Convoy PQ-17

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.

On the northern route, losses to German aircraft and U-boats had been increasing. In May PQ-16 had lost seven ships, but PQ-17 was the largest and most valuable convoy to date with military equipment valued at over $700 million at that time. There was some argument to postpone the convoy until the autumn or winter but political considerations over-ruled the caution and the convoy departed on June 27, 1942.

The merchant ships and escorts had assembled at Hvalfjordur, Iceland and were bound for Murmansk. The 35 merchantmen and the escorts included four destroyers, ten corvettes or armed trawlers, two anti-aircraft auxiliaries and also five cruisers in a more distant anti-submarine role. As further protection the convoy was to be tracked at about 200 miles by the Home Fleet battleships HMS Duke of York and USS Washington, two cruisers, eight destroyers, and the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious until it was past North Cape. The route took the convoy close to Svalbard, north of Bjørnøya, and skirted the edge of the ice pack before turning south and following the coast of Novaya Zemlya before turning south-west across the Barents Sea and entering the White Sea, turning almost due south.

One ship suffered mechanical failure just out of port and was forced to turn back, another turned back after ice damage. The convoy was sighted and tracked by U 456 shortly after it entered the open sea, this was augmented by Luftwaffe BV 138s from July 1. The Luftwaffe began its attacks during the evening of the next day. The first losses were not until July 4 when two ships were lost.

On the night of the 4th the Admiralty received intelligence that German capital ships, including Tirpitz and Prinz Eugen had left Trondheim to intercept the convoy. First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound, after agonising for several hours eventually made the fateful decision to scatter the convoy, reasoning that Tirpitz with its high speed and 15 inch (380mm) guns would be capable of inflicting massive losses on the closely bunched merchant ships. Tirpitz and her escorts were not in fact heading for the convoy, the movement was merely a change of berth. The British intelligence services became aware of this, but Pound sent the order to scatter nevertheless. Pound was at that time operating under enormous stress and suffering from the final stages of the brain tumour that would lead to his death in 1943.

Tirpitz was ordered to sea the following day, but following reports of the successes of the Luftwaffe and U-boats she was soon ordered back to port. Meanwhile, with the majority of the escorts ordered to return to Scapa Flow, leaving only the anti-aircraft auxiliary and a few armed trawlers, the scattered merchant ships were easy prey for U-boats and aircraft. Twelve vessels were lost, six sunk by the Luftwaffe and four different U-boats sunk the remaining six.

On July 6 two more ships were sunk, one by the Luftwaffe and one by U 255. On July 7-8 five more ships were sunk, two by U 255. The remaining escort vessels withdrew into the Arctic Ocean on July 9 but the merchant ships suffered no more that day. The last losses were two vessels on July 10. The Luftwaffe had flown 202 sorties against the convoy.

Two of the surviving ships made port at Archangel on July 10, another nine arrived there or at Murmansk over the following week. 142,500 tons of shipping had been sunk and 153 merchant men had perished, material losses included 3,350 motor vehicles 200 bombers, 430 tanks and around 93,316 tons of other cargo. One of the surviving ships was sunk on the return journey, she was the fifth victim of U 255. Overall a failure.

Despite Soviet protests the sailing of PQ-18 was postponed until September. Despite having over fifty escorts, sixteen ships were sunk and all future convoys were suspended until the darkness of winter. PQ-19/JW-51 sailed in December 1942.

References

• David Irving: Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, St. Martins Mass Market Paper, ISBN 0312911521