HMS Niger (J73)

HMS Niger was a of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1936 and was sunk during the Second World War. On 5 July 1942, the vessel sailed into a minefield while escorting Convoy QP 13 and struck one of the mines, later sinking with only eight survivors.

Service history

In fog on 5 July 1942 Niger mistook an iceberg for Iceland's North Western Cape and led six merchant ships of Murmansk to Reykjavík convoy QP 13 into Northern Barrage minefield SN72 laid one month earlier at the entrance to the Denmark Strait. Every ship detonated British mines. There were no crewmen lost aboard the Soviet freighter Rodina, the Panamanian-flagged freighter Exterminator, or the American freighter Hybert ; but 46 civilian crew and 9 Naval Armed Guards died aboard the American Liberty ship John Randolph and freighters Hefron and Massmar ; and there were only eight survivors of the 127 men aboard Niger. Only Exterminator could be salvaged. The value of the Northern Barrage was questioned following the accident.