Convoy JW 51B
- Oskar Kummetz
Air Fleet 5:
- Hans -Jürgen Stumpff
U- boats:
- Karl Doenitz
- R. A. Melhuish
Nahsicherung:
- Robert Sherbrooke
Force R:
Remote backup:
- John Tovey
Kampfgruppe:
- 2 Heavy Cruisers
- 6 destroyers
U- boats:
- 4 U - boats
Nahsicherung:
- 6 destroyers
- 2 corvettes
- 1 minesweeper
- 2 armed trawler
Force R:
- 2 light cruisers
- 2 destroyers
Remote backup:
JW 51B was the designation of an allied North Sea convoy, which expired in late December 1942 to transport supplies for the Red Army from Britain to Murmansk by the North Sea. The convoy was attacked by a battle group of the Navy, which subsequently became known battle with the security of the ships safe passage as the Battle of the Barents Sea.
- 2.1 Battle of the Barents Sea
- 2.2 Arrival of the convoy
- 3.1 Literature
- 3.2 External links
- 3.3 Notes and references
Installation, discovery
Unlike the previous convoys with the ID " PQ ", which had expired by Iceland, ran out with the " JW " identifier of Loch Ewe in Scotland. The new route led them closer to the bases of German armed forces - the northern route that the PQ convoys had taken, however, was because of the pack ice, which shifted south in the winter, impassable.
The ships of the JW- 51B gathered in Loch Ewe and ran on 22 December 1942 destination Murmansk. It included 15 merchant ships, nine American, five under British and a Panamanian flag, led by Commodore Captain RA Melhuish of the Royal Indian Navy on the freighter Empire Archer.
The protection of the freighter ensured the security convoy under Captain Robert Sherbrooke, the six destroyers, two corvettes, minesweepers and a two armed trawlers were under.
" Force R " under Rear Admiral Robert Burnett with the cruisers HMS Sheffield, HMS Jamaica, and two destroyers was intended as a safeguard against possible over- water attacks for the second part of the convoy route and should be coming from Murmansk on December 29, meeting, with the Association.
The remote backup was responsible until the handover to " Force R " on December 29, an association of the Home Fleet under Admiral John Tovey with the battleship HMS Anson, the heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland and five destroyers.
Discovery and march
The preparation of the convoy was reported by German agents at an early stage, the convoy itself was discovered on December 24 by a reconnaissance plane and shaded despite the bad weather on 27 and 28 of other aircraft, the composition and backup sent to their implementing agencies. The destroyer HMS Oribi from the backup group had already lost the convoy at the level of Bear Island in a storm, so that he was no longer at that time was to protect the trade ships. A cargo ship, sailing under the British flag Dover Hill, had to turn back due to engine damage.
On the 29th the German submarine U -354 came within sight approached the convoy and gave radio the already leaked battle group with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and the pocket battleship Lützow its position before it was pushed by the escort fuse.
Battle and rescue the convoy
Battle of the Barents Sea
On December 31, at 8:30 clock the sailors in the lookout of the destroyer HMS Obdurate and the corvette HMS Hyderabad discovered the faint shadow of destroyers in the fog. They held first for Soviet ships. To resolve the ambiguous situation, sent Captain Sherbrooke is Obdurate to identify the ships. The unknown units were the German destroyer Friedrich Eckholt, Z -29 and Richard Beitzen that opened up at 9:30 clock fire on the Obdurate.
The German task force had previously shared. While the group around the cruiser Admiral Hipper in adverse visibility conditions, the escort fuse pulled up and distracted, the association tried to the battleship Lützow, track down the fleeing convoy of merchant ships to sink the ships. This plan failed, however, because the merchant ships were not attacked between fog banks, snowstorms in the twilight of the Arctic winter.
Instead, the German ships became entangled in a battle with the security convoy and the hurrying light cruisers of the " Force R " before they finally gave up the attack. Two ships of the convoy security, the destroyer HMS Achates and the minesweeper HMS Bramble had been sunk.
Arrival of the convoy
JW- 51B reached without further losses on 3 January 1943, the Kola Bay. The 14 remaining merchant ships delivered:
- 2,046 vehicles
- 202 tanks
- 87 fighter aircraft
- 33 bomber
- 11,500 tons of fuel
- 12,650 tonnes of jet fuel
- 54,321 tonnes of other cargo