The Battle of the Barents Sea was a World War II naval engagement on 31 December 1942 between warships of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) and British ships escorting Convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The action took place in the Barents Sea north of North Cape, Norway. The German raiders' failure to inflict significant losses on the convoy infuriated Hitler, who ordered that German naval strategy would henceforth concentrate on the U-boat fleet rather than surface ships.
HMS Orwell was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that entered service in 1942 and was broken up in 1965.
HMS Onslow was an O-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. The O-class were intermediate destroyers, designed before the outbreak of the Second World War to meet likely demands for large number of destroyers. They had a main gun armament of four 4.7 in guns, and had a design speed of 36 kn. Onslow was ordered on 2 October 1939 and was built by John Brown & Company at their Clydebank, Glasgow shipyard, launching on 31 March 1941 and completing on 8 October 1941.
Convoy PQ 2 was the third of the Arctic Convoys of the Second World War by which the Western Allies supplied the Soviet Union after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion, which began on 22 June 1941. The convoy sailed from Scapa Flow and arrived safely at Archangelsk.
PQ 13 was a British Arctic convoy that delivered war supplies from the Western Allies to the USSR during World War II. The convoy was subject to attack by German air, U-boat and surface forces and suffered the loss of five ships, plus one escort vessel. Fifteen ships arrived safely.
Operation FB took place as part of the Arctic Convoys of the Second World War. The operation consisted of independent sailings by unescorted merchant ships between Iceland and Murmansk. In late 1942, the Allies had taken the offensive against Germany but the dispatch of supplies to the USSR by convoy via the Arctic route was suspended, due to the demands of the Mediterranean campaign. Convoy PQ 19 was cancelled because the Home Fleet diverted ships to the Mediterranean for Operation Torch which would have had to be postponed for three weeks had ships been provided for Convoy PQ 19.
Operation Rainbow was a 1942 sortie into the Arctic Ocean by warships of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. The operation culminated in the Battle of the Barents Sea.
Convoy PQ 15 was an Arctic convoy sent from Iceland by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The convoy sailed in late April 1942, reaching the Soviet northern ports after air attacks that sank three ships out of twenty-five.
Convoy PQ 14 was an Arctic convoy sent from Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Convoys from Britain had been despatched since August 1941 and advantage had been taken of the perpetual darkness of the Arctic winter. German operations against the convoys had been muted due to the need to support Operation Barbarossa, confidence in imminent victory and the small size of the convoys. In late 1941 and early 1942 the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine had reinforced Norway with aircraft and ships.
Convoy PQ 12 was an Arctic convoy sent from Reykjavík in Iceland by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during the Second World War. It sailed 1 March 1942, reaching Murmansk on 12 March 1942 for no losse despite a sortie against it by the Tirpitz.
Convoy JW 58 was an Arctic convoy sent from Great Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during World War II. It sailed in March 1944, reaching the Soviet northern ports in early April. All ships arrived safely. JW 58 was attacked by German U-boat and aircraft but suffered no losses. Three U-boats were destroyed and six aircraft were shot down during these operations.
Convoy JW 55A was an Arctic convoy sent from Great Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during World War II. It sailed in December 1943, reaching the Soviet northern ports at the end of the month. All ships arrived safely.
Convoy JW 55B was an Arctic convoy sent from Great Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during World War II. It sailed in late December 1943, reaching the Soviet northern ports at the end of the month. All ships arrived safely.
Convoy RA 55A was an Arctic convoy during World War II. It was one of a series of convoys run to return Allied ships from Soviet northern ports to ports in Britain. It sailed in late December 1943, reaching British ports at the end of the month. All ships arrived safely.
Convoy JW 54B was an Arctic convoy sent from Great Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during World War II. It sailed in late November 1943, reaching the Soviet northern ports at the end of the month. All ships arrived safely.
Convoy JW 51A was an Arctic convoy sent from Great Britain by the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during World War II. It sailed in December 1942, reaching the Soviet northern ports at the end of the month. Convoy JW 51A was not detected or attacked by German forces and arrived without loss.
Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt was a Type 1934A-class destroyer built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in the late 1930s. It was named after Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Eckoldt (1887–1916), the commander of torpedo boat V 48, who was killed when his boat was sunk during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.
HMS Bramble was a Halcyon-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy, which was commissioned in 1939, just before the Second World War. During the war she served as a minesweeper in the North Sea, and then on Russian convoys until sunk in the Battle of the Barents Sea on 31 December 1942 by the German cruiser Admiral Hipper and the destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt.
Arctic naval operations of World War II were the World War II naval operations that took place in the Arctic Ocean, and can be considered part of the Battle of the Atlantic and/or of the European Theatre of World War II.
Convoy QP 15 was one of the Arctic convoys of World War II the last of the QP series from northern Russia to Britain which ran during the Second World War to return Allied ships to home ports. The convoy sailed from the Kola Inlet on 17 November 1942. It was scattered by a storm in which the Soviet destroyer Sokrushitelny was hit from behind by a big wave and foundered after two days' rescue attempts. The convoy was attacked by U-boats of the Kriegsmarine that sank two of the merchant ships. The convoy reached its destination at Loch Ewe on 30 November 1942.
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