Convoy QP 13

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Intrepid was one of five destroyers escorting convoy QP 13.

Convoy QP 13 was the thirteenth of the numbered series of World War II convoys of merchant ships westbound from the Arctic ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk to the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America. Most of the ships were returning empty after delivering war material to the Soviet Union, but some Soviet ships carried cargoes of export timber. The convoy sailed simultaneously with eastbound convoy PQ 17 so both convoys might benefit from the heavy covering force of the British aircraft carrier Victorious, battleship Duke of York, cruisers Cumberland and Nigeria, and destroyers Ashanti, Douglas, Faulknor, Marne, Martin, Onslaught and Onslow with the American battleship USS Washington and destroyers Mayrant and Rhind. The covering force was commanded by Admiral John Tovey aboard the flagship Duke of York. Convoy QP 13 consisted of 35 merchant ships escorted by the anti-aircraft ship Alynbank with destroyers Achates, Garland, Inglefield, Intrepid and Volunteer, minesweepers Hussar and Niger, and corvettes Honeysuckle, Hyderabad, Roselys and Starwort.[1]

Voyage

Convoy QP 13 left Arkhangelsk on 26 June 1942 reinforced by a local escort of Soviet destroyers Gremyaschi, Grozni and Kuibyshev with British destroyer Tartar and minesweepers Bramble, Hazard, Leda and Seagull. The local escort was replaced on 29 June by an anti-aircraft escort of Hunt class destroyers Blankney, Middleton and Wheatland.[1] On 30 June German air reconnaissance found convoy QP 13 180 miles (290 km) north of North Cape, Norway. U-88 was shadowing the convoy by 2 July; but Admiral Nordmeer Hubert Schmundt ordered German forces to ignore the empty westbound ships and focus on the loaded ships of eastbound convoy PQ 17.[2] The Hunt-class destroyers detached on 4 July when convoy QP 13 was out of range of German bombers.[1]

Convoy QP 13 encountered fog on 5 July 1942. In poor visibility Niger mistook an iceberg for Iceland’s North Western Cape and six merchant ships followed her into Northern Barrage minefield SN72 laid one month earlier at the entrance to the Denmark Strait.[3] All seven ships detonated naval mines, and there were only eight survivors of the 127 men aboard Niger. Only Exterminator could be salvaged. No crewmen were lost from Exterminator, Hybert and Rodina;[4] but one crewman died abandoning Hefron, five drowned when John Randolph broke in two, and Massmar sank with 17 merchant seamen, 5 Naval Armed Guards, and 26 survivors she was carrying from the sinking of Alamar in convoy PQ 16.[5]

Surviving ships destined for Reykjavík were escorted into port on 7 July by a local escort of naval trawlers Saint Elstan and Lady Madeleine.[1]

Merchant ships in Convoy QP 13[1]
Ship Tonnage (GRT) Flag Notes
Alma Ata3,611 Soviet Uniontimber cargo
American Press5,131 United States
American Robin5,172 United States
Archangle2,480 Soviet Uniontimber cargo
SS Atlantic5,414 United Kingdom
Budenni2,482 Soviet Uniontimber cargo
Capira5,625 Panama
Chumleigh5,445 United Kingdom
City of Omaha6,124 United States
SS Empire Baffin6,978 United Kingdom
Empire Mavis5,704 United Kingdom
Empire Meteor7,457 United Kingdom
Empire Selwyn7,167 United KingdomConvoy Commodore's ship
Empire Stevenson6,209 United Kingdomgeneral cargo with lumber
Exterminator6,115 PanamaDamaged by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
Heffron7,611 United StatesSunk by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
Hegira7,588 United States
Hybert6,120 United StatesSunk by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
John Randolph7,191 United StatesLiberty ship sunk by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
Komiles3,962 Soviet Uniontimber cargo
Kuzbass3,109 Soviet Union
Lancaster7,516 United States
Massmar5,828 United StatesSunk by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
Mauna Kea6,064 United States
Michigan6,419 Panama
Mormacrey5,946 United States
Mount Evans5,598 Panama
Nemaha6,501 United States
Petrovski3,771 Soviet Uniontimber cargo
Pieter de Hoogh7,168 Netherlands
Richard Henry Lee7,191 United StatesLiberty ship
Rodina4,441 Soviet UnionSunk by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
St. Clears4,312 United Kingdom
Stary Bolshevik3,974 Soviet Union
Yaka5,432 United States

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Convoy QP.13". Convoy Web. Retrieved 23 January 2014. 
  2. Irving, David (1968). The Destruction of Convoy PQ.17. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 31 & 61. 
  3. "Mines and Mine Laying in Iceland WWII". Icelandic Coast Guard. Retrieved 22 January 2014. 
  4. Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 190. ISBN 1-55750-019-3. 
  5. Cressman, Robert J. (2000). The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 108. ISBN 1-55750-149-1. 
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