Convoy PQ 17

Battle for Convoy PQ 17

Part of: Second World War

date	July 2 to July 10, 1942
place	Altafjord and Barents Sea
output	Success of the Navy

Parties to the conflict
German Empire	United Kingdom and Commonwealth
Commander
Grand Admiral Erich Raeder Commander on site: Admiral Schniewind on Tirpitz , Vice Admiral Oskar Kummetz on Lützow	Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound , First Sea Lord of the British Admiralty Commander on site: Commodore Dowding (convoy). Rear Admiral Hamilton (escort)
Troop strength
Combat group: 1 battleship 3 heavy cruisers 12 destroyers 2 torpedo boats Air fleet 5 KG 30 130 Ju 88 I./KG 26 43 He 111 1./K.Fl.Gr. 406 15 He 115 1./K.Fl.Gr. 906 14 He 115	* 35 merchant ships Close security: "First Escort Group" 4 destroyers 10 corvettes "First Cruiser Squadron": 4 cruisers 4 destroyers Remote backup: 2 battleships 2 cruisers 8 destroyers
losses
5 planes	24 ships (143,977 GRT) 153 dead

The convoy PQ 17 was an allied arctic convoy that was supposed to transport supplies for the Red Army from Iceland through the Arctic Ocean to Murmansk in July 1942 . Because of a possible threat from heavy German warships that had sailed as part of the Rösselsprung company , the convoy was disbanded and subsequently suffered heavier losses than any other northern sea convoy.

Positioning, discovery

Lineup and composition

Ships from convoy PQ 17 gather in Hvalfjörður in Iceland in May 1942

The British convoy PQ 17, led by its convoy commodore , Captain John (Jack) Dowding, left Reykjavík ( Lage ) on June 27 with destination Murmansk ( Lage ). It comprised 35 merchant ships, making it the largest allied convoy to date. Because of the danger posed by heavy German naval forces, it was accordingly well secured. The “First Escort Group” under Commander Browne, who was under the command of four destroyers and ten corvettes (some of which were converted fish steamers), ensured the protection of the freighters. The "First Cruiser Squadron", with the cruisers HMS London , HMS Norfolk , USS Wichita , USS Tuscaloosa and four destroyers under Rear Admiral Hamilton drove as close security against possible surface attacks in the vicinity of the escort.

Remote security up to the passage of the Northern Cape was the responsibility of a Home Fleet association under Admiral John Tovey with the battleships HMS Duke of York , USS Washington , the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious , the cruisers HMS Cumberland , HMS Nigeria , HMS Manchester and 14 destroyers .

Used merchant ships

• 

  The Rathlin acted as a rescue ship

• 

  The Empire Tide , here equipped with a catapult plane

• 

  The El Capitan

Surname	Type	flag	Measurement in GRT	Whereabouts
Alcoa Ranger	freighter	United States	5116	sunk by U 255 ( position )
Aldersdale	Tanker	United Kingdom	8402	Damaged by KG 30 aircraft and sunk by U 457 ( Lage )
Azerbaijan	Tanker	Soviet Union	6114	damaged by air raids, reached Arkhangelsk
Bellingham	freighter	United States	5345	Damaged by submarine attack, reached Arkhangelsk
Ben Harrison	freighter	United States	7200	Reached Arkhangelsk
Bolton Castle	freighter	United Kingdom	5303	Sunk by KG 30 aircraft
Carlton	freighter	United States	5127	sunk by U 88 ( position )
Christopher Newport	freighter	United States	7197	sunk by U 457 ( position )
Daniel Morgan	freighter	United States	7200	sunk by U 88 ( position )
Donbass	Tanker	Soviet Union	7925	Reached Arkhangelsk
Earlston	freighter	United Kingdom	7195	damaged by aircraft of KG 30 and sunk by U 334 ( Lage )
El Capitan	freighter	Panama	5216	Damaged by II./KG 30 aircraft and sunk by U 251 ( Lage )
Empire Byron	freighter	United Kingdom	6645	Damaged by KG 30 aircraft and sunk by U 703 ( Lage )
Empire tide	freighter	United Kingdom	6978	Reached Arkhangelsk
Exfort	freighter	United States	4969	Collision with iceberg and return to Iceland
Fairfield City	freighter	United States	5686	Sunk by KG 30 aircraft
Hartlebury	freighter	United Kingdom	5082	sunk by U 355 ( position )
Honomu	freighter	United States	6977	sunk by U 456
Hoosier	freighter	United States	5060	Damaged by II./KG 30 aircraft and sunk by U 376 ( Lage )
Ironclad	freighter	United States	5685	Reached Arkhangelsk
John Witherspoon	freighter	United States	7199	sunk by U 255 ( position )
Navarino	freighter	United Kingdom	4841	Sunk by I./KG 26 aircraft
Ocean Freedom	freighter	United Kingdom	?	Reached Arkhangelsk
Olopana	freighter	United States	6069	sunk by U 255 ( position )
Pan Atlantic	freighter	United States	5411	Sunk by KG 30 aircraft
Pan force	freighter	United States	5644	Sunk by KG 30 aircraft
Paulus Potter	freighter	Netherlands	7169	Damaged by KG 30 aircraft and sunk by U 255
Peter Kerr	freighter	United States	6476	Sunk by KG 30 aircraft
Richard Bland	freighter	United States	?	return to Iceland after agitation
River Afton	freighter	United Kingdom	5479	sunk by U 703 ( position )
Samuel Chase	freighter	United States	?	Reached Arkhangelsk
Silver Sword	freighter	United States	?	Reached Arkhangelsk
troubadour	freighter	Panama	6458	Reached Arkhangelsk
Washington	freighter	United States	5564	Sunk by KG 30 aircraft
William Hooper	freighter	United States	7177	Damaged by I./KG 26 aircraft and sunk by U 334 ( Lage )
Winston-Salem	freighter	United States	6223	Reached Arkhangelsk

Discovery and Attack

The departure of the convoy was reported to the German naval war command early by German agents and on July 1, the convoy was overflown by a German long-range reconnaissance aircraft. A submarine then discovered the association 60 nautical miles east of Jan Mayen . On July 2, German dive bombers and torpedo bombers from Kampfgeschwader 30 , I./Kampfgeschwader 26 and the 1st squadron of coastal aviation groups 406 and 906 began attacking the unit from their bases in Bardufoss ( Lage ) and Banak ( Lage ). A total of 130 Junkers Ju 88 , 43 Heinkel He 111 and 29 Heinkel He 115 were ready. They continued their attacks - not interrupted by darkness because of the arctic summer - for three days. The submarines U-251 and U-376 also tried to attack, but were pushed away from the security ships. The destination of the convoy was changed by a radio command, it should now be called Archangelsk ( Lage ).

The first ship was sunk on the morning of July 4th after all previous air strikes had been repelled. The torpedo of a German bomber hit the Liberty ship Christopher Newport amidships and damaged it so badly that it had to be abandoned. 25 He 111 attacked around noon and damaged four freighters, two of which were abandoned.

Threat and dismantling of the convoy

Company Rösselsprung

Two combat groups were set up on the German side. Combat group I under the leadership of Admiral Otto Schniewind with the battleship Tirpitz , the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper , the destroyers Karl Galster , Friedrich Ihn , Hans Lody , Theodor Riedel and the torpedo boats T 7 and T 15 moved from Trondheim on July 2, 1942 to Northern Norway. Combat Group II under Vice Admiral Oskar Kummetz with the heavy cruisers Lützow and Admiral Scheer , the destroyers Z 24 , Z 27 , Z 28 , Z 29 , Z 30 and Richard Beitzen drove from Narvik or the Bogenbucht to the Altafjord on July 3, 1942 . Here both combat groups met and united with the destroyers Friedrich Eckoldt and Erich Steinbrinck to form an association. On the march, the heavy cruiser Lützow and the destroyers Karl Galster , Hans Lody and Theodor Riedel touched the ground and were canceled.

The British Admiralty communicated the departure of the German ships to the convoy's security association by radio on the morning of July 4th, after the aerial photographs of reconnaissance aircraft no longer showed them at their anchorages near Trondheim.

Dissolution of the convoy

Cruisers London and Wichita , part of the original securing of convoy PQ 17

Map with courses and sinking positions of the ships of the disbanded convoy PQ 17

On the evening of July 4th, Fleet Admiral Dudley Pound , First Sea Lord of the British Admiralty, decided that the threat to the formation from the German warships was now acute and ordered the accompanying cruisers of Rear Admiral Hamilton's local security to flee and disband the escort: “Cruiser Association expire with maximum speed to the west. " and a little later: " Since attack by enemy surface forces threatens, disband the convoy and set course for Russian ports "

Demolition of the Rösselsprung company

On July 5, both the German aerial reconnaissance and submarines reported the dissolution of convoy PQ 17 and the departure of the British security ships to the west. Then the Tirpitz ( Commander : Captain on the Sea Karl Topp ), the Admiral Hipper (Commandant: Captain on the Sea Wilhelm Meisel ), the Admiral Scheer (Commandant: Captain on the Sea Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken ), seven destroyers and two torpedo boats went to sea. Before Ingöy, the Soviet submarine K-21 attempted an unsuccessful attack on the Tirpitz . A Catalina flying boat of the Royal Air Force -Squadron 210 and the British submarine Unshaken sighted and reported the German fleet association. The high command of the navy decided to abandon the planned attack because, in accordance with an order from Hitler, they did not want to take any risks - especially for the Tirpitz . The direct attack on the convoy PQ 17 should take over submarines and aircraft. On the evening of July 5, the German naval association received an order from the naval war command to abandon any further pursuit of the convoy's ships and to gather in the Kåfjord . This ended the Rösselsprung company . None of the German ships that were parked for the operation ever came within sight of the escort or its ships.

Aftermath

The dismantling of the convoy and the withdrawal of the majority of the security ships was devastating: The merchant ships, now moving individually, were no longer protected from submarines by escorts and could no longer combine the fire of their own anti-aircraft weapons with that of the entire convoy on the attacking aircraft. For five days, the steamers were attacked by planes from Luftflotte 5 (Gen. Colonel Hans-Jürgen Stumpff ) and submarines from the “Eisteufel” group.

The few light security ships of the convoy, which were also supposed to call at Arkhangelsk, could not overcome the great distances between the merchant ships in time to repel the attacks and were further confused by radio messages from the Admiralty, which announced the attack by a German naval unit with increasing emphasis. The Admiralty radioed the security ships at 1am on July 6th: “The attack by the enemy surface forces will probably take place in the next few hours. Your first duty is to avoid your ship being destroyed so that you can return to the site of the attack and pick up the survivors after the enemy has withdrawn. ” The freighters tried on their own - mostly on a north-east course along the pack ice border and as far away as possible from the German air force bases - to reach the coast of Novaya Zemlya , and then to travel south to Arkhangelsk.

Of 35 merchant ships, two turned back shortly after leaving - one due to engine damage and one due to collision damage with ice floes. Of the remaining 33 ships, a total of 22 cargo ships (15 American, six British and one Dutch) were sunk. A marine tanker and a rescue ship were also lost. Eight ships fell victim to air raids, the rest were sunk by submarines. 210 aircraft, 430 tanks, 3,350 trucks and almost 100,000 tons of spare parts, ammunition and food sank with the freighters. Only eleven cargo ships from PQ 17 reached Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. 153 merchant marine sailors died. Luftflotte 5 lost five of its aircraft.

Evidence and references

literature

• Georges Blond: Course Murmansk - The Fateful Voyages of the Allied Arctic Ocean Convoys. Stalling Verlag, Oldenburg 1957; Original title: Convois Vers l´URSS. 1950, Librairie Arthème Fayard.
• David Irving : The destruction of the convoy PQ 17 , Albrecht Knaus Verlag Hamburg 1982.

Web links

• PQ-17 - The greatest convoy disaster on uboat.net
• Company "Rösselsprung" on bismarck-class.dk

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Percy E. Schramm : War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht 1942. Part 2, Bernard & Graefe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Bonn, ISBN 3-7637-5933-6 , p. 1417.
2. ↑ Sea War in July 1942 on wlb-stuttgart.de, viewed on June 1, 2012
3. ↑ Georges Blond: Course Murmansk. P. 122.
4. ^ German naval calendar 1968 - German military publisher Berlin
5. ^ Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945, July 1942 , accessed on December 4, 2012.
6. ↑ Georges Blond: Course Murmansk. P. 124.
7. ↑ J. Piekalkiewicz : Sea War 1939–1945. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998.
8. ↑ Georges Blond: Course Murmansk. P. 131.
9. ↑ Brian Betham Schofield : Convoy Battles. Koehlers, Herford 1983.
10. ↑ Georges Blond: Course Murmansk. P. 134.
11. ↑ Loss of PQ-17 on uboat.net, viewed June 1, 2012

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap