This article originally appeared in Wessex Chronicle Volume 15, Issue 1 (Spring 2014)
The battleship, HMS Rodney– the flag ship of the C-in-C Home Fleet – was on patrol south of Iceland at 11:22 on the morning of 3rd September 1939 when the message was received that Britain was at war with Germany. Amongst the 1,640 crew hearing that message was a 21 year old Able Bodied Seaman from East Harptree in Somerset – my father, Charles Barrie Gunter.
This voyage, his first experience of colder northern waters, having previously spent six years sailing the Mediterranean, was to be just a taster for the next six years in the frozen hell that was the Arctic Convoys. And to think, he had run away to sea to escape the prospect of falling into the hell that was his father’s life as a miner in the north Somerset coalfield (including mines owned by the Rees-Mogg family, one of whom, Jacob, is the current MP for the area). With the announcement that all sailors who saw action north of the Arctic Circle during the war were to be recognised and awarded the Arctic Star, I started to research my father’s records, which included his own account of one particular voyage.
From the outbreak of war, Rodney(and my dad) patrolled off Norway, Denmark and Iceland to keep shipping lanes open. Then, on 8th April 1940 Germany invaded neutral Norway – beating a planned but delayed Allied invasion by seven days. This intensified actions along the Norwegian coast. On the 9th, manoeuvring just outside the Arctic Circle, Rodney was hit by a 500kg bomb dropped by a Ju88 dive bomber. The bomb struck on the port side abaft the funnel; an ammunition locker deflected the bomb and split the fuse from the explosive. The body then passed through the boat deck hitting a table at which two midshipmen were sitting. The bomb then continued down into an engineering store where it broke and where its explosive charge caused a fire. Apart from the structural damage and a small fire, only 10 sailors were injured.
On 12th April 1940 my father crossed the Arctic Circle for the first of many times. On 10th May, the UK and Canada invaded Iceland to prevent a German occupation that would have put trans-Atlantic supply routes in peril. An inlet on Iceland’s eastern seaboard, Seyðisfjorður, was later to play a major role in the Arctic Convoys.
Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22nd June 1941. Acting on Stalin’s demand that the western Allies provide supplies, the Arctic Convoys were commenced. The first convoy sailed in September 1941. The route passed through a narrow funnel between the Arctic ice pack and German bases in Norway. From the start the convoys were attacked by German submarines, aircraft and warships. One convoy, the infamous PQ17, was almost totally destroyed. The merchant vessels were not just British but included American, Canadian, Panamanian, Polish and Russian ones, some quite small – about 3,000 tons (compared with the 17,000 tons of the container vessel featured in the movie Captain Phillips). Escort vessels were also drawn from the navies of all the major allies. Many Soviet vessels sailed
alongside their British and American counterparts.
From May 1942 to the end of the war, my father served on HMS Jamaica, a newly built cruiser, which was adopted by the city of Bristol. It acted as a distant escort on Arctic Convoys from September 1942 until September 1944, providing cover for 13 convoys. That’s 13 times patrolling up the coast of Nazi-occupied Norway, crossing the Arctic Circle, and sailing into Murmansk or Arkhangelsk in the far north of Russia. Conditions were among the worst faced by any Allied sailors. As well as the Germans, they faced extreme cold, gales, and pack ice. The loss rate for ships was higher than any other allied convoy route. Even so, over four million tons of supplies were delivered to the Russians, including tanks, aircraft, ammunition, trucks, tractors, telephone wire, railway engines, food and boots. To spice things up a little more, most convoys were in the winter in order to take advantage of the cover of darkness and bad weather which, it was thought, would hamper German attacks
In December 1942, my father was granted compassionate leave to pay one last visit to his mother, dying of cancer at just 53 years of age. He started his return journey to Scapa Flow on Orkney on 15th December but arrived just in time to see his ship leave harbour without him.
My father was switched to the destroyer Oribi(adopted by Havant) for one convoy – JW51. This was a large convoy and was split into 2; A & B. Jamaica had left Scapa Flow on 17th December as escort for JW51A; Oribiwas assigned as a close escort to JW51B. The “B” Convoy comprised 15 merchant ships from the UK, USA and Panama. In their holds were 2,046 vehicles, 202 tanks, 87 crated fighter planes, 33 crated bombers, 11,600 tons of fuel oil, 12,650 tons of aviation fuel, and 54,000 tons of other equipment and supplies.
It became the target for a major German naval campaign (Operation Regenbogen – Rainbow) involving the heavy cruisers, Admiral Hipper and Lutzow, and six destroyers. It led to the Battle of the Barents Sea on 31st December 1942 in which two British warships – the destroyer Achatesand the minesweeper Bramble– and the Kriegsmarine destroyer Friedrich Eckholdt – were sunk. But 13 of the original 15 merchant ships arrived with their essential cargoes.
My father’s account of this convoy tells only part of the story. Wartime censorship meant that he had to omit many details but even so it makes intriguing reading:
– RETURNING FROM LEAVE 1942 –
Left Bristol T.M. 08:00 Tuesday 15/12/42
arrive Thurso 09:00 Wednesday 16th
Had breakfast in Town Hall and caught bus to jetty where papers were
inspected.
depart Thurso 11:00 Wednesday 16th
arrive Scapa Flow 14:30
H.M.S. Dunluce Castle for distribution
H.M.S. Iron Duke (transit) from 1830 Wed. 16th – 21st Mon.
depart Tues 22nd 04:00 from Scapa in HMS Oribi for Iceland
arrive Iceland 15:30 23rd Thurs at Sadys Fjord
depart Iceland 23:00 24th from Sadys Fjord
(This was Seyðisfjorður, commonly referred to as Sadys Fjord by British
sailors.)
Christmas Day : Weather not too bad, doing fairly good speed. Picked up with convoy 25th Friday during hours of darkness (normal grub). Weather gradually getting worse, heavy swell, on 26th following sea very heavy.
22:15 26th: just had drink of cocoa brought to us while doing D/C sentry of first watch and was pouring cup out for myself when ship gave extra heavy lurch to starboard which upset me through deck being slippery and me wearing leather sea-boots; split head on deck pretty badly, (needed four stitches and some skin cut away, also part of eyebrow). Ended up with feet out through guardrails and knocked out for couple of seconds.
Speed 8 knots since joining convoy.
27th: weather getting worse still; very cold, guns beginning to freeze up, deck covered with ice. 33 degrees F (0.5°C).
28th: 8 knots, weather worse, 12 degrees F (-11.0°C).
29th: 8 knots, weather at highest yet, 26 degrees F (-3.3°C). 12:00 lost convoy.
30th: Doing 18 knots trying to find convoy. Ice and snow on decks and everywhere very bad. Hands turned-to to chip all off that’s possible. Weather very bad. Lost motor boat and davits overboard about 07:00. No guard-rails from break of fo’c’sle to tubes. Ship did 63 degree roll on losing boat to starboard. At 09:30 one Able Seaman washed overboard and another taken outboard on one wave and brought back In the next. Spent 55 minutes trying to find man overboard, but useless. Ship rolling terribly badly owing to overweight of ice. Hands not allowed to use the upper decks, those changing watches to go in bunches; p.m. D/C watchkeepers decide to stay aft all night. Speed about 12 knots.
31st: entered harbour at 08:00. Went alongside jetty, had first walk on Russian soil during forenoon. Air raid in progress whilst going up harbour. Temperature 9°F (-13.0°C). Saw Russian subs like young battle ships. Change billets; fog; hands chip ice; 4°F (-15.5°C).
(The distant escort vessels, including Jamaicawere on this day engaged in the
Battle of the Barents Sea; while Oribiand the close escort vessels steamed
ahead with the merchant vessels.)
1st Jan: Hands chip ice. 4°F (-15.5°C).
2nd Jan: Very foggy. 2°F (-16.7°C). Had Christmas dinner of turkeys,
spuds, peas and then plum pudding and custard.
3rd Jan: Temperature 1 degree below zero. Hands still chipping during light hours. Foggy. Air-raid warning during afternoon.
4th Jan: Foggy. 4 degrees F. Two air-raid warnings.
(Gap in journal)
(The gap in the journal masks the fact that the official Admiralty Board of Inquiry into the loss of HMS Achates and HMS Brambletook place on-board Oribiat this time.)
Jan 10th: Alongside oiler 600 tons, benzene. Bombed from high level.
Struck oiler. Killed two outright, one more died on stretcher. Two died
in sickbay onboard. Carried out dead ones from sick bay to side of
fo’c’sle for boat alongside. Had to lift one fellow who had just died, all
his back was smashed and pulpy and soaked in blood, my hands and
arms covered with blood.
Jan 14th: Left Polyarna for [Iceland] (journal ends).
Part 2 will deal with the Battle of North Cape.
