Arctic convoys of World War II The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom , Iceland , and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union - primarily Arkhangelsk ( Archangel ) and Murmansk , both in modern day Russia . There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945 ( although there were two gaps with no sailings between July and September 1942 , and March and November 1943 ) , sailing via several seas of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans . About 1400 merchant ships delivered vital supplies to the Soviet Union under the Lend - Lease program , escorted by ships of the Royal Navy , Royal Canadian Navy , and the U . S . Navy . Eighty - five merchant vessels and 16 Royal Navy warships ( two cruisers , six destroyers , eight other escort ships ) were lost . The Nazi German Kriegsmarine lost a number of vessels including one battleship , three destroyers and at least 30 U - boats as well as a large number of aircraft . Convoy organisation . The Arctic convoys ran in two series , following the first convoy , which was un - numbered but code - named “ Dervish ” . The first series , PQ ( outbound ) and QP ( homebound ) , ran from September 1941 to September 1942 . These convoys ran twice monthly , but were interrupted in the summer of 1942 when the series was suspended after the disaster of PQ17 and again in the autumn after the final convoy of the series , PQ18 , due to lengthening daylight hours , and continued preparations for Operation Torch . The second series of convoys , JW ( outbound ) and RA ( homebound ) ran from December 1942 until the end of the war , though with two major interruptions in the summer of 1943 and again in the summer of 1944 . The convoys ran from Iceland ( usually off Hvalfjörður ) north of Jan Mayen Island to Arkhangelsk when the ice permitted in the summer months , shifting south as the pack ice increased and terminating at Murmansk . After September 1942 they assembled and sailed from Loch Ewe in Scotland . Outbound and homebound convoys were planned to run simultaneously ; a close escort accompanied the merchant ships to port , remaining to make the subsequent return trip , whilst a covering force of heavy surface units was also provided to guard against sorties by German surface ships , such as the " Tirpitz " . These would accompany the outbound convoy to a cross - over point , meeting and then conducting the homebound convoy back , while the close escort finished the voyage with its charges . The route was around occupied Norway to the Soviet ports and was particularly dangerous due to the proximity of German air , submarine and surface forces and also because of the likelihood of severe weather , the frequency of fog , the strong currents and the mixing of cold and warm waters which made ASDIC use difficult , drift ice , and the alternation between the difficulties of navigating and maintaining convoy cohesion in constant darkness or being attacked around - the - clock in constant daylight . Notable convoys . Several convoys are particularly notable : Strategic impact . The Arctic convoys caused major changes to naval dispositions on both sides , which arguably had a major impact on the course of events in other theatres of war . As a result of early raids by destroyers on German coastal shipping and the Commando raid on Vaagso , Hitler was led to believe that the British intended to invade Norway again . This , together with the obvious need to stop convoy supplies reaching the Soviet Union , caused him to direct that heavier ships , centred on the battleship " Tirpitz " , be sent to Norway . The Channel Dash was partly undertaken for this reason . As a " fleet in being " , " Tirpitz " and the other German capital ships tied down British resources which might have been better used elsewhere , for example combating the Japanese in the Indian Ocean . The success of " Gneisenau " and " Scharnhorst " in Operation Berlin during early 1941 had demonstrated the potential German threat . However , as the air gap over the North Atlantic closed , Huff - Duff ( radio triangulation equipment ) improved , airborne centimetric radar was introduced and convoys received escort carrier protection , the scope for commerce raiding diminished . Aside from an abortive attempt to interdict PQ12 in March 1942 and a raid on Spitsbergen in September 1943 , " Tirpitz " spent most of World War II in Norwegian fjords . She was penned in and repeatedly attacked until she was finally sunk in Tromsø fjord on 12 November 1944 by the RAF . The other Kriegsmarine capital ships never got to Norway ( e . g . " Gneisenau " ) , were chased off , or were sunk by superior forces ( e . g . " Scharnhorst " ) . In particular , the unsuccessful attack on convoy JW - 51B ( the Battle of the Barents Sea ) , where a strong German naval force failed to defeat a British escort of cruisers and destroyers , infuriated Hitler and led to the strategic change from surface raiders to submarines . Some capital ships were physically dismantled and armament used in coastal defences . . Leningrad under the siege was one of important destinations for supplies from the convoys . From 1941 food and munition supplies were delivered from British convoys to Leningrad by trains , barges , and trucks . Supplies were often destroyed by the Nazi air - bombings , and by Naval Detachment K while on the way to Leningrad . However , convoys continued deliveries of food in 1942 , 1943 , and through 1944 . Towards the end of the war the material significance of the supplies was probably not as great as the symbolic value hence the continuation — at Stalin ' s insistence — of these convoys long after the Soviets had turned the German land offensive . Role of intelligence . ULTRA intelligence gained from the cracking of the Enigma code at Bletchley Park played an important part in the eventual success of these convoys . Pre - emptive action was not always possible , but the intelligence did allow the Royal Navy to prepare for battle and convoys could be given appropriate escorting forces . The interception and consequent sinking of " Scharnhorst " by HMS " Duke of York " was greatly assisted by ULTRA intercepts . Literary depictions . The 1967 Norwegian historic account " One in ten had to die " ( " Hver tiende mann måtte dø " ) by writer Per Hansson is based on the experience of decorated Norwegian sailor Leif Heimstad and other sailors of the Norwegian merchant fleet during World War II . The 1973 Russian novel " Requiem for Convoy PQ - 17 " ( " Реквием каравану PQ - 17 " ) by writer Valentin Pikul depicts the mission of Convoy PQ 17 , reflecting the bravery and courage of ordinary sailors in the merchant ships and their escorts , who took mortal risks to provide Allied aid . At least two well - known novels were written about the Arctic Convoys : in 1946 " HMS Ulysses " by Scottish writer Alistair MacLean , considered a classic of naval warfare literature in general , and in 1967 " The Captain " by Dutch author Jan de Hartog . The two books are very different from each other in style , characterisation and underlying philosophy ( de Hartog was a pacifist , which cannot be said about MacLean ) . Still , they both convey vividly the atmosphere of combined extreme belligerent action and inhospitable nature , pushing protagonists to the edge of endurance and beyond . Both books are evidently inspired by the fate of Convoy PQ - 17 , though not following its course in detail . Other supply convoys . The Arctic route was the shortest and most direct route for lend - lease aid to the USSR , though it was also the most dangerous . Some 3 , 964 , 000 long ton of goods were shipped by the Arctic route ; 7 % was lost , while 93 % arrived safely . This constituted some 23 % of the total aid to the USSR during the war . Other routes used for the passage of goods were the Persian Corridor and the Pacific Route . The Persian corridor was the longest route , and was not fully operational until mid - 1942 . Thereafter it saw the passage of 4 , 160 , 000 tons of goods , 27 % of the total . The Pacific route opened in August 1941 , but was affected by the start of hostilities between Japan and the US ; after December 1941 , only Soviet ships could be used , and , as Japan and the USSR observed a strict neutrality towards each other , only non - military goods could be transported . Nevertheless , 8 , 244 , 000 tons of goods went by this route , 50 % of the total . A branch of the Pacific Route began carrying goods through the Bering Strait to the Soviet Arctic coast in June 1942 . From July through September small Soviet convoys assembled in Providence Bay , Siberia to be escorted north through the Bering Strait and west along the Northern Sea Route by icebreaker s and Lend - Lease Admirable class minesweeper s . A total of 452 , 393 tons passed through the Bering Strait aboard 120 ships . Part of this northern tonnage was fuel for the airfields along the Alaska - Siberia Air Route . Provisions for the airfields were transferred to river vessels and barges on the estuaries of large Siberian rivers . Remaining ships continued westbound and were the only seaborne cargoes to reach Archangel while JW convoys were suspended through the summers of 1943 and 1944 .