Convoy PQ 18 - Ships

Ships

The convoy consisted of forty merchant ships (11 British, 20 US, six Soviet and three Panamanian) and four Fleet auxiliaries; two oilers, a rescue ship and a CAM ship.

Close escort was provided by a force led by Cdr.AB Russell, in the destroyer Malcolm. The force comprised two other destroyers Achates and Amazon, two anti-aircraft "gunships", four Flower class corvettes, four A/S trawlers and three minesweepers. The escort was supported by a Carrier group (the escort carrier Avenger and her accompanying destroyers), and a "Fighting Destroyer Escort" of 16 Fleet destroyers commanded by Rear Adm. Robert Burnett in the cruiser Scylla. The escort was augmented by local escort forces from Britain to Iceland (Campbell and six other destroyers, and 5 trawlers) and from Murmansk (four Soviet destroyers and three minesweepers).

Distant cover was provided by a Heavy Cover Force (the battleships Anson and Duke of York, a cruiser and six destroyers under the command of V Adm. Bruce Fraser) and a Cruiser Cover Force of three cruisers and their destroyer escort commanded by V Adm. Bonham-Carter.

Concurrent with PQ 18 the Royal Navy sent two forces to Spitzbergen, a Cruiser force with reinforcements for the garrison there and a Replenishment group for the convoy; these would also be available to support PQ 18. To guard against a sortie by the German surface fleet in Norway a submarine patrol force was sent to keep watch on the main Norwegian ports, nine submarines in all.

Opposing this armada the German Navy had established a U-boat patrol group of 12 U-boats in the Norwegian Sea and a surface force comprising the pocket battleship Scheer, the cruisers Hipper and Köln and four destroyers. Since Operation Rosselsprung in the summer the battleships Tirpitz and Lutzow were in dock for repairs, as were three destroyers, leaving the surface force depleted in numbers and strength.