archive Foundation.
- Claasen, A. R. A. (2001). Hitler's Northern War: The Luftwaffe's Ill-fated Campaign, 1940–1945. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1050-2.
- Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. London: Chatham. ISBN 978-1-55125-033-5.
- Hinsley, F. H. (1994) [1993]. British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations. History of the Second World War (2nd rev. abr. ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-0-11-630961-7.
- Howard, M. (1972). Grand Strategy: August 1942 – September 1943. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. IV. London: HMSO. ISBN 978-0-11-630075-1.
- Kahn, D. (1973) [1967]. The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing (10th abr. Signet, Chicago ed.). New York: Macmillan. LCCN 63-16109. OCLC 78083316.
- Kington, J. A.; Selinger, F. (2006). Wekusta: Luftwaffe Meteorological Reconnaissance Units & Operations 1938–1945. Ottringham: Flight Recorder Publications. ISBN 978-0-9545605-8-4.
- Richards, Denis; Saunders, H. St G. (1975) [1954]. Royal Air Force 1939–1945: The Fight Avails. History of the Second World War, Military Series. Vol. II (pbk. ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-0-11-771593-6 – via Hyperwar.
- Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972]. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-257-7.
- Roskill, S. W. (1962) [1956]. The Period of Balance. History of the Second World War: The War at Sea 1939–1945. Vol. II (3rd impr. ed.). London: HMSO. OCLC 174453986 – via Hyperwar.
- Ruegg, R.; Hague, A. (1993) [1992]. Convoys to Russia: Allied Convoys and Naval Surface Operations in Arctic Waters 1941–1945 (2nd rev. enl. ed.). Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-66-5.
- Schofield, Ernest; Nesbit, Roy Conyers (1987). Arctic Airmen: The RAF in Spitsbergen and North Russia 1942. London: W. Kimber. ISBN 978-0-7183-0660-1.
- Smith, Peter (1975). Convoy PQ18: Arctic Victory. London: William Kimber. ISBN 978-0-7183-0074-6.
- The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force (repr. Public Record Office War Histories ed.). Richmond, Surrey: Air Ministry. 2001 [1948]. ISBN 978-1-903365-30-4. Air 41/10.
- Woodman, Richard (2004) [1994]. Arctic Convoys 1941–1945. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-5752-1.
Further reading
[edit]- Llewellyn-Jones, Malcolm, ed. (2014) [2007]. The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys: A Naval Staff History. Naval Staff Histories. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-86177-9.