Convoy PQ 15
Encyclopedia
Convoy PQ 15 was an Arctic convoy
sent from Iceland
by the Western Allies
to aid the Soviet Union
during World War II
. It sailed in late April 1942, reaching the Soviet northern ports after air attacks that sank three ships. Twenty-two ships arrived safely.
consisted of 25 merchant ships and was accompanied by one auxiliary
, the oiler
Gray Ranger, which travelled with her own escort of destroyer
s.
The Close Escort was led by Commander
J. Crombie in the minesweeper
and consisted of two other minesweepers and four trawlers
, joined later by four destroyers and the antiaircraft ship HMS Ulster Queen.
There were two support groups: a Cruiser Cover Force led by Rear Admiral
H. M. Burrough in the light cruiser
, with the heavy cruiser
and two destroyers; and a Distant Covering Force led by Admiral John Tovey
, comprising the battleship
s and , (Rear Admiral
Robert C. Giffen
, USN, commanding), the aircraft carrier
, the heavy cruisers , and , the light cruiser , and 10 destroyers.
The convoy was also covered by a patrol of four submarine
s off Norway
, guarding against a sortie by German warships.
, Iceland, on 26 April 1942 with its local escort. This was joined on 28 April by the ocean escort, giving the convoy an immediate total escort of 12 warships.
German aircraft sighted the convoy on 28 April while it was 250 nautical mile
s (463 km) southwest of Bear Island. However no attack developed for two days as the attention of German forces focused on the reciprocal Convoy QP 11, which left Murmansk
in the Soviet Union on 28 April.
On 1 May the German Luftwaffe
made its first attack on PQ 15, by six Junkers Ju 88
s. The German bombers were unsuccessful, and losr one of their number.
Also on 1 May, the Distant Cover Force suffered two losses when King George V and the destroyer collided in fog. Punjabi sank and King George V was forced to return to port. Her place in the group was taken by the battleship , which steamed from Scapa Flow
to reinforce the task force
.
The escorts made an asdic contact on 2 May, which the destroyer and minesweeper attacked. The submarine was damaged and forced to the surface; it was found to be the Polish Jastrzab
, which was assigned to patrol off Norway but was some way out of position. Jastrzab was too badly damaged to continue and was abandoned and scuttled.
On 3 May at 0130 in the half light of the Arctic summer nights
, six Heinkel He 111
bombers of I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 26
, the Luftwaffes new torpedo bomber
force, attacked the convoy, making the first German torpedo bomber
attack of World War II. Three ships were hit. Two were sunk, and one was damaged and later sunk by the German submarine U-251. Two aircraft were shot down and a third damaged, which subsequently crashed. A further attack by German high-level bombers at dusk was unsuccessful.
Deteriorating weather on 4 May prevented any German further attacks; an Arctic
gale
quickly turning into a snowstorm. PQ 15 arrived at the Kola Inlet at 2100 on 5 May with no further losses.
convoy yet to arrive in the Soviet Union.
The convoy was regarded by the Allies as a success, although it gave them a taste of the difficulties to come on the Arctic convoy run.
Arctic convoys of World War II
The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
sent from Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
by the Western Allies
Western Allies
The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...
to aid the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It sailed in late April 1942, reaching the Soviet northern ports after air attacks that sank three ships. Twenty-two ships arrived safely.
Ships
The convoyConvoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
consisted of 25 merchant ships and was accompanied by one auxiliary
Auxiliary ship
An auxiliary ship is a naval ship which is designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliaries are not primary combatants, although they may have some limited combat capacity, usually of a self defensive nature.Auxiliaries are extremely...
, the oiler
Replenishment Oiler
A replenishment oiler or fleet tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds, which can replenish other ships while underway in the high seas. Such ships are used by several countries around the world....
Gray Ranger, which travelled with her own escort of destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s.
The Close Escort was led by Commander
Commander (Royal Navy)
Commander is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander...
J. Crombie in the minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
and consisted of two other minesweepers and four trawlers
Naval trawler
A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...
, joined later by four destroyers and the antiaircraft ship HMS Ulster Queen.
There were two support groups: a Cruiser Cover Force led by Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral (Royal Navy)
Rear Admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It is immediately superior to Commodore and is subordinate to Vice Admiral. It is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7....
H. M. Burrough in the light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
, with the heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
and two destroyers; and a Distant Covering Force led by Admiral John Tovey
John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey
Admiral of the Fleet John Cronyn "Jack" Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey GCB, KBE, DSO, DCL was a Royal Navy admiral who served in both World Wars. He signed himself as "Jack", not "John". Tovey joined the Royal Navy before World War I, and commanded destroyers in that war. He rose, with several senior...
, comprising the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s and , (Rear Admiral
Rear admiral (United States)
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...
Robert C. Giffen
Robert C. Giffen
-Birth to the beginning of World War I:Robert Carlisle Giffen was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on 29 June 1886. He attended the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana, before appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy from the State of Nebraska in 1903...
, USN, commanding), the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
, the heavy cruisers , and , the light cruiser , and 10 destroyers.
The convoy was also covered by a patrol of four submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s off Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, guarding against a sortie by German warships.
Action
PQ 15 sailed from ReykjavikReykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, Iceland, on 26 April 1942 with its local escort. This was joined on 28 April by the ocean escort, giving the convoy an immediate total escort of 12 warships.
German aircraft sighted the convoy on 28 April while it was 250 nautical mile
Nautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...
s (463 km) southwest of Bear Island. However no attack developed for two days as the attention of German forces focused on the reciprocal Convoy QP 11, which left Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
in the Soviet Union on 28 April.
On 1 May the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
made its first attack on PQ 15, by six Junkers Ju 88
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...
s. The German bombers were unsuccessful, and losr one of their number.
Also on 1 May, the Distant Cover Force suffered two losses when King George V and the destroyer collided in fog. Punjabi sank and King George V was forced to return to port. Her place in the group was taken by the battleship , which steamed from Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
to reinforce the task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
.
The escorts made an asdic contact on 2 May, which the destroyer and minesweeper attacked. The submarine was damaged and forced to the surface; it was found to be the Polish Jastrzab
ORP Jastrzab
ORP Jastrząb was an old Holland-type S-class submarine, originally of the United States Navy, in Polish service between 1941 and 1942, when she was lost to friendly fire....
, which was assigned to patrol off Norway but was some way out of position. Jastrzab was too badly damaged to continue and was abandoned and scuttled.
On 3 May at 0130 in the half light of the Arctic summer nights
Midnight sun
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous...
, six Heinkel He 111
Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
bombers of I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 26
Kampfgeschwader 26
Kampfgeschwader 26 "Löwengeschwader" was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II .Its units participated on all of the fronts in the European Theatre until it was disbanded in September–October 1944. It operated two of the major German bomber types; the Heinkel He 111 and the Junkers Ju 88...
, the Luftwaffes new torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
force, attacked the convoy, making the first German torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
attack of World War II. Three ships were hit. Two were sunk, and one was damaged and later sunk by the German submarine U-251. Two aircraft were shot down and a third damaged, which subsequently crashed. A further attack by German high-level bombers at dusk was unsuccessful.
Deteriorating weather on 4 May prevented any German further attacks; an Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
gale
Gale
A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are...
quickly turning into a snowstorm. PQ 15 arrived at the Kola Inlet at 2100 on 5 May with no further losses.
Aftermath
Three of PQ 15s ships had been sunk, Botavon and Cape Corso by torpedo bombers and Jutland damaged by torpedo bombers and later sunk by U-251. Of the escorting warships, the submarine Jastrzab and destroyer Punjabi had been sunk and the battleship King George V had been damaged. However, 22 fully laden merchant ships had arrived safely in Murmansk, the largest AlliedAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
convoy yet to arrive in the Soviet Union.
The convoy was regarded by the Allies as a success, although it gave them a taste of the difficulties to come on the Arctic convoy run.
Ship list
- Alcoa Cadet
- Alcoa Rambler
- Bayou Chico
- Botavon
- Cape Corso
- Cape Race
- Capira
- Deer Lodge
- Empire BardSS Empire BardEmpire Bard was a 3,114 GRT heavy lift ship which was built in 1941 for the Ministry of War Transport . She was sold in 1946 and renamed Angusburn and sold again in 1955 and renamed Brettenham...
- Empire Morn
- Expositor
- Francis Scott Key
- Gray Ranger ...Fleet OilerReplenishment OilerA replenishment oiler or fleet tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds, which can replenish other ships while underway in the high seas. Such ships are used by several countries around the world....
- Hegira
- Jutland
- Krassin
- Montcalm
- Mormacrey
- Mormacrio
- Paul Luckenbach
- Seattle Spirit
- Southgate
- Texas
- Topa Topa
- Zebulon B Vance