HMT Juniper (T123) was a Tree-class minesweeping trawler of the Royal Navy. She was built by Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd. at Port Glasgow, launched on 15 December 1939, and commissioned on 9 March 1940.
A steel vessel of 545 tons, Juniper measured in length with a beam of and a mean draft of A single triple-expansion reciprocating engine of gave her a speed of . The crew numbered 4 officers and 36 men. Armament comprised a 12-pdr AA gun, three 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns, and 30 depth charges.Robert Gardiner (ed. dir.), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, p. 66. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1980
Operation Alphabet Following the Allied decision to withdraw from northern Norway, Juniper took part in Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of British, French and Polish forces from the Narvik campaign in June 1940. After completing evacuation duties, she joined a westbound convoy of troopships and support vessels sailing through the Norwegian Sea to return to Scapa Flow.
On the morning of 8 June, a German task force, consisting of the battleships and , the heavy cruiser and four destroyers, intercepted the British vessels north-east of Jan Mayen. During the action, Juniper, the tanker Oil Pioneer and the troopship Orama were sunk, while the hospital ship Atlantis was allowed to proceed unharmed in accordance with international convention. Juniper was sunk by gunfire from Admiral Hipper at position Of her crew of forty officers and men, twenty-three were killed in the sinking.Richard Humble, Hitler's High Seas Fleet, p. 57. New York: Ballantine Books, 1971.
Marschall then sent Admiral Hipper and the destroyers to Trondheim to refuel. Later that same day, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau encountered and sank the aircraft carrier and the destroyers and .
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