Convoy PQ 13
Part ofArctic Convoys of theSecond World War
German occupied Norway (in green) lay along the flank of the sea route to northern Russia
Date 26 June – 7 July 1942 Location Arctic Ocean Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  United States  Soviet Union	Germany
Units involved
Convoy PQ 13 and Allied escorts	Luftwaffe
Strength
36 Merchant ships
Casualties and losses
5 Merchant ships sunk 1 Merchant ship damaged 1 Escort sunk

Convoy QP 13 was anArctic convoy of the PQ/QP series which ran during theSecond World War. It was the thirteenth of the numbered series ofconvoys of merchant ships westbound from theArctic ports ofArkhangelsk andMurmansk to theUnited Kingdom,Iceland, andNorth America.

Convoy QP 13 consisted of 35 merchant ships, most of which had arrived withConvoy PQ 16. The convoy commodore wasCapt. N. H. GaleRoyal Navy Reserve (RNR) inEmpire Selwyn. Most of the ships were returning empty after delivering war material to theSoviet Union, but some Soviet ships carried cargoes of exporttimber. Convoy QP 13 was escorted by five destroyers,Achates,Garland,Inglefield,Intrepid andVolunteer; twoAnti submarine warfare (ASW) minesweepers,Hussar andNiger and four corvettesHoneysuckle,Hyderabad,Roselys andStarwort. The close escort was supplemented by the anti-aircraft shipAlynbank and the trawlersHMT Lady Madeleine andSt Elstan.^[1]

The convoy sailed simultaneously with eastboundconvoy PQ 17 for both convoys to benefit from the heavy covering force of the British aircraft carrierHMS Victorious, the battleshipHMS Duke of York, the cruisersHMS Cumberland andNigeria and the destroyersHMS Ashanti,Douglas,Faulknor,Marne,Martin,Onslaught andOnslow with the American battleshipUSS Washington and destroyersUSS Mayrant andRhind. The covering force was commanded byAdmiralJohn Tovey aboard theflagshipDuke of York.^[1]

Convoy QP 13 left Arkhangelsk on 26 June 1942 reinforced by a local escort of the Soviet destroyersGremyashchiy,Grozny andKuibyshev with the British destroyerHMS Tartar and theHalcyon-classminesweepersHMS Bramble,Hazard,Leda andSeagull. The local escort was replaced on 29 June by an anti-aircraft escort ofHunt class destroyersHMS Blankney,Middleton andWheatland.^[1] On 30 June German air reconnaissance found Convoy QP 13 180 mi (290 km) north ofNorth Cape, Norway.U-88 was shadowing the convoy by 2 July butAdmiral Nordmeer,Hubert Schmundt, ordered German forces to ignore the empty westbound ships and focus on the loaded ships of eastboundConvoy PQ 17. The Hunt-class destroyers detached on 4 July when Convoy QP 13 was out of range of German bombers.^[1]

Convoy QP 13 encountered fog on 5 July 1942. In poor visibility,Niger mistook an iceberg for Iceland’s North Western Cape and six merchant ships followed her into theNorthern Barrage minefield, SN72, laid one month earlier at the entrance to theDenmark Strait.^[2] All seven ships detonatednaval mines and there were only eight survivors of the 127 men aboardNiger. OnlyExterminator could be salvaged. No crewmen were lost fromExterminator,Hybert andRodina but one crewman died abandoningHefron, five drowned whenJohn Randolph broke in two andMassmar sank with 17 merchant seamen, 5Naval Armed Guards and the 26 survivors she was carrying from the sinking ofAlamar inConvoy PQ 16.^[3][4] The surviving ships destined forReykjavík were escorted into port on 7 July bySt Elstan andLady Madeleine.^[2]

Merchant ships^[2][a]

Ship	Year	Flag	GRT	Pos'n	Notes
Alma Ata	1920	Soviet Union	3,611	54	timber cargo
American Press	1920	United States	5,131	62
American Robin	1919	United States	5,172	61
Archangelsk	1929	Soviet Union	2,480	64	timber cargo
Atlantic	1939	United Kingdom	5,414	81
Budenni	1923	Soviet Union	2,482	43	timber cargo
Capira	1920	Panama	5,625	93
Chumleigh	1938	United Kingdom	5,445	94
City of Omaha	1920	United States	6,124	72
SS Empire Baffin	1941	United Kingdom	6,978	31
Empire Mavis	1919	United Kingdom	5,704	84
Empire Meteor	1940	United Kingdom	7,457	24
Empire Selwyn	1941	United Kingdom	7,167	51	Convoy Commodore
Empire Stevenson	1941	United Kingdom	6,209	14	general cargo with lumber
Exterminator	1924	Panama	6,115	23	Damaged on Northern Barrage minefield SN72
Heffron	1919	United States	7,611	42	Sunk by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
Hegira	1919	United States	7,588	22
Hybert	1920	United States	6,120	92	Sunk onNorthern Barrage minefield SN72
John Randolph	1942	United States	7,191	13	Liberty ship; sunk by British Northern Barrage minefield SN72
Komiles	1932	Soviet Union	3,962	53	timber cargo
Kuzbass	1914	Soviet Union	3,109	34
Lancaster	1918	United States	7,516	71
Massmar	1920	United States	5,828	82	Sunk on British minefield SN72
Mauna Kea	1919	United States	6,064	91
Michigan	1919	Panama	6,419	41
Mormacrey	1919	United States	5,946	11
Mount Evans	1919	Panama	5,598	74
Nemaha	1920	United States	6,501	21
Petrovski	1921	Soviet Union	3,771	44	timber cargo
Pieter de Hoogh	1941	Netherlands	7,168	12
Richard Henry Lee	1941	United States	7,191	32	Liberty ship
Rodina	1922	Soviet Union	4,441	73	Sunk on Northern Barrage minefield SN72
St. Clears	1936	United Kingdom	4,312	33
Stary Bolshevik	1933	Soviet Union	3,974	52
Yaka	1920	United States	5,432	83

Eastern local escort^[2]

Ship	Flag	Class	Dates	Notes
Grozny	Soviet Navy	Gnevny-classdestroyer	26–28 June
Gremyaschi	Soviet Navy	Gnevny-classdestroyer	26–28 June
Kuibyshev	Soviet Navy	Gnevny-classdestroyer	26–28 June
HMS Bramble	Royal Navy	Halcyon-classminesweeper	26–28 June
HMS Hazard	Royal Navy	Halcyon-classminesweeper	26–28 June
HMS Leda	Royal Navy	Halcyon-classminesweeper	26–28 June
HMS Seagull	Royal Navy	Halcyon-classminesweeper	26–28 June

Eastern local escort^[2]

Ship	Flag	Class	Dates	Notes
HMS Alynbank	Royal Navy	AuxiliaryAA cruiser	26 June – 7 July
HMS Achates	Royal Navy	A-classdestroyer	26 June – 7 July
ORP Garland	Polish Navy	G-class destroyer	26 June – 7 July
HMS Volunteer	Royal Navy	Modified W-class	29 June – 7 July
HMS Intrepid	Royal Navy	I-classdestroyer	26 June – 3 July
HMS Intrepid	Royal Navy	I-classdestroyer	26 June – 3 July
HMS Niger	Royal Navy	Halcyon-classminesweeper	26 June – 5 July
HMS Hussar	Royal Navy	Halcyon-classminesweeper	26 June – 7 July
HMS Honeysuckle	Royal Navy	Flower-classcorvette	26 June – 7 July
HMS Hyderabad	Royal Navy	Flower-classcorvette	26 June – 7 July
HMS Roselys	Free French Naval Forces	Flower-classcorvette	26 June – 7 July
HMS Starwort	Royal Navy	Flower-classcorvette	26 June – 7 July
HMS Lady Madeline	Royal Navy	ASW trawler	7 July
HMS St Elstan	Royal Navy	ASW trawler	7 July

• Cressman, Robert J. (2000).The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-149-1.
• Hague, Arnold (2000).The Allied Convoy System, 1939–1945: Its Organization, Defence and Operation. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-55750-019-9.
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• Blair, Clay (1996).Hitler's U-Boat War. Vol. I. New York: Random House.ISBN 0-304-35260-8.
• 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.
• Kemp, Paul (2000).Convoy! Drama in Arctic Waters. London: Cassell.ISBN 978-0-30435-451-1.
• Ogden, William Graeme (1963).My Sea Lady: The story of H.M.S. Lady Madeleine from February 1941 to February 1943. London: Hutchinson.OCLC 8550141.

• Arctic convoys of World War II
• Naval battles of World War II involving Germany
• Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom

• Use dmy dates from January 2018
• Articles containing German-language text