The convoy comprised 35 merchant ships and 6 naval auxiliaries (41 in all) and was defended by a close escort and two distant escort forces, 43 warships in total. It was opposed by a U-boat gruppe Eisteufel, of first 6, then 8 U-boats, and a surface attack force of 16 warships, in two battle groups. This operation was code-named Unternehmen Rösselsprung (Operation Knight's Move). These were assisted by the 234 aircraft of Luftflotte 5.
Before the convoy dispersed, three ships had been lost. After it scattered each ship made its way individually to the Russian ports. Some ships took refuge along the frozen coast of Novaya Zemlya, landing at Matochkin.[1] The Soviet tanker Azerbaijan had lost her cargo of linseed oil and much of SS Winston-Salem's cargo had also been jettisoned in Novaya Zemlya.[2]
Of the thirty-six ships that left Iceland, three were forced to return early and 24 were sunk.[3] Ten merchant ships (one British, six American, one Panamanian and two Russian) and four auxiliaries reached Archangel and delivered 70,000 long tons (71,000 t) out of the 200,000 long tons (200,000 t) which had started from Iceland.
Jordan, Roger W. (2006) [1999]. The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships (2nd ed.). London: Chatham/Lionel Leventhal. ISBN 978-1-86176-293-1.
Morison, Samuel E. (2001), History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Battle of the Atlantic, September 1939 – May 1943, vol. I, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0-252-06963-5
Riesenberg, Felix (1956), Sea War: The Story of the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II, New York: Rinehart, OCLC1263591
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. ISBN 978-1-86176-257-3.
Ruegg, Bob; Hague, Arnold (1993) [1992]. Convoys to Russia (2nd rev. exp. pbk. ed.). Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 978-0-905617-66-4.
Woodman, Richard (1994). The Arctic Convoys 1941–1945. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5079-3.
Further reading
Blair, Clay (2000) [1996]. Hitler's U-boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942. Vol. I. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-35260-9.
Brown, David (1995) [1990]. Warship Losses of World War Two (2nd rev. ed.). London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-1-85409-278-6.
Connell, G. G. (1982), Arctic Destroyers: The 17th Flotilla, London: W. Kimber, ISBN 978-0-7183-0428-7
Frayn Turner, John (2002), Fight for the Sea:Naval Adventures from World War II, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, ISBN 978-1-55750-884-3
Hill, Roger P. (1986), Destroyer Captain, Periscope Publishing, ISBN 1-904381-25-1
Hague, Arnold (2000). The Allied Convoy System 1939–1945: Its Organisation, Defence and Operation. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-147-3.
Hinsley F. H., Francis; Eastaway Thomas, Edward (1990), British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its influence on Strategy and Operations, vol. II, London: HMSO, ISBN 978-0-11-630934-1
Langer, John D. (1979), "The Harriman-Beaverbrook Mission and the Debate over Unconditional Aid for the Soviet Union, 1941", Journal of Contemporary History, 14 (3): 463–482, doi:10.1177/002200947901400306, ISSN0022-0094, S2CID159474803
Moore, Arthur R. (1984), "A careless word – A Needless Sinking": A History of the Staggering losses suffered by the U.S. Merchant Marine, both in ships and personnel during World War II, Kings Point, NY: American Merchant Marine Museum, OCLC10919815
Supplement to The London Gazette: Convoys to North Russia:1942, 17 October 1950
Schofield, Bernard (1964). The Russian Convoys. London: BT Batsford. OCLC923314731.
Sharpe, Peter (1998). U-Boat Fact File. Leicester: Midland Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-072-9.
Winton, John (1988), Ultra at Sea, Leo Cooper, ISBN 0-85052-883-6
Wynn, Kenneth G. (1997), U-boat Operations of the Second World War: Career histories, U1 – U510, Chatham, ISBN 978-1-55750-860-7
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