page_title: Arctic naval operations of World War II
section_title: 1943 - JW convoys
hierarchical_section_title: Arctic naval operations of World War II / 1943 - JW convoys
caption_attribution_description: A Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless of U.S. Navy bombing squadron VB-4 during Operation Leader , on 4 October 1943, flying from the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4). The objective of the force was the Norwegian port of Bodø. The task force reached launch position off Vestfjord before dawn 4 October completely undetected. At 0618, Ranger launched 20 Dauntless dive bombers and an escort of eight Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters of VF-4. One division of dive bombers attacked the 8,000-ton freighter LaPlata, while the rest continued north to attack a small German convoy. They severely damaged a 10,000-ton tanker and a smaller troop transport. They also sank two of four small German merchantmen in the Bodø roadstead. The SBD "4-B-19" was piloted by Lt(jg) Clyde A. Tucker with ARM2c Stephen D. Bakran as gunner and passes Kunna Head South of Bodø. It was one of two planes later lost in the attack.
context_page_description: The Arctic Circle defining the "midnight sun" encompasses the Atlantic Ocean from the northern edge of Iceland to the Bering Strait in the Pacific Ocean. Military activity in this area between 1939 and 1945 is often considered part of the Battle of the Atlantic or of the European Theatre of World War II. Pre-war navigation focused on fishing and the international ore-trade from Narvik and Petsamo. Soviet settlements along the coast and rivers of the Barents Sea and Kara Sea relied upon summer coastal shipping for supplies from railheads at Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. The Soviet Union extended the Northern Sea Route past the Taymyr Peninsula to the Bering Strait in 1935.
  The Winter War of 1939-1940 between Finland and the Soviet Union opened the northern flank of the eastern front of World War II. Arctic naval presence was initially dominated by the Soviet Northern Fleet of a few destroyers with larger numbers of submarines, minesweepers, and torpedo cutters supported by icebreakers. The success of the German invasion of Norway provided the Kriegsmarine with naval bases from which capital ships might challenge units of the British Royal Navy Home Fleet.
context_section_description: 31 December 1942: Admiral Hipper, Lützow, Richard Beitzen, Theodor Riedel, Friedrich Eckoldt, Z29, Z30 and Z31  attacked convoy JW 51B in the battle of the Barents Sea.  The German ships damaged HMS Obdurate, Obedient and Onslow and sank HMS Achates and Bramble, before the covering force arrived to damage Hipper and sink Friedrich Eckoldt.
  1 January 1943: Soviet submarine L-20 sank 5472-ton Muansa off Kongsfjorden.  U-354 sank 2418-ton Krasnyj Partizan.
  29 January 1943: Soviet submarines L-20 sank 7007-ton Othmarschen off Cape Nordkinn and M-171 sank 3243-ton Ilona Siemers off Kongsfjorden.  U-255 sank the Soviet icebreaker Malygin and 1892-ton Ufa.  U-255 then sank 7460-ton Greylock from convoy RA 52 on 3 February.
  12 February 1943: Soviet submarine K-3 sank 8116-ton Fechenheim.
  26 February 1943: Convoy JW 53 arrived in Kola Bay with one ship damaged by KG 30 Ju 88s.  StG 5 Ju 87s damaged three more ships from the convoy on 27 and 28 February; air attacks on 6 and 13 March damaged another ship and sank 7173-ton Ocean Freedom.
  5 March 1943: U-255 sank Liberty ship Richard Bland and 4978-ton Executive from convoy RA 53.  U-586 sank 6076-ton Puerto Rican on 9 March.
  12 March 1943: Tipitz, Scharnhorst and  Lützow assembled in Narvik causing cancellation of Allied convoys through the summer.
  16 March 1943: Soviet submarine M-122 sank 4533-ton Johannisberger off Varangerfjord.
  29 March 1943: Soviet submarine S-55 sank 2297-ton Ajax. Also S-101 is said to have sunk her.
  7 April 1943: HMS Tuna sank U-644 near Jan Mayen.
  29 April 1943: Soviet submarine S-55 sank 708-ton Sturzsee off Nordkyn 
  17 May 1943: Soviet submarine S-56 sank tanker 1118-ton Eurostadt off Kongsfjord. 3676-ton Wartheland was lightly damaged by dud hit from the same salvo.
  June 1943: The 13th U-boat Flotilla was established at Trondheim to reduce U-boat losses to Allied bombers patrolling approaches to U-boat bases on the French Atlantic coast.
  8 July 1943: HMS Duke of York, Anson, Malaya, and Furious of the Home Fleet with USS South Dakota, Alabama, Augusta and Tuscaloosa conducted exercises off Norway intended to divert attention from Operation Husky.
  17 July 1943: Soviet submarine S-56 sank minesweeper M-346.
  July - September 1943: German U-boats operated in Kara Sea against Soviet shipping: U-255 operated near Novaya Zemlya as a refueling station for a BV 138. The BV 138 searched for Kara Sea convoys to be attacked by Lützow and the Wiking Gruppe of U-302, U-354 and U-711. The U-boats torpedoed 3771-ton Petrovski and sank 2900-ton Dikson, 7169-tons Tbilisi, 2480-tons Arkhangel´sk and 4169-tons Sergej Kirov  in addition to 3 minesweepers and 3 other auxiliary vessels. However U-639 was lost after being intercepted and torpedoed by Soviet submarine S-101 .
  8 September 1943: Scharnhorst, Tirpitz and ten destroyers bombarded Spitsbergen as Operation Zitronella.
  23 September 1943: Tirpitz was immobilized in Kåfjord by Operation Source.
  4 October 1943: USS Ranger launched an airstrike on Bodø as Operation Leader.
  12 October 1943: Soviet submarine S-55 sank 5381-ton Ammerland off Porsangerfjord.
  26 December 1943: Scharnhorst was sunk during the battle of the North Cape while attempting to engage convoys JW 55B and RA 55A.
  26 January 1944: Isegrim gruppe U-boats damaged HMS Obdurate and sank Liberty ships Penelope Barker, Andrew G. Curtin and Fort Bellingham from convoy JW 56A near Bear Island.  On 30 January U-278 sank HMS Hardy with a G7es torpedo; and the convoy escort sank U-314.
  28 January 1944: Soviet submarine S-56 sank 5056-ton Henrietta Schulte.
  24 February 1944: HMS Furious of the convoy JW 57 covering force conducted Operation Bayleaf airstrikes against the Norwegian coast.  Convoy escort HMS Keppel sank U-713.  U-956 sank HMS Mahratta with a G7es torpedo on 25 February.
  2 March 1944: HMS Sceptre sank an 8340-ton merchant ship in Folda fjord.
  4 March 1944: U-703 sank 7062-ton Empire Tourist from convoy RA 57.  No. 816 Naval Air Squadron Fairey Swordfish from escorting HMS Chaser sank U-472, U-366 and U-973.
  28 March 1944: HMS Syrtis was sunk by a mine 
caption: SBD Dauntless dive bomber from USS Ranger during the Bodø airstrike.
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