PQ17: An Artic Convoy Disaster

Norman_Conquest

Norman_Conquest

Well-known member
I've just watched this documentary narrated by Jeremy Clarkson on BBC Four and would recommend it. I am not a lover of Clarkson but he is good at getting his point over in these programmes.

I think it was recorded in 2014 but well worth a watch if you like WW2 history.

Edit: The story of PQ17, a convoy supplying Russia via the Arctic Ocean during WW2. On 27 June 1942 it set sail from Iceland with 35 merchant ships and a large escorting force. Due to indecisiveness and ineptness at the highest level, 24 of those merchant ships were sunk, a maritime disaster of monumental proportions.
 
That's the one where the RN escort ships were all told to turn around for some stupid, unfathomable reason and left the convoy to their fate. Shocking.

The ship who sat still for a couple of days, camouflaged, then snook into the Russian port was pretty ingenious. Or lucky. Or both.

My wife's great uncle was on the Atlantic convoys.......sunk by the Scharnhorst and a PoW as a 17 yr old. And he was one of the lucky ones. Brave men.
 
Fascinating that boro lad, thanks for posting. Must check the documentary out now.
 
As an aside, there was a famous Mediterranean convoy which sailed for the battle of Malta. I think they made a film of this one. Several ships were sunk by U boats, but those few that made it saved the island from disaster.
 
Yeah, they managed to get the Ohio in to port, it was half sunk, but full of aviation fuel and petrol to keep the air defence operating.

U-Boats and air attacks were pretty constant for the sailing from Gibralter.
 
Some of these documentarys are good but they always seem to have to apportion blame, as you would if it was a peacetime event with health and safety implications (See also Operation Tiger / Slapton Sands).
People were at full stretch and made the wrong decision. Even hindsight doesn't offer a right decision sometimes and they were up against it.
I collected my dad's Arctic Star some time after he passed. I had to check his eligibility because he never talked about it.
 
My father in law served on aircraft carriers in the Arctic Convoys.
He was a bicycle mechanic on civvy street. Apparently this qualified him to repair and service aircraft. He never spoke much about it and it only came to light when the Northern Echo did an article about the coincidence of 5 ex sailors all living on the same road within 200 yards of each other. This was in 1992 ish
 
My grandad was torpedoed in the Med during the war.

He was on the SS Grelhead, sunk by U 562 in 41. Grandad couldn’t swim, and yet only him and a boy (cabin boy type thing) survived. He was a stoker and was off watch. All he can remember was a big bang and then bobbing about in the sea, he wasn’t really sure how he got there.

He clung to a piece of wreckage for a couple of days before finally being rescued by a Spanish fishing boat and taken to North Africa. From there, after an interview with the embassy MI5 guy, he was repatriated home.
 
NZBoro1 said:
My grandad was torpedoed in the Med during the war.

He was on the SS Grelhead, sunk by U 562 in 41. Grandad couldn’t swim, and yet only him and a boy (cabin boy type thing) survived. He was a stoker and was off watch. All he can remember was a big bang and then bobbing about in the sea, he wasn’t really sure how he got there.

He clung to a piece of wreckage for a couple of days before finally being rescued by a Spanish fishing boat and taken to North Africa. From there, after an interview with the embassy MI5 guy, he was repatriated home.
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Love that NZ, absolutely incredible
 
The we have ways podcast did a great little series on Convoys! last November/December, focussing step by step on convoy HX231.

Also the Battle of the North Cape (the dramatic sinking of Scharnhorst) which they put out in January is a belter for anyone interested in the WW2 naval conflict.
 
I had 2 Uncles who were in the Merchant Navy and sailed the Atlantic convoys. The youngest brother Tommy was torpedoed on his first ship and was lost at sea. The oldest brother George was torpedoed and rescued 3 times and lived to a ripe old age.
 
Malta was vicious, but it did not last as long. Fall into the Arctic sea and you are soon dead too.
 
Redwurzel said:
Malta was vicious, but it did not last as long. Fall into the Arctic sea and you are soon dead too.
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A lot of the convoys couldn’t afford to slow down to rescue people and become sitting ducks.

Malta had ships coming from Alexandria and Gibralter and were getting smashed to pieces everywhere.

I was listening to one of Dan Snows podcasts about the Indianapolis. The story of the sea plane that rescued a canny few lads from a shark attack was a great story I wasn’t familiar with.
 
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