Convoy PQ 13

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English PQ 13 was a British Arctic convoy that delivered war supplies from the Western Allies to the USSR during World War II. The convoy was subject to attack by German air, U-boat and surface forces and suffered the loss of five ships, plus one escort vessel. Fifteen ships arrived safely.

Ships

PQ 13 comprised 19 merchant ships; seven British, four American, one Polish, four of Panamanian and one of Honduran registry. It was commanded by Commodore D. A. Casey in River Afton. The convoy was escorted for the first stage of its voyage, from Scotland to Iceland, by a Local Escort Group, of two destroyers and an ASW Trawler. For the second stage, from Iceland to the Soviet Union, the Ocean escort was two destroyers and two trawlers, augmented by three whalers being transferred to the Soviet Navy. The Ocean escort was commanded by Capt. L. S. Saunders, in the cruiser .

In support of the convoy escort, and guarding against a sortie by the , was a Heavy Cover Force, comprising the battleships (Vice Admiral A. T. B. Curteis commanding), , battlecruiser , aircraft carrier , the cruisers and and sixteen destroyers, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . This force was intended to accompany PQ 13 at a distance until it was past Bear Island.

Action

The convoy sailed from Loch Ewe in Scotland on 10 March 1942 and arrived in Reykjavík on 16 March 1942. After the departure of three ships, bound from Loch Ewe to Reykjavík only and the first stage escort, collecting a further three ships bound from Reykjavík to Murmansk and the close escort for the voyage, PQ 13 left Reykjavík on 20 March 1942. The voyage was uneventful until 24 March, when the convoy was struck by a four-day storm, which left the convoy scattered and in disarray. The ships were dispersed over a distance of Template:Cvt. Over the next few days the ships coalesced into two groups, of eight and four, with four others proceeding independently.

On 28 March the ships were sighted by German aircraft, and attacked. Raceland and Empire Ranger were sunk. A German force of three Narvik class destroyers, , and , under the command of KzS G. Ponitz, sortied from Kirkenes. The German destroyers intercepted and sank Bateau on the night of 28/29 March, before falling in with Trinidad and Fury in the early hours of 29 March. Z26 was badly damaged by Trinidad, sinking later after a combined counter-attack of Oribi, Eclipse and the Soviet destroyer Sokrushitelny but in the course of the action Trinidad was hit by her own torpedo (the torpedo's gyroscope froze).Template:Sfn The remaining German ships broke off the action and Trinidad, escorted by Fury and Eclipse, limped into Kola Inlet, arriving midday on 30 March.

The ships of PQ 13 came under U-boat attack. Induna was sunk by Template:GS, and Effingham by Template:GS. Fury attacked an asdic contact and was credited with the destruction of Template:GS but post-war analysis found that U-585 was lost elsewhere. By 30 March most ships had arrived at Murmansk; the last stragglers came in on 1 April. Six ships were lost in this convoy. The Germans sank five freighters. One whaler, (), was lost, probably due to heavy icing, and the cruiser, Trinidad, was damaged. Against this one German destroyer had been sunk. Fourteen ships had arrived safely, more than two-thirds of the convoy. The freighter Tobruk was credited with shooting down one bomber and another probable on 30 April.Template:Sfnp

Ship list

The convoy to Russia consisted of 19 freighters, a Fleet Oiler and 3 whalers

PQ13 main body: Loch Ewe to Murmansk

Ship	Captain	GRT	Flag	Sailors	Total Armed Guard or DEMS
	Ernest Prather	3,515	Template:Flagcountry	35	11, Ensign Brinn
	Charles H. Hewlett	6,421	Template:Flagcountry	34	9, Ensign Gamblin
	Ivo Beatovic	4,219	Template:Flagcountry	39	none
	Ole M. Nilsen	6,900	Template:Flagcountry	37	13, Ensign Fink
	J.H. Wigham	7,164	Template:Flagcountry	36	11
	Maurice E. Sadler	7,008	Template:Flagcountry	43	7
	William H. Stein	6,850	Template:Flagcountry	66	12
	Eric Lundh	5,473	Template:Flagcountry	39	none
	Henry W. Williams	5,486	Template:Flagcountry	44	8
	William N. Collins	5,086	Template:Flagcountry	50	10
	Oermulff Berg-Johannessen	3,283	Template:Flagcountry	36	None
	Wilfred H. Senior	5,453	Template:Flagcountry	30	9, Ensign Smith
	William J. Harris	4,747	Template:Flagcountry	44	6
	Sverre Brekke	4,815	Template:Flagcountry	45	None
	Harold W. Charlton	5,479	Template:Flagcountry	43	10
	Bronisław Hurko	7,048	Template:Flagcountry	47	At least 1Template:Sfnp

Reykjavík to Murmansk group

Ship	Captain	GRT	Flag	Merchant Marines	Armed Guard/DEMS
	Henry Bejer	6,131	Template:Flagcountry	38	2
	Johan A. Haltlid	4,687	Template:Flagcountry	44	2
	P. Sun	6,999	Template:Flagcountry	38	6

Loch Ewe to Reykjavík group

Ship	Captain	GRT	Flag	Merchant Marines	Armed Guard/DEMS
	b	1,220	Template:Flagcountry
	b	1,807	Template:Flagcountry
	b	1,418	Template:Flagcountry

PQ13: Fleet replenishment oiler

Ship	Captain	GRT	Flag	Merchant Marines	Total Armed Guard/DEMS
	A.V. Barton	6,897	Template:Flagcountry	39	7

PQ13 Whalers

Ship	Captain	GRT	Flag	Merchant Marines	Total Armed GuardDEMS
		251	Template:Country data UKGBI	21
		251	Template:Country data UKGBI
	John Edward Thundercliffe	251	Template:Country data UKGBI

• , and sailed with the convoy from Loch Ewe to Iceland, but didn't sail to the Soviet Union.
• Ballot, Bateau and Scottish American joined the convoy in Iceland.
• All other ships departed from Loch Ewe, for Murmansk.
• Three whalers: HMS Silja, HMS Sulla and HMS Sumba were under transfer to the Soviet Navy and would become magnetic mine minesweepers.

In Russia, HMS Silja was renamed T-107 and HMS Sumba was renamed T-106.

Convoy escorts

For the first stage, from Loch Ewe to Reykjavík, PQ 13 had a local escort of two destroyers and an ASW Trawler.

From Iceland to Murmansk the close escort consisted of the cruiser Trinidad and the destroyers Fury and Eclipse, two armed trawlers and three minesweepers.

For the final leg the convoy was supported by the local escort based at Kola; two Soviet destroyers and four RN minesweepers.

Loch Ewe – Reykjavík: 10–16 March.
Leaving Loch Ewe in the afternoon of the 10th, the convoy was escorted by:

• Destroyer Template:ORP (left the convoy on the 13th)
• Destroyer
• ASW Trawler

On the 11th, another escort joined the convoy:

• Destroyer

Reykjavík – Murmansk: 18–31 March.
Leaving Reykjavík in the morning of the 18th, the convoy was escorted by:

• Trawler , and . (left the convoy on the 23rd)

On the 23rd, other escorts joined the convoy:

• Destroyers and (left the convoy on the 25th)
• Light Cruiser (left the convoy on the 25th)

The Barents Sea – Murmansk: 27 March – 3 April;
On the 27th, the convoy was joined by two Soviet destroyers:

• Destroyers and Sokrushitelney

On 28 March the convoy was assisted by the involvement of the Sixth Minesweeping Flotilla operating here.
, , and of the Sixth Minesweeping Flotilla, under command of commander E.P. Hinton, sailed on 28 April for a patrol in the Arctic waters. On the 29th Harrier went for a search for survivors of the Empire Ranger. On the 29th Speedwell attempted to intercept Harpalion, but failed to find her. found abandoned boats of Empire Ranger on the 29th which indicated they were picked up by other boats. (A German wireless claimed prisoners from a merchant ship, it was obvious they were from Empire Ranger) On 30 March, Gossamer found Scottish American, Effingham and Dunboyne. But Gossamer received orders to proceed to the position of the torpedoed Indua, but failed to find her. Hussar made contact with a group of 9 ships of PQ 13 and a whaler. Escorted by two Russian destroyers and a trawler. Oribi sighted the whaler Silja who had run out of fuel. Oribi was ordered to go to the aid of River Afton which was reported to have been hit by a U-boat. Harrier took Silja in tow and Speedwell escorted them. On 1 April, (also of the Sixth Minesweeping Flotilla) sailed to search for Sulla, but returned on 3 April, having failed to find her.

Convoy losses

After an attack on 28 March 1942, 16 crewmembers of Ballot left the ship in a lifeboat, were picked up by Silja and put on board Induna.

Merchant ships losses

Date	Ship	GRT	Flag	Sunk by	Notes
28 March	Raceland	4,815	Template:Flagcountry	Luftwaffe	45 crew, 13 killed, 32 rescued
28 March	Empire Ranger	7,008	Template:Flagcountry	Luftwaffe	55 crew, no casualties
29 March	Bateau	4,687	Template:Flagcountry	Template:Navy/core	47 crew, 6 killed, 41 rescued
30 March	Induna	5,086	Template:Flagcountry	Template:Navy/core Template:GS	66 crew, 42 killed*
30 March	Effingham	6,421	United States	Template:Navy/core Template:GS	42 crew, 12 rescued

• 12 of them were former crewmembers of the SS Ballot

Whaler lost from the convoy

Date	Ship	GRT	Flag	Sunk by	Position	Crew	POW	Died
29 March	HMS Sulla	251	Template:Country data UKGBI	Icing	21	0	21

Aftermath

Merchant ships lost in harbour or return Convoy QP 10Template:Sfnp

Ship	GRT	Flag	Sunk	Notes
Empire Starlight	6,850	Template:Flagcountry	Luftwaffe	Bombed at Murmansk, 3 April, 68 crew, 1 killed
New Westminster City *	4,747	Template:Flagcountry	Luftwaffe	Bombed at Murmansk, 3 April, 52 crew, 2 killed
	7,164	Template:Flagcountry	Luftwaffe	Sunk 11 April, Convoy QP 10, 68 crew, 18 killed + 1*
Harpalion	5,486	Template:Flagcountry	Template:Navy/core Template:GS	Sunk 13 April, Convoy QP 10, 52 crew, no loss

External links

• PQ 13 at Convoyweb
• Order of Battle-PQ13
• SS Raceland