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Operation FB

Coordinates:68°58′N33°05′E/ 68.967°N 33.083°E/68.967; 33.083
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Operation FB
Part of TheArctic Convoysof theSecond World War

Iceland, western start and terminus of reciprocal sailings to and from Murmansk
Date29 October to 9 November 1942
Location
Arctic Ocean
68°58′N33°05′E/ 68.967°N 33.083°E/68.967; 33.083
Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
Allies Axis powers(Nazi Germany)
Commanders and leaders
John Tovey
Arseniy Golovko		 Erich Raeder
Units involved
Royal Navy
Soviet Navy
RAF Coastal Command
Soviet Air Defence Forces
Merchant Navy
United States Merchant Marine
merchant ships from Allied and neutral nations		 Luftwaffe
Kriegsmarine
Strength
Eastbound: 13 merchant ships
escorts (west): 4anti-submarinetrawlers
escorts (east): 3 trawlers
Casualties and losses
Sunk: 5
Wrecked: 1
Recalled: 3
23 Soviet independent sailings 29 October 1942 – 24 January 1943, 1 sunk

Operation FB(29 October – 9 November 1942) took place as part of theArctic Convoysof theSecond World War.The operation consisted of independent sailings by unescorted merchant ships betweenIcelandandMurmansk.In late 1942, the Allies had taken the offensive against Germany but the dispatch of supplies to theUSSRby convoy via the Arctic route was suspended, due to the demands of the Mediterranean campaign. Convoy PQ 19 was cancelled because theHome Fleetdiverted ships to the Mediterranean forOperation Torch(8–16 November 1942) which would have had to be postponed for three weeks had ships been provided for PQ 19.

Discussions between the British Prime MinisterWinston Churchilland the US PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltled to ships being dispatched independently to Russia from Iceland as a substitute for PQ 19, using thepolar nightof the Arctic winter for concealment. The ships sailed at approximately twelve-hour intervals, with seven trawlers strung out along the routes as rescue ships. Of thirteen sailings to Russia, three were ordered to turn back and five arrived; of 23 independent departures from the USSR, 22 ships reached their destination. The outbound convoy series JW, began with Convoy JW 51A (15–25 December 1942), returns being called RW.

Background

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Arctic convoys

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Main articles:Arctic convoys of World War IIandHome Fleet

In October 1941, afterOperation Barbarossa,the German invasion of theUSSR,which had begun on 22 June, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, made a commitment to send a convoy to the Arctic ports of the USSR every ten days and to deliver1,200 tanksa month from July 1942 to January 1943, followed by2,000 tanksand another3,600 aircraftmore than those already promised. The first convoy was due at Murmansk around 12 October and the next convoy was to depart Iceland on 22 October. A motley of British, Allied and neutral shipping loaded with military stores and raw materials for the Soviet war effort would be assembled at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, convenient for ships from both sides of the Atlantic.[1][a]

By late 1941, the convoy system used in the Atlantic had been established on the Arctic run; aconvoy commodoreensured that the ships' masters and signals officers attended a briefing before sailing to make arrangements for the management of the convoy, which sailed in a formation of long rows of short columns. The commodore was usually a retired naval officer, aboard a ship identified by a white pendant with a blue cross. The commodore was assisted by a Naval signals party of four men, who used lamps, semaphore flags and telescopes to pass signals, coded from books carried in a bag, weighted to be dumped overboard. In large convoys, the commodore was assisted by vice- and rear-commodores who directed the speed, course and zig-zagging of the merchant ships and liaised with the escort commander.[3]

Due to the losses ofConvoy PQ 18(2–21 September) in the Arctic andOperation Torch(8–16 November) in the Mediterranean, for which more than 500 ships had to be escorted, much of the BritishHome Fleetwas sent south. TheUnited StatesandBritainsuspendedArctic Convoysto theSoviet Unionfor the autumn. The US presidentFranklin D. Roosevelthad favoured sending PQ 19 but the British had replied that it would delay Torch for three weeks. Roosevelt suggested sending three smaller convoys with fewer escorts butWinston Churchillcalled this unrealistic.[4]Soviet forces were fighting theBattle of Stalingrad(23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) on theEastern Frontand the hiatus was much resented by the Soviet leadership, which judged British reasons for the cessation of Arctic convoys to be specious. the British claimed that the ceaseless Home Fleet operations amounted to a ratio of warships to convoyed merchant ships of nearly 1:1 on the Arctic run and that the British contribution to the Red Army in tanks and aircraft far exceeded that of the US.[5]

Signals intelligence

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Bletchley Park

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Main article:Ultra (cryptography)
Photograph of a German Enigma coding machine

The BritishGovernment Code and Cypher School(GC&CS) based atBletchley Parkhoused a small industry of code-breakers andtraffic analysts.By June 1941, the GermanEnigmamachine Home Waters (Heimish) settings used by surface ships and U-boats could quickly be read. On 1 February 1942, the Enigma machines used in U-boats in the Atlantic and Mediterranean were changed but German ships and the U-boats in Arctic waters continued with the olderHeimish(Hydrafrom 1942, Dolphin to the British). By mid-1941, BritishY-stationswere able to receive and readLuftwaffeW/Ttransmissions and give advance warning ofLuftwaffeoperations.[6][7]

In 1941, naval Headache personnel with receivers to eavesdrop onLuftwaffewireless transmissions were embarked on warships and from May 1942, ships gained RAF Ycomputorparties, which sailed with cruiser admirals in command of convoy escorts, to interpretLuftwaffeW/T signals intercepted by the Headaches. The Admiralty sent details ofLuftwaffewireless frequencies, call signs and the daily local codes to the computors, which combined with their knowledge ofLuftwaffeprocedures, could glean fairly accurate details of German reconnaissance sorties. Sometimes computors predicted attacks twenty minutes before they were detected by radar.[6][7]

B-Dienst

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Main article:B-Dienst

The rival GermanBeobachtungsdienst(B-Dienst,Observation Service) of theKriegsmarineMarinenachrichtendienst(MND, Naval Intelligence Service) had broken several Admiralty codes and cyphers by 1939, which were used to helpKriegsmarineships elude British forces and provide opportunities for surprise attacks. From June to August 1940, six British submarines were sunk in the Skaggerak using information gleaned from British wireless signals. In 1941,B-Dienstread signals from the Commander in Chief Western Approaches informing convoys of areas patrolled by U-boats, enabling the submarines to move into "safe" zones.[8]B-Diensthad broken Naval Cypher No 3 in February 1942 and by March was reading up to 80 per cent of the traffic, which continued until 15 December 1943. By coincidence, the British lost access to theSharkcypher and had no information to send in Cypher No 3 which might compromise Ultra.[9]In early September,Finnish Radio Intelligencedeciphered a Soviet Air Force transmission which divulged the convoy itinerary and forwarded it to the Germans.[10]

Prelude

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Convoy hiatus

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Bear island (Bjornoya) south of Spitzbergen (Svalbard)

In the Arctic autumn, the hours of daylight diminished until by midwinter there was only twilight at noon, conditions in which convoys had the best chance of evading German aircraft, ships and U-boats. The surviving ships of PQ 18 (2–21 September 1942) were still in Soviet ports, unloaded and waiting to return. Forty ships were ready to sail to the USSR in convoy PQ 19 but this convoy operation had suspended by the British, to the dismay of the US and the anger of the USSR. The suggestion that some ships should sail independently in the meantime, gained favour and a British ship owner, J. A. Bilmeir, offered cash bonuses in advance of £100 each for officers and £50 per rating to volunteers. The Russians had also asked that two Soviet ships at anchor in Iceland be sent back independently to Archangel.[11]

Frederich Engelssailed on 11 August andBelomorkanalfollowed next day, both reaching Archangel, which increased optimism at theAdmiralty,that the slower merchant ships that had been part of PQ 19 could emulate the feat in the lengthening Arctic nights. Churchill assured Roosevelt that any ships sent would be British with volunteer crews but this was not true.[11]On 13 October, the cruiserHMSArgonautwith destroyersHMSIntrepidandObduratesailed for Archangel with a medical unit equipped for men suffering from wounds and exposure;Luftwaffereconnaissance aircraft spotted the ships but they were not attacked. On return the ships carried the aircrew and ground staff of the twoHampdentorpedo-bomber squadrons based in Russia duringOperation Oratorin September.[12]

LuftwaffeandKriegsmarine

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From 24 to 28 September, theGerman cruiserAdmiral Hipperand five destroyers conductedOperation Zarin,a sortie to mine the west coast ofNovaya Zemlya.[13]On 5 November,Admiral Hippersailed again with the 5th Destroyer Flotilla comprising Z29, Z30,Friedrich EkoldtandRichard Breitzen,after receiving information from aircraft and U-boats, that individual Allied ships were running the gauntlet through theBarents Sea.[14][15]The Germans had intended to exploit the absence of much of the Home Fleet to attack convoys withAdmiral Hipperbut the weather was too bad for its escorting destroyers and an operation againstConvoy QP 15was cancelled.[16]In November,Luftflotte5, the German air command in Norway and Finland, was ordered to transfer its Ju 88 and He 111 bombers and torpedo-bombers to the Mediterranean against Operation Torch, a decision which the British received through Ultra intercepts. Only theHeinkel 115floatplanes, suitable for torpedo attacks on stragglers and someJu 87dive-bombers remained in Norway, along with a few long-range reconnaissance aircraft to observe for the surface and U-boat forces.[17]

Operation FB

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29 October – 2 November

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See also:Operation Gearbox II
FB sailings
29 October – 2 November 1942[18]
USSR To From
Sailed 13 23
Turned
back		 3 nil
Sunk 4 1
Wrecks 1 nil
Arrived 5 22

SS Richard H. AlveyandEmpire Galliardsailed on 29 October, departing from Iceland at roughly twelve-hour [200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi)] intervals, British and American merchantmen making alternate sailings along with the Soviet vesselDekabrist,which sailed withSS John WalkerandEmpire Gilberton 20 October.SS John H. B. Latrobe,andChulmleighsailed on 31 October,SS Hugh WilliamsonandEmpire Skyon 1 November.SS William ClarkandEmpire Scottsailed on 2 November followed byDaldorchon 3 November andBriarwoodon 4 November.[19]The ships took different routes and had the protection of submarine patrols north ofBear Island.[20]Theanti-submarinetrawlersCape Palliser,Northern Pride,Northern Spraydeparted from the Clyde on 23 October for Reykjavik, arriving on 28 October to take on supplies then move to Hvalfiord to coal during the night, completing at6:00 a.m.on 29 October.[19]

2 November 1942 – 24 January 1943

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See also:SS Chulmleigh

On 2 November,Empire Gilbertwas sunk byU-586(KapitänleutnantDietrich von der Esch) off Iceland and on 4 November, reconnaissance aircraft ofKüstenfliegergruppe406 began to spot ships.Junkers Ju 88sof I/KG 30summoned to the scene, bombed and sank the Soviet shipDekabristand II/KG 30 damagedChulmleighandSSWilliam Clark,which was finished off byU-354(KapitänleutnantKarl-Heinz Herbschleb) later that day. On 5 November, aCatalinanorth of Iceland spotted and sankU-408(KorvettenkapitänReinhard von Hymmen).Chulmleighwent aground on theSørkapp(South Cape) ofSpitzbergen,the main island of Svalbard; unable to refloat and disabled by the bombing, it was abandoned and torpedoed byU-625on 16 November.[14]The crew suffered a six-week ordeal on Spitzbergen before being rescued by theFree Norwegianoccupation force. On 6 November,U-625(Oberleutnant zur SeeHans Benker) sankSSEmpire Skywhich was lost with all hands. Five British and US ships reached Russia and five Soviet ships sailing from Murmansk reached Iceland; with later sailings 22 ships arrived. The Soviet tankerDonbasswas sunk by theGerman destroyerZ27on 7 November, along with the auxiliary escort ship BO-78.[21]

Convoy QP 15

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Main article:Convoy QP 15

Convoy QP 15 (convoy commodore, Captain W. C. Meek) was a return convoy of thirty emptymerchant shipsfrom the USSR and was the last of the QP series. The convoy sailed from Archangel on 17 November with 14 US, 8 British, 7 Soviet, one Panamanian merchant ship and the rescue shipCopeland.On US ship failed to set out and another ran aground, both being too late to catch up; the rescue shipRathlinwas also left behind with a damaged rudder. The convoy had a local escort of four minesweepers and the close escort comprised a minesweeper and four corvettes; the Soviet destroyersBakuandSokrushitelnyaccompanied until 20 November. Four British destroyers from Kola accompanying the convoy detached on 26 November with fuel shortage.[22]Two British cruisers and three destroyers took station west of Bear Island and four submarines were sent to patrol nearAltenfjordto deter surface raiders. The convoy could still be routed north of Bear Island and signals intelligence had revealed the transfer of theLuftwaffebombers and torpedo-bombers to the Mediterranean.[18]

On 20 November, a gale blew up and scattered the convoy in the seasonal perpetual darkness.Bakuwas badly damaged in the storm but managed to limp back to port; a large wave hitSokrushitelnyand ripped off the stern.Luftwaffereconnaissance aircraft were grounded andKriegsmarineships stayed in port, as the British had hoped when planning the convoy. Three Soviet destroyers were sent to assistBakuand managed to rescue 187 crew from theSokrushitelnybut were not able to save the ship, which sank on 22 November. Neither of the two British groups of reinforcing destroyers found the convoy, which, west of Bear Island, had fragmented. On 23 November, theU-625torpedoed and sank the British freighterGoolistanand later in the day,U-601sank the Soviet freighterKuznets Lesov;both ships were lost with all hands. The rest of the merchant ships were reassembled in two groups and arrived inLoch Ewein the north of Scotland on 30 November and 3 December.[23]

Aftermath

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Analysis

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Three ships for north Russia were ordered to turn back after a U-boat sighting, four were sunk, one was wrecked and five arrived safely. On the return journey, 23 ships sailed for Iceland, one was sunk and 22 arrived.[11]In 1956, the British naval official historian,Stephen Roskill,wrote that,

These independent sailings were more successful than some people had expected.[18]

The tactic of independent voyages resembled the "patrol and independent sailings" of theFirst World War,which in 2004, Richard Woodman called an "absurd expedient" that was "quite useless".[20]A similar initiative in early 1943 by the Soviet authorities for ships independently to make the westward journey, suffered one loss from 23 sailings. QP 15, the last of the PQ–QP convoys had departed Archangel on 17 November and arrived at Loch Ewe on 30 November. Subsequent convoys were given the codes JW for convoys to the USSR and RA for the return journey.[24]

Ships

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Eastbound

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Eastbound sailings, 1942[25][b]
Name Flag GRT Sailed Notes
Briarwood[26] UK 4,019 4 November[19] To USSR
Daldorch[26] UK 5,571 3 November[19]
SS John H. B. Latrobe[26] US 7,176[19] 31 October[19]
Empire Gilbert UK 6,640 30 October[19] Sunk byU-586
SSDekabrist USSR 7,363 30 October[19] Bombed and sunk by I/KG 30
SS William Clark US 7,167 2 November[19] Bombed by II/KG 30, sunk byU-354
Empire Sky UK 7,445 1 November[19] Sunk byU-625
Chulmleigh UK 5,445 31 October[19] Grounded South Cape,Spitzbergen,abandoned, bombed by II/KG 30; torpedoed and bombarded byU-62516 November
SS John Walker[26] US 7,176 30 October[19]
SS Richard H. Alvey[26] US 7,176 29 October[19]
SS Hugh Williamson[26] US 7,176 1 November[19]
Empire Scott[26] UK 6,150 2 November[19]
Empire Galliard[26] UK 7,170 29 October[19]

Soviet FB sailings

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Soviet independent sailings, 1942[27][c]
Name Sailed Arrived Notes
Mussoviet 29 October 7 November Eastbound to USSR
Azerbaijan 31 October 9 November
Chernyshevsky 2 November 11 November
Donbass 4 November 7 November Sunk 7 November byGerman destroyerZ27[25]
Komsomolets Arctiki 14 November 24 November
Dvina 24 November 5 December
Mironich 25 November 5 December
Yelina 25 November 5 December

Other independent Soviet sailings

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From 29 October 1942 – 24 January 1943, of the 23 ships sailing from the USSR, 22 arrived.[26](Data for this section taken from Ruegg and Hague (1993) unless indicated.)[26]

  • Aldan
  • ElnaII
  • Kara
  • Krasnoe Znamya
  • Kuzbass
  • Msta
  • OB
  • Okhta
  • Osmussaar
  • Sakko
  • Sheksna
  • Shilka
  • Soroka
  • Uritski
  • Vanzetti
  • Vetluga

Notes

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  1. ^By the end of 1941, 187Matilda IIand 249Valentine tankshad been delivered, comprising 25 per cent of the medium-heavy tanks in the Red Army and 30–40 per cent of the medium-heavy tanks defending Moscow. In December 1941, 16 per cent of the fighters defending Moscow wereHawker HurricanesandCurtiss Tomahawksfrom Britain and by 1 January 1942, 96 Hurricane fighters were flying in theSoviet Air Forces(Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily,VVS). The British supplied radar apparatus, machine tools,Asdicand other commodities.[2]
  2. ^Data for this section taken from Rohwer and Hümmelchen (2005) unless indicated.[25]
  3. ^Data taken from Hutson unless indicated[27]

Footnotes

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  1. ^Woodman 2004,p. 14.
  2. ^Edgerton 2011,p. 75.
  3. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 22–23.
  4. ^Woodman 2004,p. 296.
  5. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 296–297.
  6. ^abMacksey 2004,pp. 141–142.
  7. ^abHinsley 1994,pp. 141, 145–146.
  8. ^Kahn 1973,pp. 238–241.
  9. ^Budiansky 2000,pp. 250, 289.
  10. ^FIB 1996.
  11. ^abcWoodman 2004,pp. 296–298.
  12. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 305–306.
  13. ^Rohwer & Hummelchen 1972,p. 245.
  14. ^abRohwer & Hummelchen 1972,p. 272.
  15. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 299–300.
  16. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 307–308.
  17. ^PRO 2001,p. 115.
  18. ^abcRoskill 1962,p. 289.
  19. ^abcdefghijklmnopHutson 2006,p. 23.
  20. ^abWoodman 2004,pp. 298–299.
  21. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 298–300;Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005,p. 207.
  22. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 306–307.
  23. ^Woodman 2004,pp. 307–309.
  24. ^Ruegg & Hague 1993,pp. 46–48.
  25. ^abcRohwer & Hümmelchen 2005,p. 207.
  26. ^abcdefghijRuegg & Hague 1993,p. 46.
  27. ^abHutson 2006,p. 133.

References

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  • Budiansky, S. (2000).Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II.New York: The Free Press (Simon & Schuster).ISBN0-684-85932-7– via Archive Foundation.
  • Edgerton, D.(2011).Britain's War Machine: Weapons, Resources and Experts in the Second World War.London: Allen Lane.ISBN978-0-7139-9918-1.
  • Hinsley, F. H. (1994) [1993].British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations.History of the Second World War (2nd rev. abr. ed.). London:HMSO.ISBN978-0-11-630961-7.
  • Hutson, H. C. (2006).Arctic Interlude: Independent to North Russia.Bennington, VA: Merriam Press.ISBN978-1-57638-118-2.
  • Kahn, D. (1973) [1967].The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing(10th abr. Signet, Chicago ed.). New York: Macmillan.LCCN63-16109.OCLC78083316.
  • Macksey, K.(2004) [2003].The Searchers: Radio Intercept in two World Wars(Cassell Military Paperbacks ed.). London: Cassell.ISBN978-0-304-36651-4.
  • Rohwer, J.; Hummelchen, G. (1972).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945 (1939–1942).Vol. I. London: Ian Allan.ISBN0-7110-0277-0.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972].Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two(3rd rev. ed.). London: Chatham.ISBN1-86176-257-7.
  • Roskill, S. W. (1962) [1956].The Period of Balance.History of the Second World War:The War at Sea 1939–1945. Vol. II (3rd impr. ed.). London:HMSO.OCLC174453986.
  • Ruegg, Bob; Hague, Arnold (1993) [1992].Convoys to Russia(2nd rev. exp. pbk. ed.). Kendal: World Ship Society.ISBN978-0-905617-66-4.
  • The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force(repr. Public Record Office War Histories ed.). Richmond, Surrey: Air Ministry. 2001 [1948].ISBN978-1-903365-30-4.Air 41/10.
  • Woodman, Richard (2004) [1994].Arctic Convoys 1941–1945.London: John Murray.ISBN978-0-7195-5752-1.

Websites

Further reading

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