In the course of some research, I have now definitely established that my father served on at least one Arctic convoy. By a process of elimination, and by checking his P and V ledger, I can say the most likely time frame would be between November 1942 and March 1943, and then again between October 1943 and March 1944. At these times the same P and V ledger names his accounting base as Chatham. Is there any way of knowing which ships on those convoys were based at Chatham? From that info it should be able for me to narrow down which possible ships he may have served on
As. He is your grandfather write to the modmo and send inclaiming medal form for arctic star Get nok to sign it and send with a copy of the p&v and if entitled they will send it out to you
The p&v should have a name in brackets which will show ship name, if you post a copy I can check ships names to see if they have battle honour arctic
Sadly ship names in brackets or otherwise are not always present in Navy records - mainly the accounting base which makes it difficult. I think Popeye has no ship names in either the service records or P & V to evidence service in the Arctic. I don't think they will issue the Arctic Star without evidence of service in the Theatre. Regards Hugh
Having contacted the Chatham Historical bigwigs, it appears that the only RN ship that went north in the time frame I mentioned was the cruiser Sheffield. But of course, that does not include merchantmen who used RN signalmen on a regular basis
Does anyone on here know the rough journey time of a merchant ship in convoy to Murmansk from Scapa Flow (and back)? I am trying to fit three or four convoy trips from late 1942 to 1943 and into early 1944 and see what in his naval record would account for that amount of time
Arctic convoys of World War II - Wikipedia about 1/3 down there are all the Artic convoys there and back with dates TD added: Arctic Convoys
Not for nothing was it described by Churchill as 'The worst journey in the world'. Almost always travelled in winter months as it afforded cover from air attacks (or so they thought), with pack ice, u-boats, German surface raiders, icebergs, mountainous seas...ratings on the upper decks restricted to two hours at a time through fear of frostbite, but ice had to be regularly chipped away from superstructure in case it made the ship top heavy. It truly was hell on Earth.
Let us also remember the thirteen unescorted merchant ships of Operation FB. Seven were British, five were American and one Russian. Three turned back, five were sunk, so only five made it. Also twenty three Russian ships sailed independently.
I had kind of resigned myself to the fact that my Dad was probably used as a convoy signalman, thereby giving me a huge number of merchant ships to search through. But I also remembered being told that the only RN ship from Chatham that was sent to the Arctic within the time frame that fits my dad's P & V ledger was Sheffield. According to convoy.web the ship made three runs between September 42 and February 43. I have tried to contact the Sheffield Association but to no avail. If I could there may be some way I could establish if he was on there during that period
Have you discounted the fact that your Dad may have been on a course at the Signal School (RNSS Cookham Camp) just outside Rochester with Chatham as its accounting base? Sight of the P&V entries may help. Tim
I would need to get back to Swadlincote to ask them for that page of the P and V record. But as far as the Arctic goes, there are only one or two windows in which he could have gone, and they are from October 1942 to may 1943, and November 43 to April 44. From what my brother tells me he did three trips, but not sure if one or more ships were involved
To throw in curve ball, he also apparently did at least one Atlantic convoy, also within those same time frames
The other big danger in the Arctic, of course, were the ferociously low temperatures.With the extra clothing the men had to wear on the upper deck, along with boots, if they went over the side it was a toss up whether they were dragged to the bottom or frozen to death inside two minutes
