Convoy JW 56B

The convoy JW 56B was an allied northern sea convoy , which was put together in January 1944 in Loch Ewe , Scotland , and brought goods essential for the war effort to the Soviet Murmansk . The Allies lost an escort vehicle, while a submarine was lost on the German side.

Composition and securing

The HMS Hardy was so badly torpedoed by U 278 that it ...

... had to be sunk by HMS Venus

The convoy JW 56B consisted of 17 cargo ships. On January 22, 1944 they left the Scottish Loch Ewe ( Lage ) in the direction of Murmansk ( Lage ). The British destroyers Milne , Musketeer , Opportune , Mahratta , Scourge , Meteor , Westcott , Whitehall and Wrestler , the corvettes Rhododendron , Honeysuckle and Oxlip , the mine sweepers Onyx , Hydra and Seagull , the Sloop Cygnet and the Canadian destroyer Huron took over the security . The remote backup group consisted of the British cruisers Bermuda , Berwick and Kent .

Surname	Type	flag	Measurement in GRT	Whereabouts
Abner Nash	freighter	United States	7177
Alber C Ritchie	freighter	United States	7176
Charles A McAllister	freighter	United States	7176
Edward L Grant	freighter	United States	7176
Empire tourist	freighter	United Kingdom	7062
Fort Crevecoeur	freighter	United Kingdom	7191
Fort Norfolk	freighter	United Kingdom	7131
Henry Bacon	freighter	United States	7177
Henry Lomb	freighter	United States	7176
Henry Wynkoop	freighter	United States	7176
John HB Latrobe	freighter	United States	7191
John La Farge	freighter	United States	7176
Paul Hamilton Hayne	freighter	United States	7177
Robert Lowry	freighter	United States	7176
Samuel Macintyre	freighter	United States	7176
Willard Hall	freighter	United States	7200
Winfried Smith	freighter	United States	7191

course

The Germans set up the Werwolf submarine group between Bear Island and Norway. The submarines U 278 , U 313 , U 472 , U 425 , U 601 , U 737 , U 956 , U 957 , U 973 and U 990 belonged to it . On January 29, U 956 captured the convoy and subsequently carried out three unsuccessful attacks with TV torpedoes on escort vehicles. On the night of January 29th to 30th, other submarines caught up and attacked with TV torpedoes. But only U 278 hit the destroyer HMS Hardy ( Lage ) so badly that it had to be sunk by HMS Venus . In return, the destroyers HMS Whitehall and HMS Meteor sank the submarine U 314 ( Lage ). Further attacks by the submarines were unsuccessful until February 1. The JW 56B reached the Kola Bay off Murmansk on February 1st. He had lost the destroyer HMS Hardy . U 314 was lost on the German side .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronik des Maritime War 1939–1945, January 1944. Retrieved January 18, 2017 . 
2. ^ Arnold Hague: Arnold Hague Convoy Database, JW Convoy Series. Retrieved January 18, 2017 . 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap