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A Convoy To Russia - September 1942 (Part One)

by jubilantLottie24

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jubilantLottie24
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Royal Navy
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A4521755
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22 July 2005

A Convoy to Russia — September 1942

Part One

This is the story of a convoy to Russia in September 1942. The convoy, known as PQ18, followed the infamous disaster of PQ17 in July. This occurred because the German battleship, Tirpitz, was erroneously thought to be at sea with a view to attacking the convoy. As a result, the First Sea Lord at the time, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, gave the order for the convoy to scatter. This meant the merchant ships diverging and increasing to full speed, subsequent action being left to the discretion of each ship's captain. The Royal Navy escorts also scattered, many going north east or east, usually too fast for the merchant ships to keep up for protection. The convoy became defenceless, to be picked off piecemeal by German U-boats and aircraft. Only a quarter of the ships got through; down went 430 tanks, 210 aircraft (in crates), 3350 vehicles and 99,316 tons of other supplies. In the circumstances, the awful loss of 153 merchant seamen could have been even worse. Contrary to the Royal Navy, the Merchant Navy seems to have behaved impeccably and bravely in the nightmare situation. I don't know how unwell Admiral Pound was at the time (he died in October 1943) but, according to Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke's diaries, he increasingly fell asleep at the Chiefs of Staff meetings. I certainly do not think that he was ever regarded as an eminent tactician.

I will later refer to Russian behaviour, but it is not surprising that Stalin said to Churchill in the Kremlin in August 1942 'This is the first time in history that the British Navy has ever turned tail and fled from the battle. You British are afraid of fighting. You should not think the Germans are supermen. You will have to fight sooner or later'. Stalin was of course solely, as always, seeing everything from the Russian point of view and in the summer of 1942 the military situation for the Soviet Union was critical. And Stalin had already started his second front nagging. Whether or not for this reason, Churchill was a leading advocate of the convoys of raw materials to Russia.

As a result of the PQ17 fiasco, convoys planned later in July, August and September were initially cancelled, but the September convoy was resuscitated largely at the behest of Winston Churchill. So my story begins.

After initial training at HMS Collingwood, a land based training establishment, I went to Portsmouth barracks in the Spring of 1942 to await a ship. Very soon, I was lining up as part of the draft for a new light cruiser being commissioned at Greenock, HMS Scylla. During the line-up, a petty officer asked whether there were any CW (commission warrant) candidates. Like the naive artless 18 year old I then was, I held up my hand. This was stupid because it marked me out as a possible officer candidate and so much less acceptable to the boys as one of them. We boarded a train in Portsmouth and slowly made our way up to Greenock, during which time we were all seen by an officer and allocated our function on the ship. I was to be a shell loader in one of the forward gun turrets at action stations, otherwise a boatswain's mate doing 4 hours on 8 hours off standing by the gangway to greet arrivals and departures and making announcements over the ship's relay system. I thought this sounded a good number until life on board started, when there were, as a new ship and crew, a lot of gunnery practices. Whereas such a practice would be the main job for the day of the rest of the gun team concerned, I then had to go and do my 4 hour stint in the rota. After one particularly arduous day when I don't think we once hit a towed target, I went to the mess deck to get a drink of water during the midnight watch .. and woke up on a bench being shaken by a furious leading seaman who was the senior boatswain's mate on duty. After a rollicking, which included swear words I had never even heard before, he very sportingly did not report me to the Officer of the Watch: Had he done so, I would almost certainly have lost my CW status for the heinous offence of being asleep on duty. One of my duties when on the 0400 to 0800 watch was to shake the ship's baker at 0500, which invariably involved swinging his hammock until he nearly fell out. He always seemed to be aroused when one shook him and I swear that he had the same vest and pants on in the whole of the 5 months I was aboard. My appearance, incidentally, on the first night on Scylla standing by my hammock in pyjamas was greeted with demented and paranoid laughter and hisses mixed with ribald and licentious remarks usually beginning 'Gor, lofty ...' and then making unrepeatable suggestions.

We worked up around the Clyde and the Isle of Aran, and then went to Scapa Flow. Here my mess deck promotion and niche in the hall of matelot popularity started. Shore leave in Scapa was something like 1 pm to 4pm, and one could only buy booze by rationed tickets acquired on board. I did not drink so was happy for anyone to have my tickets, a highly unusual phenomenum. Many a sailor's idea of fun ashore was to drown more pints of beer in the 3 hours or whatever than anyone else on board. We went between ship and the shore quay in an old drifter. Many a sailor returning from his beer session got on to the quay but at the end just went on walking. The drifter's crew were experts with their boat hooks on hearing the splash. The skill of mates bringing a sodden (in both senses of the word) chum aboard carried upright between them up a gangway without stumbling was the very essence of sailor loyalty and camaraderie. I might just add that I greatly enjoyed my 6 months as an ordinary seaman, especially for the humour of lower deck life. One of my jobs aboard was to help some of the crew write letters to munition factory ladies who left their name and address in the cases in which shells were brought on board. Most of our writers used false names like Montague Whaler (which is the name for a type of naval boat which most ships have), Ivor Beard, John Thomas, Blew Funnel, Turner Port, Rowlock Oars (rowlocks are what the oars rest in), Archie Angel, Murphy O'Mansk (my favourite). Crew letters were censored by the officers, but so far as I knew they let the letters go, except I suspect the lewd ones. Ships had a PO Box number. I left the ship before I knew of any replies from the munition ladies.

There was a lot of coming and going of ships and senior officers after we got to Scapa Flow, resulting in our being told that we were to be the flagship on a Russian convoy of Rear Admiral Burnett, a jovial rugged man, apparently affectionately known to his friends as Uncle Bob, but I am sure I heard someone on Scylla calling him Bullshit Bob. He was however experienced in Arctic convoy work. Scylla was a bit of a one-off in that of the 12 ships of the Dido class, it was one of, I think, only two which were converted during construction to be an anti-aircraft ship rather than a conventional cruiser engaging surface stuff. Heaven knows why but the gun turrets were open, perhaps because we had 4.5in AA guns instead of 5.25in normals. I stood at the back of the turret lifting the quite heavy shells from the magazine hoist on to a tray from which the shell was shoved into the gun barrel. In other words, pretty awful manhandling stuff compared to the totally automatic loading of modern large weaponry. I hate to think what such gun turrets would have been like in a severe Arctic winter, if indeed they could have been usable at all with the ice which could build up on the ship especially forward. Even in September, I had thick gloves on and, amongst other things, thigh-length socks knitted for me by a bonnie lass I met in Greenock (is Scotland that cold!). I lost her address and we never went back to Greenock so I still wonder whether she ever finished the polo neck pullover she said she had started in the same wool as the socks. I wonder what it would have weighed! As it is, I think I could have got both legs into one sock.

Before 2nd September, 39 merchant ships had arrived in Loch Ewe, up in Ross and Cromarty, and they sailed that day escorted by 6 destroyers and 5 trawlers of the Western Approaches Command. The Iceland rendezvous was reached on 7th September when the escort duties were taken over by -
2 destroyers: Achates and Malcolm;
4 corvettes: Bergamot, Bluebell, Bryony and Camellia
3 minesweepers: Harrier, Gleaner and Sharpshooter;
4 trawlers: Cape Argona, Cape Mariato, Daneman and St Kenan;
2 anti-aircraft ships: Alynbank and Ulster Queen;
and 2 submarines: P614 and P615 (I could never work out their function).

The convoy Commodore, who had the rather unlikely name of Boddam-Whetham (ex Rear Admiral) had quite a difficult job with the 20 US ships in particular in regard to signals and station-keeping since they simply had had little experience of war convoy work. Apart from the US and 10 British ships, there were 6 Russians and 3 Panamanians (What, flags of convenience even in 1942?)

We in Scylla had, as yet, no scares but the escort-carrier Avenger which rendezvoused with the convoy off Iceland had had a torrrid journey north, having lost one plane overboard in rough weather and had her engines pack up owing to dirty fuel. Like Scylla, Avenger was new and untried. She carried 12 Hurricane fighters and 3 Swordfish, an unbelievable old stringbag. (When a squadron attacked the Bismarck the German gunners just could not believe or adjust to its speed of not much more than 100 mph and I think all returned safely). Avenger was basically a merchant ship's hull with a flight deck on top, built in the States. Throughout, she had her own escort of 2 destroyers. Ironically, her Hurricanes were early Mark Is, lacking heavy gun power; the convoy carried the very latest Mark Xs and Xls for the Russians.

With the convoy plodding on, Scylla put into Seidisfjord in NE Iceland, and very surprisingly a watch was allowed ashore for a few hours. I was not one of the lucky ones. Most of them were guided by the local Icelanders to a building in which a dance was set up for them. Apart from the Wrens in Scapa Flow, the crew had not seen a woman since leaving Greenock two months or so ago. I don't know whether it is always so, but on this occasion at least the Icelandic ladies danced embracingly and come-hitherly, and seemed without exception to be shapely, well-endowed beauties. Or at least that is how the shoregoers saw them. It was fortunate for efficiency that we did not immediately go into action, since no naval rating in those days would refrain from favourably reacting to close feminine contact. In my later naval days, I was on an MTB which put into a tiny port in Bideford Bay called Appledore. The naval base was run by a retired Admiral, brought back for war service. We had been told that it was renowned for having the best-looking bunch of Wrens in any naval base, personally selected by the Admiral. Whether or not this was right, they were exceptionally attractive. My CO cleverly but falsely found a defect in the starboard outer engine, so we had an additional night in Appledore.

I don't remember how long we stayed in Seidisfjord, maybe half a day, but I do recall that we lost an anchor on leaving which wasn't thought to be a good omen. Sailors tend to be quite superstitious.

Before the full enemy assault was thought to be likely, we and some destroyer escorts disappeared off to Spitzbergen to refuel. Two tankers and a Navy vessel as guardship lay in Axelfjord. Pumps and hoses worked full time, and we left at 0400, it now being 13th September. Spitzbergen seemed to be nothing but -rock and snow - what a place to be stuck in we all thought.

Meanwhile, German aircraft and U-boats had been shadowing the convoy whose speed was a mere 8 knots. When visibility was reasonable, one could see the enemy aircraft, but they were too far away to be shot at, whilst the Hurricanes were avoided by their climbing into cloud. Most days were dull and overcast; winds tended to be north-westerly and light to moderate, and some snow or sleet showers. In other words, it was bloody cold.

By the time we got back to the convoy, it had its first casualty, a Russian freighter (Stalingrad), struck by torpedo, followed by a US vessel (Oliver Ellsworth) sunk by the same U-boat.

I might here mention the layout of the convoy. It consisted of 4 horizontal rows of merchant ships, each with 10 ships except the fourth line which had 8 vessels and the 2 anti-aircraft ships in it. Five more merchant ships were in a rear fifth line. Ahead of the merchant ships were spread 8 naval ships with Scylla just immediately ahead of the first line of merchant ships which included the Commodore's. To the rear were spread
18 warships, including Avenger and her 2 escorts.

Almost immediately upon our return on the 13th a high-level bombing attack took place through breaks in the cloud cover, and then what was intended by the Germans to be the coup de grace ... the assassination ... the ultimate stratagem.

Aside from the reconnaissance aircraft, the Germans clearly knew a lot about the defence of the convoy. It was subsequently discovered that 2 squadrons of RAF Hampden bombers had been flown to North Russia to provide an anti-ship strike force. The Hampden was a twin engined light bomber of pretty moderate ability and speed, so it is not surprising that 5 of them were lost in transit. On 5th September, one of them crashed in the top part of Norway. The crew neglected to destroy the aircraft, which carried papers about the composition of the escort, which greatly facilitated the German deployment of their aircraft and U-boats.

We had been at action stations for many hours, with all the logistic problems of feeding and going to the loo. In an open turret I could at least look out and get some idea of what was going on, but it was no fun for those stuck below deck, such as in the engine room or the shell magazines.

I heard the leading seaman gun layer excitedly say 'I don't effing-well believe it - the effers are everywhere .. stand by to fire ... cor I don't believe this.' A score of Junkers 88s had done the high-level diversionary bombing. They hit no ships but created some disruption in the order of the convoy, which was no doubt one of their intentions. I now saw that spread across the skyline were 28 Heinkel 111s in two waves, 18 Junkers 88s, backed up by another 17 Junkers 88s. The aircraft were only about 20 feet above sea level and attacked into the right hand head of the convoy, disregarding the escort screen and so going for the merchant ships. The Commodore ordered a 45 degree turn to starboard so as to face the enemy aircraft and make slimmer targets, but the right hand columns failed to respond. The enemy planes were in line abreast not much more than 100 yards apart and dropped their torpedoes, often two per plane, within a mile or so, having maintained their position despite the intense barrage put up by all the ships. Some then flew down the convoy, which took more guts; their low-level approach and flying resulted in some gunfire hitting our own ships.

Inevitably merchant vessels were hit and sunk - three from the most starboard column (out of the 10 columns), three from the column next to it, and two from different central columns. Two more air attacks were made on the 13th, late afternoon and in the evening but there were no sinkings. I have always thought it incredible that the torpedo attacks only sunk eight ships bearing in mind that probably about 40/50 torpedos were dropped by the aircraft which got through the warship screen.

J.D. Nightingirl
22nd July 2005

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These messages were added to this story by site members between June 2003 and January 2006. It is no longer possible to leave messages here. Find out more about the site contributors.

Message 1 - HMS Scylla.

Posted on: 23 July 2005 by SID BROWNE

To J.D.Nightingirl ex HMS Scylla.
I read your account of the Arctic Convoy when aboard HMS Scylla. Would you remember an old mate of mine by the name of AB Arthur Comer who served on board the Scylla? I lost touch with him after the end of WW2.
Cheers. Sid Browne. (ex RN)

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Message 2 - HMS Scylla.

Posted on: 23 July 2005 by jubilantLottie24

Thank you for your message to my father, J.D. Nightingirl. I posted his writing for him since he does not have a computer. He is away for the weekend but I will contact him on Monday to answer your request. All the best. Elisabeth Nightingirl

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Message 3 - HMS Scylla.

Posted on: 26 July 2005 by jubilantLottie24

I have contacted my father who apologises but he doesn't remember you friend AB Arthur Comer. My father spent most of his time on watch so did not get the chance to mix with the other crew as much as he would have liked. He sends you his very best wishes.

Elizabeth Nightingirl

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