The Royal Navy ‘O’ class destroyers Onslow, Obedient, (Lt-Cdr D.C. Kinloch, RN), Obdurate, (Lt-Cdr C.E.L. Sclater, DSC, RN), Oribi and Orwell (Lt-Cdr N.H.G. Austen, DSO, RN) operated in the Arctic from the start of the Russia convoys, and by December 1942 were old hands at the tricky and dangerous business of ‘riding shotgun’ for the lumbering merchant ships. However Captain Robert St Vincent Sherbrooke, DSO, RN, had been in command of Onslow and Captain (D) (senior officer) of the flotilla for a matter of weeks only. The close escort for the second section of the December convoy, JW51B, would be his first Arctic command. In addition to the five ‘O’s Sherbrooke would have at his disposal two destroyers from the Clyde Special Escort Force (a small reserve force of destroyers, based at Gourock, to strengthen convoy escorts when necessary), Achates (Lt-Cdr A.H.T. Johns, RN) and Bulldog plus the corvettes Hyderabad, RIN, (Lt S.C.B. Hickman, RNR) and Rhododendron (Lt-Cdr L.A. Sayers, RN), minesweeper Bramble (Cdr H.T. Rust, DSO, RN) and the trawlers Northern Gem (Lt H.C. Aisthorpe, RNR) and Vizalma which, in the absence of rescue ships, would assist with rescue work. The seven destroyers would come under the collective umbrella of the 17th Destroyer Flotilla.
Captain Sherbrooke’s instructions to the escort and merchant ships in the event of a surface attack were clear and concise. On sighting the enemy, five destroyers led by Onslow were to make a concerted attack, while the two remaining destroyers and all other escorts were to place themselves in the best position to make smoke between the convoy and the enemy. The merchantmen would turn by signal to the reciprocal of the bearing of the enemy (away from the attack),[42] the rear echelons and any other ships which could manage it laying smoke floats to cover their departure. As they were used to working together as a unit, the five ‘O’ class destroyers would form the attack force, while the remaining two would assist the other units of the close escort in laying smoke. Crucially, and in some measure due to serious fuel shortages, the five-destroyer group would confine itself to turning the enemy away by feinting torpedo attacks, and, having turned the attackers away would fall back on the convoy. Given the limited number of torpedoes available, only if a particularly favourable opportunity presented itself would they actually be launched. With their torpedoes gone, the destroyers would be virtually helpless against an attack by German heavy ships. Nevertheless, due to the caution normally displayed by commanders of the big German warships when faced by torpedo attack, it was anticipated that this tactic would have good prospects of success.
Captain Sherbrooke could obviously have had no knowledge of Vice-Admiral Kummetz’s plan, but it can be seen that the convoy defence does in some measure fall in with Kummetz’s expectations, with the vital exception that Sherbrooke rightly appreciated that the merchantmen were his principal concern, and had determined that the escort was not to be drawn too far from the convoy. The stage was therefore set for a lethal game of cat and mouse in the Arctic wastes.
Under the command of Rear-Admiral Robert Burnett a detached covering force, designated Force ‘R’, comprising as flagship the light cruiser Sheffield (Capt. Arthur Wellesley Clarke, RN), plus the light cruiser Jamaica (Capt. Jocelyn Latham Storey, RN), and one or two destroyers if available, would shadow both JW51A and JW51B through the Barents Sea at some 50 or so miles (92 km), distance.[43] A force of heavy ships from the Home Fleet would also be at sea some 300–400 miles (552–742 km) to the west, with the usual standing orders not to proceed east of Bear Island unless good prospects for catching German surface raiders at sea materialised. Cover was also to be provided for homeward-bound convoy RA51, due to sail from Murmansk around 30 December. This would principally comprise the destroyers which brought out JW51A as they became available.
Captain A.V. Radcliffe, RNR, Naval Control Service Officer at Loch Ewe, was not a happy man. Despite Admiralty assurances to the contrary, merchant ships were arriving at the loch unready for convoy service, placing a great strain on the limited resources available; and JW51B was no exception – the fifteen ships for this half of the convoy – British flag freighters Empire Archer, (the commodore’s ship, Capt. R.A. Melhuish, RIN), Daldorch, Dover Hill, Panamanian flagged (US owned) Ballot and Calobre, US flagged Chester Valley, Executive, Jefferson Myers, John H.B. Latrobe, Puerto Rican, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Vermont, Yorkmar, and British flagged tankers Empire Emerald and Pontfield – all, with the exception of Puerto Rican and Pontfield, required some form of servicing. Executive, for example, had deck cargo damage, and required vegetables and 65 tons of water; Ralph Waldo Emerson required 150 tons of water and repairs to compasses and echo sounder, while the unhappy Dover Hill had both crew and engine troubles. In time-honoured tradition Captain Radcliffe arranged stores, sorted problems, and had the merchantmen ready to sail by the appointed day. He then settled down to compile another polite but frosty memo to the Director of Trade Division at the Admiralty.[44]
JW51A sailed from Loch Ewe on 15 December with a close escort of similar composition to JW51B and Force ‘R’, including the destroyers Opportune and Matchless, in attendance at the required distance. The convoy had fine weather, passed south of Bear Island and arrived off the Kola Inlet on Christmas Day, unmolested and in fact undiscovered by German forces. Force ‘R’ arrived at Vaenga in the Kola Inlet one day ahead of the convoy to refuel[45] and make ready to depart at short notice to cover JW51B.
43
2 PRO. ADM 234/369. Admiral Tovey, still concerned at the U-boat threat, laid down instructions that the cruisers were not to close within 50 miles (92 km) of the convoys unless enemy surface craft were located.