Convoy PQ 18 was an Arctic convoy of forty Allied freighters from Scotland and Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany. 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 was 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 Luftwaffe wireless communications.
The German B-Dienst read some British signals and Luftwaffe used the lull in convoys after Convoy PQ 17 (27 June – 10 July) to prepare a maximum effort with the Kriegsmarine. From 12 to 21 September PQ 18 was attacked by bombers, torpedo-bombers, U-boats and mines, which sank thirteen ships at a cost of forty-four aircraft and four U-boats. The convoy was defended by escort ships and the aircraft of the escort carrier HMS Avenger which used signals intelligence gleaned from Ultra and Luftwaffe 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 Avenger 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 Luftwaffe, 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 Luftwaffe effort could never be repeated.
ConvoyPQ18 was an Arctic convoy of forty Allied freighters from Scotland and Iceland to Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany...
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allied Arctic convoy during the Second World War. On 27 June 1942, the ships sailed from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, for the...
of Convoy PQ 17, and again in the autumn after the final convoy of the series, ConvoyPQ18, because of the long daylight hours and the preparations for...
ConvoyPQ18 was the last of the PQ/QP series of arctic convoys during World War II, bound from US and British ports via Reykjavík in Iceland to the Barents...
against ConvoyPQ 17 in July 1942 to attack convoyPQ18 the next Arctic convoy of the Western Allies. Following the victory over ConvoyPQ 17, the Kriegsmarine...
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...
ConvoyPQ 12 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 1942,...
to send ConvoyPQ18 from Iceland to Murmansk and when the convoys crossed transfer much of the escort force from the outbound convoy to Convoy QP 14 and...
ConvoyPQ 16 (21–30 May 1942) was an Arctic convoy of British, United States and Allied ships from Iceland to Murmansk and Archangelsk in the Soviet Union...
18 October 1941: U-132 sank the 3487-ton Argun at the entrance to the White Sea. 30 October 1941: ConvoyPQ 2 arrived in Arkhangelsk. Return convoy QP...
Operation Orator was the code name for the defence of the Allied Arctic convoyPQ18 by British and Australian air force units, based temporarily in North-West...
ConvoyPQ 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...
arriving at Reykjavik on 16 July. On 7 September 1942 she sailed to join ConvoyPQ18 which had departed Loch Ewe on 2 September 1942. This was the next attempt...
ConvoyPQ 7 was the eighth of the Arctic convoys of the Second World War by which the Western Allies supplied material aid to the Soviet Union in its fight...
ConvoyPQ 2 was the third of the Arctic Convoys of World War II by which the Western Allies supplied material aid to the Soviet Union in its fight with...
captain, Jack Eaton, was ill. While covering the return of the Russian convoyPQ-18, Somali was torpedoed by U-703 on 20 September. She was hit in her engine...
against Arctic convoyPQ18. Attacking PQ18, the group carried out a massed torpedo attack known as the Golden Comb, developed as an anti-convoy measure. This...
Unternehmen Regenbogen (Operation Rainbow). After ConvoyPQ18, the force had waited to attack the next Arctic convoy but their temporary suspension by the British...
ConvoyPQ 8 (8–17 January 1942) was an Arctic convoy of the Western Allies to aid the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The convoy left Iceland...
ConvoyPQ 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...
reinforcement of the Norwegians and part of the plan for ConvoyPQ18, to prevent a repeat of ConvoyPQ 17 (27 June – 10 July 1942) in which 24 of the 35 freighters...
sufficient escorts for the next Arctic convoy and the sailing of convoyPQ-18 was delayed until September. The convoy was located on 8 September and on 10...
Convoy QP 13 was an Arctic convoy of the PQ/QP series which ran during the Second World War. It was the thirteenth of the numbered series of convoys of...
Global Information
United Kingdom
United States
Soviet Union
Germany
Rear Admiral Robert Burnett
Admiral Rolf Carls