The feared German battleship Tirpitz, sistership to the Bismarck, in A/ten Fjord, in midsummer 1942 . Her presence prompted the withdrawal of Convoy PQ-1 7' s cruiser escort.
and Trondheim. About one-third of the boats were in operation at any one time; the other two-thirds were refitting or proceeding to and from the operation theatre. They could get fuel and torpedoes and very limited repair facilities in Kirkenes and Narvik. To put the PQ convoy operation in its proper context, it may be useful to look briefly at the military situation in the summer of 1942. Although losing the aerial Battle of Britain in the late summerof 1940, Hitler had strengthened his strategic position by establishing U-boat and Luftwaffe bases on the Atlantic coast of France and the Norwegian fjords on the North Sea, which greatly improved Germany 's access to North Atlantic sea lanes. Then, in the summer of 1941 , Hitler decided to invade Russia.
hazardous. In addition to threats from Uboats and warplanes, the convoys were subject to bitterly cold temperatures and Arctic ice fields. During the continuous darkness of winter months, there was a risk of collisions in convoys. In the continuous daylight of summer months, the convoys were subject to detection and attack 24 hours a day. In the early summer of 1942, Hitler ordered the German battleship Tirpitz and the cruisers Scheer and Hipper to Norwegian waters, posing a further threat not only to the convoys but also to their escort vessels. Finally, the tactical operation was further complicated by the fact that both sides were intercepting and decoding the other's radio transmissions, but neither
side knew the other was doing this. Sailing from Iceland on June 27, Convoy PQ-17 was escorted by six destroyers, two submarines, two anti-aircraft vessels and 11 tugs, trawlers and mine sweepers. Following to the westward , as a reserve force, were the US cruisers Wichita, Tuscaloosa, Wainwright and Rowan and the British cruisers Somali, No1folk and London. The fust few days were relatively uneventful for PQ-17, but on July 2, taking advantage of clearing weather, Luftwaffe planes attacked and sank two US vessels-the Liberty Ship Christopher Newport and the tanker Pan Kraft. Real disaster struck on American Independence Day, when U-boats and German aircraft began coordinated attacks. Meanwhile, there had been a disastrous development at the British Admiralty in London. A radio dispatch had been received reporting that the German ships Tirpitz, Hipper and Scheer, accompanied by six destroyers, had sai led from Alten Fjord in Norway and were heading north to intercept the convoy. First Sea Lord Admiral Dudley Pound was faced with a momentous decisionwhether to risk his cruiser force against the powerful Tirpitz or to order a withdrawal. At 10: 15PM on July 4, the fateful decision was made: the cruiser force was ordered to withdraw to the west, and the merchant ships were directed to "scatter and proceed independently to destinations." Destroyer escort commander Captain Broome later recalled relaying the
MERCK.ANT SHIPS SUNK BY U· BOATS
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France had been knocked out,
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and Britain had only limited re- • ••"""""""" sources-resources de sperately needed to fight Italian armies in North Africa. But Winston Churchill saw the advantages of ROUTE _ _..Q) supporting Russia in order to keep German forces tied down on the Eastern Front. He even made a S E A BARE N TS secret trip to Moscow and promP1t1All1nuc L.. ---..__ ised Stalin thatBritain would share S11nk6/I Julr her limited armaments. The logistics of delivery were extremely difficult. One option involved a long sea voyage around ..: the southern tip of Africa, then 0 0 northward through the Indian "' ' z Ocean and Persian Gulf, from ~T ~ / j_....j:E t AM O/ as which supplies had to be trucked v , ~ I over mountainous roads to RusFINLAND j ~ sian Army bases. The Arctic route / RUSSIA ~ SWE DEN was much shorter but far more ~--------'--------''-·--------=---'--'---'--------' 8 OF ~ P-0 - -. 17
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SEA HISTORY 62, SUMMER 1992
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