QP 11 consisted of 13 merchant ships, mostly British or American, including five ships that had been a part of Convoy PQ 13. The convoy sailed from the Soviet port of Murmansk on 28 April 1942. The convoy was escorted by the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh, the destroyersHMSAmazon, Beagle, Beverley, Bulldog, Foresight and HMSForester, the Flower-classcorvettesCampanula, Oxlip, Saxifrage and Snowflake, with the armed trawlerHMSLord Middleton. Edinburgh was an escort and carried $20 million in gold, a payment from the Soviet Union to the United States.[1]
Voyage
On 29 April, the convoy was spotted by a German Junkers Ju 88 reconnaissance aircraft and U-boats.[2] On 30 April, two days out from Murmansk, U-88 and U-436 made attacks on the convoy to no effect.[3] Later that day, U-456 hit Edinburgh twice. One torpedo hit the cruiser's forward boiler room while the other hit the cruiser's stern, destroying its rudder and two of its four propellers.[1]Edinburgh was badly damaged but remained afloat; it left the convoy and turned towards Murmansk, escorted by Foresight and Forester. Several ships were sent from Murmansk to assist Edinburgh, among them the British Halcyon-classminesweepersHMSGossamer, Harrier, Hussar and Niger, the Soviet destroyers Gremyashchy and Sokrushitelny, the Soviet guard shipRubin and a tug.[3]
1 May
The German command sent the three destroyers of Zerstörergruppe Arktis, Z7 Hermann Schoemann, Z24 and Z25 (Kapitän zur SeeAlfred Schulze-Hinrichs), to attack Convoy QP 11 and then sink HMS Edinburgh. The German ships reached the convoy in the afternoon on 1 May. The weather was cold; intermittent snow and rain limited visibility. Hermann Schoemann opened fire at 14:05. The four British destroyers formed up between the German destroyers and the convoy and engaged them at a range of about 10,000yd (9,100m). Amazon was hit twice and severely damaged. At 14:30 a German torpedo salvo hit and sank the Soviet freighter Tsiolkovski. At 17:50 the German destroyers turned to pursue Edinburgh.[4]
2 May
The flotilla found Edinburgh250nmi (460km; 290mi) east of the convoy at 06:17 on 2 May, moving at 2kn (3.7km/h; 2.3mph).[2] The Edinburgh was escorted by Foresight, Forester, the four British minesweepers and Rubin (Gremyaschi and Sokrushitelny having returned to Murmansk due to a lack of fuel).[1] The three German destroyers engaged the British ships. Due to the damage caused by U-456, Edinburgh was unable to maneuver and could only steam in circles. A snow shower separated Herman Schoemann from the other German destroyers and it attacked the British ships alone.[4]Edinburgh's targeting systems had been destroyed by the torpedo explosions but its gunners managed to hit and cripple Hermann Schoemann.[2] At 18:45, Z24 and Z25 arrived. Z25 hit and disabled Forester and then badly damaged Foresight.[4] At 18:52 a salvo of torpedoes from one of the German destroyers missed Foresight and Forester but one torpedo kept going and struck Edinburgh in the middle of its left side, opposite the hole made by U-456's torpedo.[2] Shortly thereafter the German ships withdrew, possibly because they overestimated the strength of the British minesweepers. At 08:15, Z24 rescued most of the crew of Hermann Schoemann who were still on the deck and then scuttled it.[4] More survivors from Hermann Schoemann who were in life rafts were later rescued by U-88. Harrier and Gossamer took survivors off of Edinburgh, which was later sunk by a torpedo from Foresight.[1]
Aftermath
The rest of the voyage of Convoy QP 11 saw unsuccessful attacks on the convoy by the submarines U-589 and U-251. The twelve remaining merchant ships of the convoy arrived in Iceland on 7 May.[3]
Edwards, Bernard (2002). The Road to Russia: Arctic Convoys 1942. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-732-8.
Jessop, Keith; Hanson, Neil (2002). Goldfinder. Danvers, MA: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN0-471-40733-X.
O'Hara, Vincent P. (2011). Tucker, Spencer C. (ed.). World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC. ISBN978-1-59884-457-3.
Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972]. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev.ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN978-1-86176-257-3.
Ruegg, R.; Hague, A. (1993) [1992]. Convoys to Russia: Allied Convoys and Naval Surface Operations in Arctic Waters 1941–1945 (2nd rev. enl.ed.). Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-66-5.
Further reading
Boog, H.; Rahn, W.; Stumpf, R.; Wegner, B. (2001). The Global War: Widening of the Conflict into a World War and the Shift of the Initiative 1941–1943. Germany in the Second World War. Vol.VI. Translated by Osers, E.; Brownjohn, J.; Crampton, P.; Willmot, L. (Eng trans. Oxford University Press, Londoned.). Potsdam: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History). ISBN0-19-822888-0.
Claasen, A. R. A. (2001). Hitler's Northern War: The Luftwaffe's Ill-fated Campaign, 1940–1945. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN0-7006-1050-2.
Hancock, W. K.; Gowing, M. M. (1949). Hancock, W. K. (ed.). British War Economy. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Civil Series. London: HMSO. OCLC630191560.
Hinsley, F. H. (1994) [1993]. British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series (2nd rev. abr.ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN978-0-11-630961-7.
Hobbs, David (2022). The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe 1939–1945. Barnsley: Seaforth (Pen & Sword). ISBN978-1-5267-9979-1.
Kahn, D. (1973) [1967]. The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing (10th abr. Signet, Chicagoed.). New York: Macmillan. LCCN63-16109. OCLC78083316.
HMS Foresight was one of nine F-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the 1930s. She was assigned to the Home Fleet upon completion. Unlike her sister ships, she does not appear to have been attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1935–36 during the Abyssinia Crisis, nor did she enforce the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. The ship escorted the larger ships of the fleet during the early stages of World War II and played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Foresight was sent to Gibraltar in mid-1940 and formed part of Force H where she participated in the attack on Mers-el-Kébir and the Battle of Dakar. The ship escorted numerous convoys to Malta in 1941 and Arctic convoys during 1942. Later that year, Foresight participated in Operation Pedestal, another convoy to Malta. She was torpedoed by an Italian aircraft on 12 August and had to be scuttled the next day.
HMS Edinburgh was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, which served during the Second World War. She was one of the last two Town class cruisers, which formed the Edinburgh sub-class. Edinburgh saw a great deal of combat service during the Second World War, especially in the North Sea and the Arctic Sea, where she was sunk by torpedoes in 1942.
HMS Bulldog (H91) was a B-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy (RN) between 1929 and 1931. Initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, she transferred to the Home Fleet in 1936. During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, the ship spent considerable time in Spanish waters, enforcing the arms blockade imposed by Britain and France on both sides of the conflict. Bulldog saw service throughout World War II on convoy escort duty during the Battle of the Atlantic and in the Arctic. Her most notable actions were the capture of an Enigma machine and codebooks from the U-110 in 1941, sinking another German submarine in 1944 and taking the surrender of the German garrisons on the Channel Islands on 9 May 1945. Surplus after the war, she was broken up for scrap in 1946.
HMS Trinidad was a Royal Navy Fiji-class light cruiser. She was lost while serving in the Arctic on convoy duty after being damaged escorting PQ 13 in 1942.
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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.
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Z24 was one of fifteen Type 1936A destroyers built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in 1940, the ship spent the first half of the war in Norwegian waters. She was very active in attacking the Arctic convoys ferrying war materials to the Soviet Union in 1941–1942, but only helped to sink one Allied ship herself.
Z25 was one of fifteen Type 1936A destroyers built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in 1940, the ship spent most of the war in Norwegian waters, escorting German ships and laying minefields, despite venturing to France in early 1942 for the Channel Dash, escorting two battleships and a heavy cruiser home through the English Channel. She was active in attacking the Arctic convoys ferrying war materials to the Soviet Union in 1941–1942 but only helped to sink one Allied ship.
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