Convoy QP 13
Convoy QP 13 was an Arctic convoy of the PQ/QP series which ran during the Second World War. It was the thirteenth of the numbered series of convoys of merchant ships westbound from the Arctic ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk to the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America.
Ships
Convoy QP 13 consisted of 35 merchant ships, most of which had arrived with Convoy PQ 16. The convoy commodore was Capt. N. H. Gale Royal Navy Reserve in Empire Selwyn. Most of the ships were returning empty after delivering war material to the Soviet Union, but some Soviet ships carried cargoes of export timber. Convoy QP 13 was escorted by five destroyers,,,, and ; two Anti submarine warfare minesweepers, and and four corvettes,, and. The close escort was supplemented by the anti-aircraft ship and the trawlers and.The convoy sailed simultaneously with eastbound convoy PQ 17 for both convoys to benefit from the heavy covering force of the British aircraft carrier, the battleship, the cruisers and and the destroyers,,,,, and with the American battleship and destroyers and. The covering force was commanded by Admiral John Tovey aboard the flagship Duke of York.
Voyage
Convoy QP 13 left Arkhangelsk on 26 June 1942 reinforced by a local escort of the Soviet destroyers, and with the British destroyer and the s,, and. The local escort was replaced on 29 June by an anti-aircraft escort of destroyers, and. On 30 June German air reconnaissance found Convoy QP 13 north of North Cape, Norway. 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. The Hunt-class destroyers detached on 4 July when Convoy QP 13 was out of range of German bombers.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 the Northern Barrage minefield, SN72, laid one month earlier at the entrance to the Denmark Strait. All seven ships detonated naval mines and there were only eight survivors of the 127 men aboard Niger; of the freighters, only Exterminator could be salvaged. No crewmen were lost from Exterminator, Hybert and Rodina but one crewman died abandoning Hefron, five men drowned when John Randolph broke in two and Massmar sank with 17 merchant seamen, 5 Naval Armed Guards and the 26 survivors she was carrying from the sinking of Alamar in Convoy PQ 16. The surviving ships destined for Reykjavík were escorted into port on 7 July by St Elstan and Lady Madeleine.