Operation Dervish was the first of the Arctic Convoys of 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...

 by which the Western Allies

Allies

In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...

 supplied material aid to 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....

 in its fight with Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. The convoy

Convoy

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...

 sailed from Hvalfiourdur, 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...

 on 21 August 1941 and arrived at Archangelsk on 31 August 1941. The Convoy Commodore

Commodore (Royal Navy)

Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...

 was Captain

Captain (Royal Navy)

Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...

 JCK Dowding RNR

Royal Naval Reserve

The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

. As evidence of Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

's astute mastery of propaganda, on board Llanstephan Castle were two journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

s and the artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

, Felix Topolski.

Ships

This convoy consisted of six merchant ships loaded with raw materials and 15 crated Hawker Hurricane

Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...

 fighter

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

 planes: Lancastrian Prince, New Westminster City, Esneh, Trehata, the elderly Llanstephan Castle, the fleet oiler Aldersdale, and the Dutch

Royal Netherlands Navy

The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

 freighter

Cargo ship

A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

 Alchiba. The convoy was escorted by the destroyers HMS Electra

HMS Electra (H27)

HMS Electra was a Royal Navy 'E' class destroyer . She was ordered on 1 November 1932 as part of the 1931 Naval Build Programme; launched on 15 February 1934 at the Hawthorn Leslie Shipyard at Hebburn, Tyneside...

, HMS Active

HMS Active (H14)

HMS Active, the tenth Active , launched in 1929, was an A class destroyer. She served in World War II, taking part in the sinking of four submarines. She was broken up in 1947....

, and HMS Impulsive

HMS Impulsive (D11)

HMS Impulsive was an I-class destroyer that served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She has been the only ship of the Navy to bear this name....

; the minesweepers HMS Halcyon

HMS Halcyon (J42)

HMS Halcyon was a built for the Royal Navy in 1933. She was the lead vessel in the class. Her pennant number was J42.Halcyon was built by John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd., at Clydebank, in Scotland. She was laid down on 27 March 1933 and launched on 20 December of the same year...

, HMS Salamander, and HMS Harrier; and the anti-submarine Shakespearian class trawlers Hamlet, Macbeth

HMT Macbeth (T138)

HMT Macbeth was a anti-submarine naval trawler that served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She was built by the Goole Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd., Goole, UK. Macbeth was launched on 3 October 1940, and commissioned on 14 January 1941.A steel vessel of 545 tons, she measured...

, and Ophelia. Distant cover consisted of 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...

 HMS Shropshire

HMS Shropshire (73)

HMS Shropshire was a Royal Navy heavy cruiser of the London sub-class of County class cruisers. She is the only warship to have been named after Shropshire, England. Completed in 1929, Shropshire served with the RN until 1942, when she was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy following the...

 and the destroyers HMS Matabele

HMS Matabele (F26)

HMS Matabele was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in World War II, being sunk by a U-boat on 17 January, 1942. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Matabele, which in common with the other ships of the Tribal class, was named after an ethnic...

, HMS Punjabi

HMS Punjabi (F21)

HMS Punjabi was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in the Second World War, being sunk in a collision with the battleship . She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name "Punjabi" which — in common with the other ships of the Tribal-class — was named after...

, and HMS Somali

HMS Somali (F33)

HMS Somali was a Tribal-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War II.-History:She was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear....

. At the same time the old 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...

 HMS Argus

HMS Argus (I49)

HMS Argus was a British aircraft carrier that served in the Royal Navy from 1918–1944. She was converted from an ocean liner under construction when the First World War began, and became the world's first example of what is now the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight...

, a veteran of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, delivered 24 Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

's 151 Fighter Wing, which landed at Vaegna airfield, near 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...

. Largely owing to the scarcity of 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....

 aerial reconnaissance forces in the region at the time, all of the ships arrived safely.

Aftermath

An ad hoc effort, the Operation Dervish convoy was followed by a regular series of convoys numbered like their Atlantic counterparts. The first homeward-bound convoy, QP-1, left Archangelsk on 28 September 1941, and the first outward-bound convoy, PQ-1

Convoy PQ-1

Convoy PQ-1 was the second of the Arctic Convoys of World War II by which the Western Allies supplied material aid to the Soviet Union in its fight with Nazi Germany...

, sailed from Iceland, arriving at Archangelsk on 11 October 1941.