Convoy PQ 18 (2–21 September 1942) was an Arctic convoy of forty Allied freighters from Scotland and Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union, during the Second World War. The convoy departed Loch Ewe, Scotland on 2 September 1942, rendezvoused with more ships and escorts at Iceland and arrived at Arkhangelsk on 21 September. An exceptionally large number of escorts were provided by the Royal Navy in Operation EV, including the first escort carrier to accompany an Arctic convoy. Detailed information on German intentions was provided by the code breakers at Bletchley Park and elsewhere, through Ultra signals decrypts and eavesdropping on wireless communications. The German code-breakers read some British signals and the used the lull in convoys after Convoy PQ 17 (27 June – 10 July) to prepare a maximum effort with the .

From 12 to 21 September Convoy PQ 18 was attacked by bombers, torpedo-bombers, U-boats and mines, which sank thirteen ships at a cost of 22−44 aircraft and four U-boats. The convoy was defended by escort ships and the aircraft of the escort carrier which used signals intelligence gleaned from Ultra and wireless frequencies, to provide early warning of some air attacks and to attempt evasive routeing of the convoy around concentrations of U-boats. United States Navy Armed Guard and British Naval and Royal Artillery Maritime Regiment gunners were embarked on the freighters to operate anti-aircraft guns and barrage balloons, which made air attacks more difficult and because of inexperience, occasionally wounded men and damaged ships and cargo, with wild shooting.

The convoy handed over its distant escorts and to the homeward bound Convoy QP 14 near Archangelsk on 16 September and continued with the close escort and local escorts, riding out a storm in the Northern Dvina estuary and the last attacks by the , before reaching Archangelsk on 21 September. Several ships ran aground in the storm but all were eventually refloated; unloading the convoy took a month. Because of its losses and the transfer in November of its most effective remaining aircraft to the Mediterranean to oppose Operation Torch, the effort could never be repeated.

Aftermath

Analysis In the official history (1956 ) Stephen Roskill called Convoy PQ 18 an Allied success. The convoy operation brought 28 ships safely to their destinations and the Arctic convoy route, which had been suspended since the loss of Convoy PQ 17, was open again. In 2001, Werner Rahn wrote that the (SKL, Naval War Staff) had called the results "dearly bought and unsatisfactory". In 2004, Richard Woodman referred to Convoy PQ 18 as a Pyrrhic victory. The torpedo-bomber attacks, while costly, had been highly effective and would have inflicted more losses had not the British Headache operators not given early warning of some attacks, which enabled Sea Hurricanes to be scrambled in time. The Germans failed to prevent the convoy reaching Russia and their losses, particularly in trained pilots, were severe, reducing the ability of the Luftwaffe to repeat its anti-convoy operation.

Attacks on had been defeated and the depth of the escort screen made torpedo attacks on the centre of the convoy extravagantly risky. Coastal Command operations in support of Convoy PQ 18 and the returning Convoy QP 14, involved 111 aircraft from 14 squadrons, which flew 279 sorties and logged 2,290 flying hours, most being taken up by the fights to and from the convoy. In November, 5, the German air command in Norway and Finland, was ordered to transfer its Ju 88 and He 111 torpedo-bombers to the Mediterranean against Operation Torch, a decision which the British received through Ultra intercepts. Only the Heinkel He 115 floatplanes, suitable for torpedo attacks on stragglers and some Junkers Ju 87 dive-bombers remained in Norway, along with a few long-range reconnaissance aircraft to observe for the surface and U-boat forces.

Casualties Roskill in 1962 and Woodman in 2004 wrote that the Germans managed to sink thirteen merchant ships for a loss of four U-boats and 44 aircraft, 38 of them being torpedo-bombers and six long-range bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Michael Howard, in 1972, recorded that the Allies lost 38 aircraft from 309, 126 tanks from 448 and 85 of the 106 lorries carried in the merchant ships. Convoy PQ 19 was assembled at Loch Ewe but not dispatched, a net loss to the Allied war effort.

Allied order of battle

Cargo +Cargo carried in Convoy PQ 18 FromVehicleTankAircraftExplOther (LT)DispatchedUK: 11 3122302711,60137,799US: 16 2,5883841757,29772,288LostUK: 41238927113410,862US: 81,3851321752,24936,554DeliveredTotal4,40883556611,281157,503

Convoy, Loch Ewe to Arkhangelsk

+Loch Ewe to Arkhangelsk ShipYearFlagGRTNotes SS Africander1921 5,441 Sunk in air attack 1930 8,992Damaged by Sunk by , 16 casualties 1920 5,976Engine trouble, returned Loch Ewe 1919 5,671 1920 6,027 1923 1,526Rescue ship 1940 5,117Vice-Convoy Commodore 1941 6,9781942 7,044Sunk in air attack1941 7,092CAM shipSS Empire Snow1941 6,327SS Empire Stevenson1941 6,209 Sunk in air attackSS Empire Tristram1942 7,167 1942 7,191 1929 5,851 1920 5,498SS John Penn1942 7,177Sunk in air attackSS Kentucky1921 5,446 Sunk in air attack 1919 5,887 1920 4,941Sunk in air attack 1919 5,049Sunk in air attack 1921 6,061 1942 7,177 1942 7,174 1918 6,894Fleet oiler Joined from Spitzbergen group1942 7,191Sunk by 1 casualty SS Oregonian 1917 4,862Sunk in air attack 1941 7,191 1919 5,028 1919 4,971 1942 7,191 1940 5,138Flagship Convoy Commodore E. K. Boddam-Whetham 1942 7,177SS Wacosta1920 5,432 Sunk in air attack 1920 5,462 1942 7,177 MMS 90 — — 7–21 September 1942, rescue ship MMS 203 — — 7–21 September 1942, rescue ship MMS 212 — — 7–21 September 1942, rescue ship

Force Q +Force Q oilers ShipYearFlagGRTTypeNotes1941 3,417 Fleet oiler, sailed in convoy1941 3,313 Fleet oiler, sailed in convoy

Convoy +Convoy route ShipYearFlagGRTNotesLoch Ewe to Reykjavík only 1920 5,432 1919 6,854 1919 5,582Joined at Reykjavík for Arkhangelsk 1918 2,352Joined from Reykjavík 1919 4,969 1932 3,966 1921 3,771 1942 7,191 Joined from, returned to, Reykjavík (engine trouble)1931 3,559Joined from Reykjavík, sunk by , 21 casualties 1918 3,124Sunk in air attack 1912 7,169

Convoy formation +Convoy formation, * = ship sunk column 1 column 2 column 3 column 4 column 5 column 6 column 7 column 8 column 9 column 10 The Motor Minesweepers MMS 90, MMS 203 and MMS 212 were being delivered to the Soviet Northern Fleet and were to act as rescue ships en route, receiving no position number.

Operation EV

Loch Ewe to Iceland +Local escort ShipNavyClassDatesNotes 2–8 September 1942 Scott-class destroyer leader 2–8 September 1942 Joined Heavy Cover Force Scott-class destroyer leader 2–8 September 1942 Joined Heavy Cover Force Scott-class destroyer leader 2–8 September 1942 Joined Heavy Cover Force W-class destroyer 2–8 September 1942 2–8 September 1942 2–8 September 1942 ASW trawler 2–8 September 1942 To Reykjavík as escort ASW trawler 2–8 September 1942 ASW trawler 2–8 September 1942 ASW trawler 2–8 September 1942 ASW trawler 2–8 September 1942

Escorts, Iceland to Arkhangelsk +Close escort ShipFlagClassDatesNotes Auxiliary anti-aircraft cruiser 7–21 September 1942 Auxiliary anti-aircraft cruiser 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 Cdr A. B. Russell SOE W-class destroyer 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 7–21 September 1942 ASW trawler 7–21 September 1942 ASW trawler 7–21 September 1942 ASW trawler 7–21 September 1942 ASW trawler 7–21 September 1942

Carrier group + Avenger and escorts ShipNavyClassDatesNotes 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942

Fighting Destroyer Escort Force A +Fighting Destroyer Escort Force A ShipFlagClassDatesNotes 9–17 September 1942 Flagship Rear Admiral Robert "Bullshit Bob" Burnett 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942

Force B + Fighting Destroyer Escort Force B ShipFlagClassDatesNotes 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 9–17 September 1942 Captain (D) Ian Campbell

Eastern Local Escort +Eastern local escort from Arkhangelsk ShipFlagClassDatesNotes 17–22 September 1942 17–22 September 1942 17–22 September 1942 17–22 September 1942 17–22 September 1942 17–22 September 1942 17–22 September 1942 17–22 September 1942

Cruiser Covering Force +Cruiser Covering Force ShipFlagClassDatesNotes 14–22 September 1942 14–22 September 1942 Flagship Vice-Admiral Stuart Bonham Carter 14–22 September 1942 14–22 September 1942 W-class destroyer 14–22 September 1942

Distant cover +Distant cover (Home Fleet) ShipFlagClassDatesNotes 11–14 September 1942 Flagship, Vice-Admiral Bruce Fraser 11–14 September 1942 11–14 September 1942 Scott-class destroyer leader 11–14 September 1942 Joined from local escort group Scott-class destroyer leader 11–14 September 1942 Joined from local escort group Scott-class destroyer leader 11–14 September 1942 Joined from local escort group Thornycroft type destroyer leader 11–14 September 1942 Thornycroft type destroyer leader 11–14 September 1942 Commander Jack Broome 11–14 September 1942

Spitzbergen +Spitzbergen fuelling base ShipFlagClassDatesNotes 9–21 September 1942 9–21 September 1942 W-class destroyer 9–21 September 1942 W-class destroyer 9–21 September 1942 9–21 September 1942 9–21 September 1942

Operation Gearbox II

+Gearbox II (Spitzbergen supply run) ShipFlagClassDatesNotes 14 September 1942 14 September 1942 14 September 1942

Submarine patrols +Submarine patrols (September–October 1942) BoatFlagTypePatrolNotes S-class submarine 7–23 September Off Norwegian coast S-class submarine 2–6 September Patrol force, returned port Minelayer T-class submarine 2 September – 1 October Patrol force T-class submarine 2 September – 1 October Patrol force U-class submarine 7 September – 1 October Off Norwegian coast U-class submarine 7 September – 1 October Off Norwegian coast U-class submarine 2 September – 1 October Patrol force U-class submarine 2 September – 1 October Patrol force K-1 Patrol K-2 Patrol K-21 Patrol M-174 Patrol Shch-422 Patrol

RAF

+Search and Strike Force (Group-Captain Frank Hopps) based at Polyarny SqnTypeNo.RoleNotes 1 PRU Spitfire PR Mk IV(D) 3 Reconnaissance 1 written off 9 September, 1 shot down 27 September 144 Squadron RAF Hampden 16 torpedo-bomber Afrikanda, 6 lost in transit 4–5 September 1942 210 Squadron RAF Catalina 9 Reconnaissance/ASW Grasnaya, no losses 455 Squadron RAAF Hampden 16 torpedo-bomber Afrikanda, 3 lost in transit 4–5 September 1942

Axis order of battle

U-boats +Wolfpack (Death to carrier)NameFlagCommanderClassNotes Heino Bohmann Type VIIC submarine Sunk, Faulknor Reinhart Reche Type VIIC submarine Otto Köhler Type VIIC submarine Hans-Jürgen Zetzsche Type VIIC submarine Heinz-Ehlert Clausen Type VIIC submarine Rolf-Heinrich Hopmann Type VIIC submarine Reinhard von Hymmen Type VIIC submarine Sank Siegfried Strelow Type VIIC submarine Karl Brandenburg Type VIIC submarine Damaged , sunk Hans-Joachim Horrer Type VIIC submarine Sank , sunk (by) Carl Borm Type VIIC submarine Heinz Bielfeld Type VIIC submarine

Surface ships +Sortie, 9 September 1942 NameFlagTypeNotes Flagship Vice Admiral Kummetz Type 1934 destroyer Type 1936A destroyer Type 1936A destroyer Flag Type 1936A destroyer Type 1936A destroyer

Luftwaffe

Aircraft involved