0:00:06 > 0:00:11Man has fought wars in many terrible places over the centuries,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15but never has he fought in a place as terrible as this.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25This is where the men who ran the Second World War Arctic convoys
0:00:25 > 0:00:29went to work, among not just the German submarines and planes,
0:00:29 > 0:00:33but nature at her most brutal.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37100-mile-an-hour winds, mountainous waves, icebergs,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40temperatures down to minus 60.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42We had ice all round us.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48Ice inside the bulkheads, ice in the deckheads. It was horrific.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50The waves were huge. I mean, they were passing, as it were,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53at the same level as you were on the bridge.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56It was rough, very rough.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59And you go down and it'd come above the bows.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02And the weight of water on the deck split the deck,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and water pouring through the mess decks.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09And all the sailors' kit floating around in the mess decks.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13It was a terrible place to live
0:01:13 > 0:01:15and a terrible place to die.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21When you started getting the weather, plus submarines,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23plus aircraft coming at you,
0:01:23 > 0:01:25it couldn't get worse conditions.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28And you'd think, "So, are we going to survive here or not?" You know?
0:01:30 > 0:01:34The possibility of going into the sea frightened people most of all,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37because they knew that if their ship was hit and they went in the water
0:01:37 > 0:01:40they had very, very little chance of survival.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Throughout the Second World War there were many Arctic convoys,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51but tonight we're telling the story of just one.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58Codenamed PQ17, it was the largest that had ever sailed.
0:01:58 > 0:02:05It was also the first significant Anglo-American operation of the war.
0:02:07 > 0:02:13And on the night of July 4th 1942,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17it became the biggest naval disaster of the 20th century.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25I still grieve on July 4th.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30I had a long naval career and I still remember it as a bleak,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32horrible, awful day.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36It was the worst operation of all them.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41It was the hardest thing to take.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51The story begins in June 1941,
0:02:51 > 0:02:57when over three million German troops stormed into the USSR.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00It was the largest invasion in the history of warfare.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05And to start with at least, it was a huge success.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12In just nine days, the Russians lost 4,500 planes.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14That was half their air force.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Six months later, they'd lost 20,000 tanks,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21and by that stage the Germans were just 15 miles
0:03:21 > 0:03:23from where I'm standing now.
0:03:23 > 0:03:2715 miles from the centre of Moscow.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34In the Kremlin, Stalin was screaming at Winston Churchill for help.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38He was saying, "Send me tanks, send me planes, send me guns.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41"And send them now."
0:03:41 > 0:03:44I've got a copy here of one of those telegrams.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48And using fairly undiplomatic language,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Stalin says he will no longer be able to continue the struggle
0:03:51 > 0:03:57against Hitlerism unless he has 400 aircraft a month,
0:03:57 > 0:04:03500 tanks a month, and 30,000 tons of aluminium immediately.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05CHURCHILL: Hitler is a monster...
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Churchill was no fan of Stalin or Communism,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11but as Britain was in no position to beat the Germans on its own,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and with America only sending supplies, not troops,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17he agreed to Stalin's demands,
0:04:17 > 0:04:22saying there would be deliveries every ten days.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23But how?
0:04:23 > 0:04:27How do you get equipment and materials from America and Britain
0:04:27 > 0:04:29to the front line in Russia?
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Well, you could go through the Mediterranean,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34down the Red Sea and up through Persia.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38But that is complex and there were too many bottlenecks.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42You could ship everything across the Pacific and then use a train
0:04:42 > 0:04:47to get it to the front line, but that would take nearly seven weeks -
0:04:47 > 0:04:48too long.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51The only realistic solution
0:04:51 > 0:04:54was to go round the top of German-occupied Norway,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57through the freezing, dreadful, violent Arctic Ocean
0:04:57 > 0:05:00into Murmansk or Archangel.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04This would only take around ten days.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08But, as Churchill conceded, it would be...
0:05:08 > 0:05:10the worst journey in the world.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14The thing I remember most about the Arctic was that it was lonely.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19It didn't seem to be...
0:05:19 > 0:05:21anywhere on the planet.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25It was just uncounted miles in all directions.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32- NEWS REPORTER:- The line to Russia is working to capacity...
0:05:32 > 0:05:35The task of delivering these supplies to Russia would fall
0:05:35 > 0:05:38to the men of the merchant navy,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41men who were more used to bringing silk from the Far East
0:05:41 > 0:05:45or fruit from exotic ports in the West Indies.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Certainly, they hadn't signed up for war.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55I told them I wanted to go to sea.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58So they said, "There's only one way you can go to sea,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03"as you're a conscript, and that is by joining the merchant navy."
0:06:03 > 0:06:05I just wanted to travel.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09I'd been a trainee accountant and I wanted to see the world.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12I was a boy, I was excited.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16I was at sea. That's all I wanted to do - go to sea.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19I thought it was going to be a wonderful life. You're going to see
0:06:19 > 0:06:22the world, you're going to meet different people.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Go to America, go round the world and see it.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27No danger, you didn't know about any danger.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29You just got to go to American and come back.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31But it didn't turn out that way.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36A merchant seaman could be 14 or he could be 70.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Many were very tough.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41But few were prepared for what awaited them
0:06:41 > 0:06:44in the freezing Arctic wasteland.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47When I realised where we were going I thought,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51"My God, I hope it don't get too cold as I've only got a raincoat."
0:06:51 > 0:06:53All they gave us was a long coat with a...
0:06:53 > 0:06:56It's like a horse blanket, lining the bottom.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Leather boots. And I think we had balaclavas give us. And that was it.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03I'm out here now,
0:07:03 > 0:07:08wearing countless layers of 21st century synthetic thermals,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11and the cold is just crippling.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Now, these guys in the convoys would have to come out on deck
0:07:14 > 0:07:18in weather way worse than this to clear away the ice.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Because if they didn't, it would jam up the winches,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25it would jam up the guns and eventually it would build up
0:07:25 > 0:07:32to such an extent the ship would become top heavy and simply capsize.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38And it wasn't just the men that were ill-prepared for war in the Arctic.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Their cargo ships, tankers and coal-burning tramp steamers
0:07:41 > 0:07:44were mainly old and slow.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Many dated from World War I.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52So these men, then,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55they were on ships that weren't really designed for these waters,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and as often as not they were carrying a cargo of fuel
0:07:59 > 0:08:03and ammunition, which meant they were sailing a floating bomb
0:08:03 > 0:08:07right past Norway, which was in German hands.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08And that meant that at any time
0:08:08 > 0:08:11they could be attacked by a submarine or a plane.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14The threat was constant.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17Constant.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21I can't remember being frightened about it at all.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24No-one worried about it. I mean, young people, whatever happens
0:08:24 > 0:08:26don't happen to you, happens to other people.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29I think they all know it was going to be a bit rough.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31But you're going to be all right, aren't you?
0:08:31 > 0:08:33You know, it's not going to touch your ship, is it? Not you,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35it's going to touch him over there.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38We knew it wasn't going to be a picnic up in the Arctic.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Merchant seamen were paid as little as £10 a month.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48But if your ship was hit and you ended up in the water,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51you were paid nothing at all.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54A peculiar rule of the merchant navy at the time
0:08:54 > 0:08:59meant that your pay was stopped the moment your ship sank.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Although I can't imagine that was foremost in the mind of any man
0:09:03 > 0:09:07who'd been blown by an explosion in there.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Because that doesn't bear thinking about.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13You'd be freezing to death from the neck down,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17your hair would be on fire, you'd be drowning in fuel oil,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20and you'd know that none of the other ships in the convoy
0:09:20 > 0:09:23would stop to help, because it was a convoy,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26it had to keep moving as a unit.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30It would just chug by at eight knots and...
0:09:30 > 0:09:31and leave you there.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35Ooh...
0:09:35 > 0:09:37NEWS REPORTER: Northwards to the Arctic circle
0:09:37 > 0:09:41rides the convoy and escort, bound for ports in northern Russia.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Amazingly though, these brave men on their ill-equipped ships
0:09:44 > 0:09:46were getting through.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49In the first 12 convoys to make the voyage,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51there were 103 ships,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53and only one was lost.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00Proof of this success came in the battle of Moscow in late 1941,
0:10:00 > 0:10:05where 75% of the tanks used by the Russians were British.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08The Arctic supply route was working.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Churchill was keeping Russia in the war.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15So, how were these old ships full of untrained men
0:10:15 > 0:10:19getting past all those German planes and submarines?
0:10:19 > 0:10:25Well, they used convoys which were coordinated from this very basement
0:10:25 > 0:10:28far below the streets of Liverpool.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30And this is how they worked.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34In the middle you had the merchant ships carrying the tanks,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37the guns, the planes, the bullets and so on.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39They would be eight abreast
0:10:39 > 0:10:41and then arranged in rows.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45And then around the outside you had the warships.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Close by to protect the meat
0:10:47 > 0:10:49from submarines and aeroplanes,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53you had anti-aircraft ships, armed trawlers and destroyers.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Then 30 or 40 miles further out,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00to guard against an attack from German surface ships,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03you have the big, fast, heavy cruisers.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08And then if you were lucky, at the back, a couple of submarines.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11That, then, was a convoy.
0:11:11 > 0:11:12And it worked.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18That's broadly how the convoy codenamed PQ17 was laid out
0:11:18 > 0:11:23as it left the coast of Iceland on June 27th 1942,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26heading via the permanent daylight of an Arctic summer
0:11:26 > 0:11:29to the Russian port of Archangel.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34There were 35 mainly British and American merchant ships
0:11:34 > 0:11:37carrying enough tanks, planes and other materials
0:11:37 > 0:11:41to equip an army of 50,000.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44It was the biggest Arctic convoy ever assembled.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50The ship was loaded to the point where you could hardly recognise it
0:11:50 > 0:11:52as a ship.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54You had crates that went up from the deck
0:11:54 > 0:11:58higher than the deck was above the water.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01What I've got here is the manifest from just one
0:12:01 > 0:12:05of the merchant ships, the USS Samuel Chase.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07And it's just staggering.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13It was carrying ten tonnes of 39 millimetre guns, 37 tanks,
0:12:13 > 0:12:17108 trucks, 3,800 tyres,
0:12:17 > 0:12:224,000 boxes of...lard.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23Tell it was American, can't you?
0:12:23 > 0:12:291,200 tons of sheet steel, 10,000 bags of dried beans,
0:12:29 > 0:12:319,000 packages of canned meat.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34The list goes on and on.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38And if you think about it, if all this stuff made it to Russia,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41it would take the German army months and countless lives
0:12:41 > 0:12:43to destroy it all.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Whereas the same thing could be achieved with just one torpedo.
0:12:48 > 0:12:49NEWS REPORTER SPEAKS IN GERMAN
0:12:49 > 0:12:53By this stage of the war, the German High Command had realised this
0:12:53 > 0:12:57and had increased the number of heavy warships, submarines
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and planes based in Norway.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05The Germans were therefore ready for PQ17, and had announced in advance
0:13:05 > 0:13:09they were planning to destroy it down to its very last ship.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12So the merchantmen would need a huge amount of protection.
0:13:14 > 0:13:15And they got it.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28Guarding the merchant ships would be a massive armed escort.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32With America now in the war, the joint British and US task force
0:13:32 > 0:13:35comprised a close escort of 19 ships
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and a distant cruiser force of seven.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40That's 26 warships.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46This was the first time the American and British navies worked together
0:13:46 > 0:13:49on anything like this sort of scale.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52And because the Americans were the new boys,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55they agreed the British should be in charge.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58I thought it was very good protection.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01They looked good. They sounded good.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04They had a great accent.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08We worked well with the British. No problem.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13My impression was that it was a well-run convoy at that point.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19One of the officers on the American escort ship USS Wichita,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22was Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26In his memoir, Fairbanks described the scene as the merchant ships
0:14:26 > 0:14:30trundled past his cruiser at the beginning of the voyage.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44However, for the first seven days of what was expected to be
0:14:44 > 0:14:46about a ten-day voyage,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50the convoy trundled along without major incident.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53U-boats that came too close were driven away by the destroyers,
0:14:53 > 0:14:58planes by short bursts from the anti-aircraft ships.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03The eighth day was July 4th
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and the ship on which Fairbanks was serving
0:15:05 > 0:15:08signalled the British commander saying,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11"The celebration of Independence Day has always required
0:15:11 > 0:15:15"large fireworks displays. I trust you will not disappoint us."
0:15:15 > 0:15:17That night he got his wish.
0:15:18 > 0:15:24At 8:20, the Germans got serious and mounted a full-on assault.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29I happened by chance to be looking to the southern horizon
0:15:29 > 0:15:34just at the moment that all the Heinkel 111 torpedo bombers popped up
0:15:34 > 0:15:39like mosquitoes over the edge of the earth and came swarming towards us.
0:15:41 > 0:15:42Now, at a time like this,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44the British liked to close ranks and wait
0:15:44 > 0:15:48until the aircraft were in close before opening fire.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Which is why they were probably a bit surprised to note
0:15:51 > 0:15:55that one of the American ships, the USS Wainwright,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59had increased her flank speed and set off on its own
0:15:59 > 0:16:04straight towards the incoming planes, forward guns blazing away.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08And then, when it was 4,000 yards from the convoy,
0:16:08 > 0:16:13it executed what has been described as a "32-knot handbrake turn."
0:16:15 > 0:16:18You're probably thinking you wouldn't notice a hard turn
0:16:18 > 0:16:19on a warship.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21I suspect, however, you probably would.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Here we go. Oh, yeah, that's...
0:16:28 > 0:16:30HE LAUGHS
0:16:30 > 0:16:31Oh, my God.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Look at that. That's all...
0:16:37 > 0:16:38Bloody hell!
0:16:38 > 0:16:41HE LAUGHS
0:16:41 > 0:16:43That has really got some lean on now.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47It's a big turn.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50God, this must have scared the Germans.
0:16:50 > 0:16:51Of course, what he was doing
0:16:51 > 0:16:55was he was bringing all the guns on his starboard side to bear.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57That was a lot of guns.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02Such was the astonishing volume of fire
0:17:02 > 0:17:06that most of the German pilots either turned tail
0:17:06 > 0:17:10and fled back to Norway or dropped their torpedoes so early
0:17:10 > 0:17:13they didn't stand a chance of reaching the Wainwright,
0:17:13 > 0:17:14leave alone the convoy.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22When the Wainwright rejoined the cover group...
0:17:22 > 0:17:24everybody was cheering them.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27"Hooray for the Wainwright."
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The Royal Navy was astounded by the gung-ho American attitude
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and sent the Commander of the Wainwright, Captain DP Moon,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36a message which said,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38"Thank you for your great support and congratulations
0:17:38 > 0:17:43"on your anti-aircraft fire, which impressed us all."
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Shortly afterwards, though, the next wave of bombers arrived,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50and this time the pilots were a bit more persistent.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Bombers come in, about ten or 12 in a big line.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57And the guns would be firing at them, a whole wall of fire.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59And they'd fly through this. There were some being shot down.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01And they'd fly right over us.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04And that was ideal for the pom-poms and Oerlikons.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07And it was amazing how many were shot down.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10The biggest danger was the torpedo-carrying planes.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12They dropped them about 1,000 yards away
0:18:12 > 0:18:14and you could see the tracks coming into you.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19We could swing round and sail between them
0:18:19 > 0:18:22and you can watch the torpedoes going down each side.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Then you could look back,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27watch the torpedo heading for a merchant ship, next thing - blow up.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36In the mayhem that followed, three merchant ships were hit.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40But three German planes had been shot down, so morale was still good.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44I think a lot of us
0:18:44 > 0:18:47celebrated the 4th of July because it's our holiday,
0:18:47 > 0:18:51and we felt like we were going to make it without any problems.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54After that attack our tails were up.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57We thought we could get this convoy through. We were quite confident.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05But, back in London, there was news from Swedish intelligence
0:19:05 > 0:19:08that German surface ships had left their base in Norway
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and were on their way to attack the convoy.
0:19:11 > 0:19:17And among them was the most feared warship of them all - the Tirpitz.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Now, the warships from PQ17 could deal with most things,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26but even if they all joined forces and attacked as one,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28they wouldn't be able to deal with Tirpitz.
0:19:28 > 0:19:33The most advanced warship the world had ever seen.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Its armour plating was 14 inches thick.
0:19:36 > 0:19:43It weighed 43,000 tonnes, and yet it had a top speed of 35mph.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47That's faster the jet skis you rent when you're on holiday.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49And then there's the weaponry.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53It had 12 six-inch guns, 16 four-inch guns,
0:19:53 > 0:19:5916 1.5-inch guns, and 58 anti-aircraft guns.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03And that's before we get to the piece de resistance.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06These are 15-inch guns.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09And Tirpitz had eight of them.
0:20:09 > 0:20:15The bigger warships from PQ17 could fire a shell this size 16 miles.
0:20:15 > 0:20:21Whereas Tirpitz could fire a shell this size 22 miles.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24So, before you were close enough to unleash your virtually
0:20:24 > 0:20:26harmless pea shooter,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28you'd have been blown to kingdom come.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33This was a problem for the man in charge of the Royal Navy,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38He'd been a battleship commander in World War I
0:20:38 > 0:20:40and had seen action at Jutland.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44But now he was nearly 65 and not a well man.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47A brain tumour had been diagnosed three years earlier,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and an arthritic hip meant that he was almost permanently
0:20:50 > 0:20:53deprived of proper sleep.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55And now, here at the Admiralty in London,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58he was facing a tricky decision.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03If PQ17 turned back, Stalin would be furious,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and worse, Russia could lose the war.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09If it kept going and was obliterated,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Russia could still lose the war,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14and the Americans would accuse him of recklessness.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Before deciding whether to turn the convoy around
0:21:21 > 0:21:23or allow it to continue,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27he had to know whether the Swedish intelligence was accurate.
0:21:27 > 0:21:33He had to know whether Tirpitz really was out there on the warpath.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36So he headed to the bowels of the Admiralty
0:21:36 > 0:21:40to see his chief analyst, Norman Denning.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45Denning was a brilliant man who had developed an almost sixth sense
0:21:45 > 0:21:48for the movements of the German Navy.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Norman reckoned that if Germany really had deployed its largest,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01most prized and most powerful military asset, there would be
0:22:01 > 0:22:06a huge amount of radio traffic coming from the frozen north.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08And there wasn't.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12He also noted that no German submarine operating in the area
0:22:12 > 0:22:16had been warned to be on the lookout for friendly surface vessels.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20And he hadn't heard a squeak from Norwegian resistance.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24The hadn't said, "Hey, you know the vast German battleship?
0:22:24 > 0:22:26"It's gone missing."
0:22:26 > 0:22:30So he told Pound that in his view Tirpitz was not at sea
0:22:30 > 0:22:32and was therefore not a threat.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Pound, though, was still not satisfied,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39so he called a meeting of the naval top brass.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45All except one said the convoy should carry on.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48But Pound still wasn't sure.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51So, apparently he leant back in his chair and closed his eyes
0:22:51 > 0:22:53for such a long time
0:22:53 > 0:22:56everyone around the table assumed he'd fallen asleep.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07In fact, he was mulling over an idea he'd had,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09a new solution to the problem.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15A solution that would turn out to be disastrous.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22Eventually he opened his eyes and said he'd made up his mind.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24Because neither the American nor the British cruisers
0:23:24 > 0:23:27were powerful enough to take on the Tirpitz,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31they should turn round and come home as quickly as possible.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34And so at 11 minutes past nine
0:23:34 > 0:23:36on the evening of 4th July,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39the following message was sent to the escort ships.
0:23:39 > 0:23:45"Most immediate, cruiser force to withdraw to westward at high speed."
0:23:45 > 0:23:48This decision to remove the convoy's first line of defence
0:23:48 > 0:23:53was a huge shock to the men on the warships.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55We were flabbergasted.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58We could not understand why.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00When the signal came through,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03I was on the bridge as First Lieutenant.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05The Captain was there.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07And we sort of froze with this...
0:24:09 > 0:24:12And I'm freezing now, with this...
0:24:12 > 0:24:14this dreadful signal.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18We sort of held in our hands and couldn't think why
0:24:18 > 0:24:20we should be doing this.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24It was against every possible principle of convoy safety
0:24:24 > 0:24:26and convoy escort.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30The order come from the Admiralty.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32If you disobey that you're in for the chop, you know.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36It's like being forced on you, you know, against your will, like.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38But you just had to accept it.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44So, the top brass had to decide what to do about the rest of the convoy,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46the merchant ships.
0:24:46 > 0:24:52And Pound obviously reckoned that if Tirpitz really was out there,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55it might be best if there were no convoy at all,
0:24:55 > 0:24:57if the ships weren't all bunched up.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03So, 12 minutes later, a second message was sent.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05"Immediate, owing to threat from surface ships,
0:25:05 > 0:25:10"convoy is to disperse and proceed to Russian ports."
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Then his second in command said,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"Sir, I think the correct word to use
0:25:15 > 0:25:18"when ordering a convoy to disperse is 'scatter.'"
0:25:18 > 0:25:23"That's what I meant," said Pound. "I want them to scatter."
0:25:23 > 0:25:28So, just 13 minutes after the second signal, a third was transmitted.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32"Most immediate," it said, "Convoy is to scatter."
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Nobody in this room - nobody - could possibly have known
0:25:38 > 0:25:43that the sequence of these messages and the seemingly trivial point
0:25:43 > 0:25:48raised in the third one, would have such terrible consequences.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54The reference in the second message to surface ships
0:25:54 > 0:25:57could only mean one thing -
0:25:57 > 0:26:01somewhere out there, Tirpitz was coming.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05And because the three messages had arrived in quick succession
0:26:05 > 0:26:09and they all featured words like "scatter" and "most immediate"
0:26:09 > 0:26:13and "high speed", suggested Tirpitz wasn't just coming,
0:26:13 > 0:26:15she was close.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19These messages created a sense of panic.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22And so the cruisers, the big heavy hitters,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27the main defence for the convoy, simply whirled round...
0:26:27 > 0:26:29and were gone.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34The entire ship's company was very unhappy
0:26:34 > 0:26:37that we left those ships to their doom.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Douglas Fairbanks Jr wrote...
0:26:42 > 0:26:45"We hate leaving PQ17 behind.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49"It looks so helpless now, the ships all going round in circles
0:26:49 > 0:26:52"like so many frightened chicks.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54"Have the British become gun-shy?
0:26:54 > 0:26:56"How can wars be won this way?"
0:26:59 > 0:27:00I guess...
0:27:02 > 0:27:05..ours is not to reason why, ours is to do or die.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08That's the attitude in...
0:27:08 > 0:27:10in the service.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15You're given an order and you salute and say, "Yes, sir." And do it.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25With the fast, heavy cruisers gone, this man was in charge.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Captain Broome was in command of the convoy's close escort warships,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and he was in a difficult position.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35The signals from London had said the cruiser force was to head westwards
0:27:35 > 0:27:38and that the merchant ships were to scatter.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42But there was no mention of what to do with his destroyers.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44He couldn't contact London for clarification,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47because if he'd used the radio it would have given away his position.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51So he had to make the decision on his own.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54And he thought, "Well, if the convoy is scattered,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56there's nothing for me to look after any more,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59"so I may as well go with the cruisers
0:27:59 > 0:28:02"and then at least I'll be on hand if they run into the Tirpitz."
0:28:03 > 0:28:05And so with that,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08the destroyers whirled round
0:28:08 > 0:28:09and they were gone, too.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Things got kind of silent after that.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22I don't know what we anticipated might happen,
0:28:22 > 0:28:24but we didn't think it was very good news.
0:28:28 > 0:28:29So, imagine it.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35You're a merchant seaman, you have no military training,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and for reasons you don't understand,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40you've been left here alone...
0:28:42 > 0:28:45..on a rusting old ship full of explosives.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49And your destination is 800 miles away
0:28:49 > 0:28:51and you're not really sure how to get there,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54because this close to the north pole
0:28:54 > 0:28:56your compass doesn't work properly.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03Oh, we were we were horrified.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06We couldn't understand why
0:29:06 > 0:29:08they took all the escort away,
0:29:08 > 0:29:14left us defenceless against air attack and submarine attack.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16Nobody to help us.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18Hopeless.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22We were all used to following ships. That's what a convoy does.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26And the moment we got this scattering order,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30it didn't take anyone with the slightest amount of brains
0:29:30 > 0:29:33to know that something drastic had happened because all the ships
0:29:33 > 0:29:36went in different directions.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41And our neat little convoy was finished, was gone.
0:29:41 > 0:29:42Now it was just us.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48I think everybody retreated to his own thoughts at that point.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Many of them had a pretty good idea
0:29:50 > 0:29:53that we didn't have much of a chance.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56The convoy seemed to disperse quite quickly.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59I never quite know what the difference between
0:29:59 > 0:30:01disperse and scatter is.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Anyway, we went to the north
0:30:05 > 0:30:09and before long we were almost on our own.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11And it was lovely.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13In fact, somebody had sunglasses on on the bridge.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15I think he thinks it's a summer holiday, you know?
0:30:15 > 0:30:19But it was it was peaceful.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21The sky was blue.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24I thought, "Oh, God, we've left the war behind."
0:30:24 > 0:30:27That's what it seemed like.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29But it didn't stay that way, did it?
0:30:31 > 0:30:35The Germans probably could not believe their luck.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37They had 12 U-boats in the area,
0:30:37 > 0:30:42133 bombers and a dozen torpedo aircraft.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46And so, just a few hours after the scatter order was sent,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48the attacks began.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53They tackled the Washington first of all. I saw that was on fire.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Then they tackled us, of course, after they'd sunk the Bolton Castle.
0:30:58 > 0:30:59That went down almost immediately.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Abandoned by their naval escorts,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06the merchant ships were sitting ducks.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10The attacks started, one after the other.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13It lasted for 48 hours.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18Bombers, dive-bombers, U-boats, submarines, the lot.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23There were three submarines chasing us on the surface.
0:31:23 > 0:31:28We could see them three miles away, and when they submerged,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31we knew then they were going to attack us.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34We were sunk by a torpedo.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39We were looking everywhere at once.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42But everywhere we looked it was the same. Just nothing but ocean.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49And we never did see a periscope, never saw any sign of anything...
0:31:51 > 0:31:54..until the moment it happened.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59It was a noise that vibrated through your bones.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03A torpedo had broken the ship in half.
0:32:03 > 0:32:10This tremendous steel-bodied ship was literally going up in the air,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13blown up in the air. Impossible.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Even the waves of the worst storm couldn't have done it.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22In the first 24 hours,
0:32:22 > 0:32:2512 merchant ships were destroyed.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27And the Tirpitz still hadn't arrived.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33The situation was so bleak that some of the American crews
0:32:33 > 0:32:37were abandoning ship even before they were attacked.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42I honestly can't say I blame them,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46because for the British sailors the war was very real.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Their families and friends were being bombed back at home.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53But for the Americans, many of them were just kids.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56It made no sense. As far as they were concerned,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59they'd been asked to risk their lives
0:32:59 > 0:33:02taking tanks from a country they'd never heard of
0:33:02 > 0:33:04to another country they'd never heard of
0:33:04 > 0:33:06because a country called Japan
0:33:06 > 0:33:10had dropped some bombs on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13Why die for that?
0:33:15 > 0:33:17Whilst all this was happening,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20the men on the retreating warships were beginning to suspect
0:33:20 > 0:33:23they were running from a threat that didn't exist.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26We were the people who could see what happening in the Arctic
0:33:26 > 0:33:29at that moment, and absolutely nothing was happening.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31So it was puzzling.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34It may have been puzzling for the men in the Arctic,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37but back in London it wasn't puzzling at all.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Because code breakers had unravelled a signal the Germans had sent
0:33:41 > 0:33:42to their U-boats -
0:33:42 > 0:33:46"No own naval forces in the operational area," it read.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50This confirmed what intelligence analyst Norman Denning
0:33:50 > 0:33:52had suspected - Tirpitz was still at anchor.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57She wasn't a threat. The convoy had been abandoned for no reason.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01The signal was taken as quickly as possible
0:34:01 > 0:34:04to First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound. He read it carefully,
0:34:04 > 0:34:09and his response has puzzled historians for the last 70 years.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12"We've decided to scatter the convoy,
0:34:12 > 0:34:14"and that is how it must stay."
0:34:17 > 0:34:20This was a death sentence for the merchantmen.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24Over the next 24 hours, the losses continued to mount.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26The attacks were relentless.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38In the midst of all the chaos,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42we find the 42-year-old Royal Navy volunteer reserve officer,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Lieutenant Leo Gradwell.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49He was an Oxbridge Classics scholar who could speak six languages,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51and had trained in the law.
0:34:51 > 0:34:56But his qualifications as a sea captain were rather less impressive.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58This is all he had -
0:34:58 > 0:35:03a certificate of competence to drive a pleasure yacht in coastal waters.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06He was an amateur sailor. But with a mind.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11He thought for himself, he didn't completely...
0:35:11 > 0:35:14He wasn't the drilled-in army or navy type.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17You know, he was a... He was a volunteer.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19He was a leader.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22He was very much a person that thought about things carefully
0:35:22 > 0:35:25and you usually trusted his judgment.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Gradwell was captain of HMS Ayrshire,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30one of the few Royal Navy escort vessels
0:35:30 > 0:35:33that hadn't been ordered to head for home.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36It was just a fishing trawler that had been hastily converted
0:35:36 > 0:35:38for anti-submarine duties.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41It had a small gun on the forward deck,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44and a handful of depth charges on the back.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46And that was about it.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49So, Gradwell, he's a barrister,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53not a trained Arctic naval warfare specialist.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57He's on a converted trawler. His crew are mostly fishermen.
0:35:57 > 0:35:58And he's being chased, he thinks,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01because nobody's thought to tell him otherwise,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04by the world's best battleship.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Now, you might imagine he'd find all this a trifle overwhelming.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11But during the previous evening's air raid,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14this is a man who'd pulled up alongside a neighbouring vessel
0:36:14 > 0:36:18and signalled, "Are you happy in the navy?"
0:36:18 > 0:36:23He had demonstrated then that he had a calmness under fire.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27And that calmness shone through again now.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30After providing extra rations of rum and corned beef sandwiches
0:36:30 > 0:36:34for his men, Gradwell decided to turn his trawler
0:36:34 > 0:36:36into a floating bomb.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40He did tell me once about him putting munitions on the front
0:36:40 > 0:36:43of the boat, and I was amazed to hear
0:36:43 > 0:36:47that he wired together all the depth charges and various other armaments
0:36:47 > 0:36:48they had in front of the ship.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51And if they managed to get anywhere near the Tirpitz,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55which was probably unlikely, but if they did, the idea was to ram it.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58He then decided to break his orders.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01They said he had to proceed on his own to Archangel. But he thought
0:37:01 > 0:37:04"Well, if I'm going to Russia anyway,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07"why don't I escort some merchant ships while I'm at it?
0:37:07 > 0:37:10"I mean, it may only be an armed trawler,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12"but it's better than nothing."
0:37:12 > 0:37:16The family story is that they had the order to scatter
0:37:16 > 0:37:18and my father thought,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21"That's not really very sensible here.
0:37:21 > 0:37:26"They can't see what's going on. We could get out of this."
0:37:26 > 0:37:30I think in his own mind he would have given himself permission to,
0:37:30 > 0:37:34in a way, disobey orders if he thought the order was so bad
0:37:34 > 0:37:36and in this case he did think that.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40He is a man of distinct principles and he was there to protect
0:37:40 > 0:37:45the convoy, and therefore he should stay with the convoy.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Quickly he came across three American merchant vessels
0:37:48 > 0:37:52and all agreed to follow the little trawler.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54I was on the wheel, steering.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57After a while the Captain and the Chief Mate talked,
0:37:57 > 0:38:01and so then they had me change course and head towards the ice.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06Gradwell's plan was simple.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10He'd head north as far as he could get from the German forces,
0:38:10 > 0:38:12and then after the fury had died down
0:38:12 > 0:38:15he'd head quietly to Archangel in Russia.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21Men on the American merchant ships couldn't have known
0:38:21 > 0:38:23that Gradwell didn't really have the right charts
0:38:23 > 0:38:25for this part of the world
0:38:25 > 0:38:29and was having to navigate using a Times Handy Atlas.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34How did he do it? How was he navigating with this?
0:38:34 > 0:38:36It isn't in it.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41He was here when the scatter order came, actually going up there.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44And that's what he was using to navigate, that map.
0:38:44 > 0:38:45That's all he had.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Eventually, he reached the main Arctic ice shelf.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53But instead of stopping, he kept right on going.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10The captain of this ship has been sailing in these waters for...
0:39:10 > 0:39:12Well, all his life.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15He knows all the tricks - we've just hit an iceberg.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17He knows all the tricks, he knows to look for dark clouds
0:39:17 > 0:39:20because they tend to be above darker, open water.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22Paler clouds are above ice.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24He looks for something called frost smoke.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Gradwell was coming through here with no experience at all.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35Just his coastal waters certificate of competence.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39And he was in a trawler, not a purpose built icebreaker.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44How would you drive a trawler through this
0:39:44 > 0:39:46when you didn't know what you were doing?
0:39:52 > 0:39:55I wouldn't drive a trawler through here even if I did think
0:39:55 > 0:39:57I was being chased by a battleship.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03After 25 miles, though, the ice became impregnable.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06So the mini convoy couldn't go any further.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10The engines were therefore shut down and an ingenious plan was hatched.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16The ice got so thick we couldn't go any further.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19A few hours later the captain called us out
0:40:19 > 0:40:21and had everybody start painting the ship white.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26The bosun started mixing paint and handed out brushes.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Even the cooks were painting.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Ordinary seamen were painting over the side on scaffolds.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36And everybody, the cooks and so forth,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39were all complaining about overtime.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Which they never got.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45I'm sure the reason for painting the ship white
0:40:45 > 0:40:49was to blend it in with the ice around us.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52I think that probably saved us, because a reconnaissance plane
0:40:52 > 0:40:56flew over and we all automatically stopped.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00And then after it was gone, we started painting again.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The sailors were then instructed to raid the laundry baskets
0:41:03 > 0:41:07for white sheets and tablecloths to cover the decks.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13And after the mini convoy was all but invisible,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Gradwell ordered the tanks being carried on the decks
0:41:16 > 0:41:19of the merchant ships to be loaded with ammunition.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22He then had the guns pointed southwards,
0:41:22 > 0:41:27ready to engage any German ship that arrived on the scene.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31So, if the German navy did turn up, they'd be in for a big surprise -
0:41:31 > 0:41:34tank shells suddenly raining down on them.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36And they'd all be sitting there thinking,
0:41:36 > 0:41:38"Where the hell did they come from?"
0:41:40 > 0:41:43With the ships camouflaged and some encouraging defences in place,
0:41:43 > 0:41:47Gradwell and his men sat back to wait.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50The First Officer on the Ayrshire then came out onto the ice
0:41:50 > 0:41:52and painted a picture of the scene.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56And I've got that very picture here now.
0:41:58 > 0:41:59It's rather beautiful, I think.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Meanwhile, further south, chaos was reigning.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09Since the scatter order was received three days earlier,
0:42:09 > 0:42:1220 merchant ships had been lost.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15The Hartlebury, however, had been lucky.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18This British steamer had managed to avoid the German subs and aircraft.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22But her luck was about to run out.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27A chap called Needham Forth, I've got a picture of him here,
0:42:27 > 0:42:29he was Third Officer on the Hartlebury,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32and he wrote a first-hand account of what it was like
0:42:32 > 0:42:35for merchant sailors when they were attacked.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Now, I've got that account here, and as you can see,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40a lot of it is waterlogged and ruined.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45But the passage I need has survived and I've had it transcribed here.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50"Tuesday 7th, 5:40pm. Torpedoed.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54"Had just relieved Second Mate for tea, walked out on bridge,
0:42:54 > 0:42:59"literally walked into torpedo, which exploded immediately below.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03"Terrific crash. Everything black."
0:43:03 > 0:43:06You might imagine you'd want to clear that from your mind,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08but amazingly, even today...
0:43:10 > 0:43:12..Needham remembers everything.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Suddenly there was a huge explosion,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19and the shock blew me
0:43:19 > 0:43:21across the wheelhouse.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23And I went sailing through the air.
0:43:25 > 0:43:26The most amazing sensation.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32I remember looking at the man at the wheel as I went past
0:43:32 > 0:43:33and he was equally shocked.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37Anyway, I never thought of the landing.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39I must have been all right. I crash landed.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42"Crawled through wheelhouse, which was deserted
0:43:42 > 0:43:44"and washing with water,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48"got on other side just as second torpedo exploded."
0:43:52 > 0:43:56And then it was abandon ship all around, you know?
0:43:58 > 0:44:00The Second Officer Spence and I,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04both decided to go for this one lifeboat.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07And I was ahead of him and there was no ladder to the lifeboat
0:44:07 > 0:44:09or anything, the only thing was the bowline.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13And I'm not very good on rope...
0:44:14 > 0:44:16..but fear makes you do funny things,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19and I went straight and grabbed the bowline
0:44:19 > 0:44:23and shimmied down into the boat.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27And I turned round, thinking Spence was going to follow me.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29But he hesitated there.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31I suppose he was waiting for me to get off the bowline.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35And at that moment somebody slipped it.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39And...
0:44:39 > 0:44:41we shot away and left him.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46"Was horrified to see Second Mate still on board.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48"Had taken off his coat,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52"life jacket and apparently resigned himself to his fate."
0:44:52 > 0:44:54He gave us a wave.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57He'd gone back on board
0:44:57 > 0:44:59and he was on the boat deck
0:44:59 > 0:45:01as she went down.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04And he went down without a struggle, you might say.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07Maybe he thought he could swim clear.
0:45:09 > 0:45:10But he didn't.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15"What a tragedy, only just married."
0:45:18 > 0:45:20The lifeboat was flooded,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23so we were sitting there up to our waists, at least.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27There was a little Icelandic fireman.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32He helped us an awful lot baling out,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35and then suddenly he jumped up,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37leapt over the side and swam away.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40We never saw him again.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45And another bloke in the boat, he started...
0:45:46 > 0:45:49He started trying to swallow water
0:45:49 > 0:45:51before he was dead.
0:45:51 > 0:45:52You know, before...
0:45:52 > 0:45:54He was shoving his face in the water
0:45:54 > 0:45:56as though he was trying to kill himself.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59Funny things happened.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03And then we all started to die.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07"First fireman Hutchinson,
0:46:07 > 0:46:09"the mess boy AB Clarke,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12"the 16-year-old cabin boy, then AB Dixon.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15"These were dead inside two hours,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18"and by midnight, Chief and two stewards,
0:46:18 > 0:46:23"Cook, Gunner, Jenson, had also gone."
0:46:23 > 0:46:26A couple of us tried to get oars out,
0:46:26 > 0:46:27but she was far too heavy to handle...
0:46:29 > 0:46:31..with that water and all those men.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34We couldn't get her head on
0:46:34 > 0:46:36to the waves, you know?
0:46:38 > 0:46:40So the only thing we could do was get rid of the bodies
0:46:40 > 0:46:42to lighten the boat.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46So this young steward, he and I...
0:46:48 > 0:46:50..just chucked them overboard.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52No sentiment, no nothing, just fear.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Hope they were dead.
0:46:57 > 0:47:0320 men had made it into that lifeboat, only four survived.
0:47:05 > 0:47:06"What a tragedy.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09"Only 13 miles off the land."
0:47:11 > 0:47:1213 miles, that's...
0:47:15 > 0:47:19The land over there's only 13 miles away.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21They were dying within sight of land.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27The land in question was Novaya Zemlya, a bleak,
0:47:27 > 0:47:32almost completely uninhabited island 300 miles from the coast of Russia.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36Strong currents meant that many of PQ17's survivors ended up here,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39some arriving on lifeboats and rafts,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42some on their battered and burned merchant ships.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48I think when we think of being shipwrecked
0:47:48 > 0:47:53we tend to think of a beach, a warm lagoon full of fish,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55coconuts. Not this.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Sanctuary in a place like this...
0:48:00 > 0:48:03..that must have felt like no kind of sanctuary at all.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07No vegetation. Minus 30 degrees.
0:48:10 > 0:48:11No shelter.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14Wounded, perhaps.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18The only crumb of comfort they had
0:48:18 > 0:48:23was the beach was littered with driftwood, which they could burn.
0:48:23 > 0:48:24That way they could stay warm
0:48:24 > 0:48:27and they could cook some of the sea birds they'd caught.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32God, it's cold.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36We thought we were going to have lovely roast birds, and so...
0:48:36 > 0:48:39Somebody had some matches and we lit this,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42we had a bonfire on the beach, only a small fire,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44and we made bird stew, sea birds.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47But they also... A few feathers went in as well.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49I don't think we bothered too much about them.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51But they were so salty.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53An old bone, if you were eating it,
0:48:53 > 0:48:56you think it's like eating a sardine.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59There's no flesh on them at all, you know, it's...
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Anyway, they were food.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Salty food.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09Meanwhile, up in the icepack, a blanket of fog had arrived.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13Perfect cover for Leo Gradwell and his white-painted mini convoy
0:49:13 > 0:49:15to make their escape.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20Although he only had his Times Handy Atlas for navigation,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24he arrived on Novaya Zemlya on July 9th,
0:49:24 > 0:49:27and immediately ran into yet another problem.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33The American merchant ship captain's announced that,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37because they'd reached Russian soil, their job was done,
0:49:37 > 0:49:39so that's brilliant and can we go home now?
0:49:39 > 0:49:43So Gradwell had to use all the skills he'd learned as a barrister
0:49:43 > 0:49:48to convince them that delivering the tanks and the guns and the planes
0:49:48 > 0:49:52to an uninhabited island in the Arctic Circle was no use
0:49:52 > 0:49:57and that they had to keep going to Archangel.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00The Americans weren't very keen on this idea at all.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04Gradwell said they were showing unmistakable signs of strain,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and there was even talk of them scuttling their ships.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09He had to talk them out of that
0:50:09 > 0:50:13and help refloat them when they "accidentally" ran aground.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16He was determined to reach Archangel,
0:50:16 > 0:50:19and finally the Americans were brought back into line.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25It's easy to see, though, why they were so reluctant.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27To get from Novaya Zemlya to Archangel,
0:50:27 > 0:50:30you have to sail through this passage,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34which, at its narrowest point, is only 20 miles across.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37That makes it an ideal hunting ground for U-boats.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Plus, it's only 30 minutes flying time
0:50:41 > 0:50:43from a German bomber base in Norway.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Other PQ17 survivors were attempting the same thing,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53and for the Germans they were easy prey.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00There were four or five planes at a time,
0:51:00 > 0:51:03and they weren't very high,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06because you could see the bomb bay doors open.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10You can watch it open and you can watch the bombs start to come out.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15And they dropped those bombs and then they would fly off.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18Another plane would come along, do the same thing.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23They actually posted lookouts on the deck to watch for incoming bombs,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26and then they would signal to the bridge, saying,
0:51:26 > 0:51:30"Go starboard, go starboard! Go port, port!"
0:51:30 > 0:51:34The captain was watching the planes. and had his feet up on the rail.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39And he watches, the bombs came out, and said, "Go right."
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Or whatever he said. Dodging the bomb.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48The engines were screaming and the ships were zigzagging frantically.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50But the truth of the matter is,
0:51:50 > 0:51:54an old cargo ship can neither outrun
0:51:54 > 0:51:57nor out-manoeuvre a Heinkel bomber.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Three more merchantmen were hit in this narrow channel,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05and it really did look like the Germans would do exactly
0:52:05 > 0:52:07what they said they'd do -
0:52:07 > 0:52:11sink every single ship that had sailed with PQ17.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23In Archangel, the Russians waited for their supplies.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25The convoy was more than two weeks overdue,
0:52:25 > 0:52:29and it must have seemed like nothing was going to get through at all.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33But Leo Gradwell,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37armed with his duffel coat and his Times Handy Atlas,
0:52:37 > 0:52:38did just that.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41And on the morning of July 25th
0:52:41 > 0:52:44he arrived here in the port of Archangel
0:52:44 > 0:52:46on his little white trawler
0:52:46 > 0:52:51with the three American cargo ships still under his protective wing.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55His little mini convoy had made it.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58And even he must have recognised that that was
0:52:58 > 0:53:00a fantastic achievement,
0:53:00 > 0:53:04because, while he was holed up here, he wrote a letter to his mother.
0:53:04 > 0:53:06I've got a copy of it.
0:53:06 > 0:53:11"My dearest mother, I've had the worst month of my life.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13"I can't tell you anything, of course,
0:53:13 > 0:53:17"except that I've had my one big opportunity in this war
0:53:17 > 0:53:21"and that everyone is being very nice about it."
0:53:21 > 0:53:23And it really was everyone.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26The most senior British officer in the region sent
0:53:26 > 0:53:28"Congratulations and thanks."
0:53:28 > 0:53:30While the Soviet commander-in-chief wrote,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33"Please convey to Lieutenant Gradwell and the crew of his ship
0:53:33 > 0:53:37"my gratitude and delight at their work."
0:53:37 > 0:53:40The American master of the Silver Sword,
0:53:40 > 0:53:43a ship in Gradwell's mini convoy, simply states,
0:53:43 > 0:53:48"The services of this little ship and the officers were invaluable.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51"I do not know how we could ever have reached Archangel
0:53:51 > 0:53:53"without their aid."
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Gradwell was awarded the DSC for his actions.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01Some say he would have got the higher DSO
0:54:01 > 0:54:02had be not disobeyed orders.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08After the war, he went back into the law, and in 1963
0:54:08 > 0:54:10presided over the sex scandal case
0:54:10 > 0:54:14involving Christine Keeler and John Profumo.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20He died in 1969, aged 70.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25Gradwell's triumphant story, though, was unusual,
0:54:25 > 0:54:30because PQ17 had been a catastrophe.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34Of the 35 merchant ships which left Iceland,
0:54:34 > 0:54:3824 were sunk and went to the bottom taking with them
0:54:38 > 0:54:43210 planes, 430 tanks,
0:54:43 > 0:54:473,350 vehicles,
0:54:47 > 0:54:52100,000 tons of munitions and raw materials,
0:54:52 > 0:54:54and 153 men.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Churchill called it one of the most
0:54:57 > 0:55:01melancholy naval episodes of the entire war.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04Stalin had rather stronger views.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07He said the decision to turn back the warships was
0:55:07 > 0:55:10"difficult to understand or explain."
0:55:10 > 0:55:13And, frankly, he does have a point.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16The Admiralty sent that convoy out with...
0:55:16 > 0:55:19presumably with the intention of it getting there.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24And the knowledge also that Tirpitz was in north Norway
0:55:24 > 0:55:28and therefore might come out and presumably the understanding
0:55:28 > 0:55:31that then we would have to fight it,
0:55:31 > 0:55:33even though it was perhaps a hopeless fight
0:55:33 > 0:55:36but at least that convoy would be fought through.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40Scattering was almost a guarantee of disaster.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47So, in the prospect of facing a possible disaster,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50you scatter, you're guaranteeing a disaster.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53I'd like to think that I was wrong, but I don't think I am.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55The Admiralty made a muck-up of it.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02All those ships.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07Over the years the arguments have raged over who was to blame
0:56:07 > 0:56:10for the PQ17 disaster.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13But when you read all there is to read,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17the fault must lie with this man, Sir Dudley Pound,
0:56:17 > 0:56:20who died of his brain tumour just over a year later,
0:56:20 > 0:56:24having never satisfactorily explained his actions.
0:56:26 > 0:56:31All these merchant seamen, all killed. Ships sank.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34All because we walked out and left them.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40We were charged with doing our best for that convoy
0:56:40 > 0:56:42and we were told to leave it.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49I still grieve, truly, on July 4th.
0:56:52 > 0:56:53That's all I can really say.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58The Admiralty never repeated the mistake of PQ17
0:56:58 > 0:57:01and continued with the conveyor belt of Arctic convoys
0:57:01 > 0:57:03until the end of the war.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07They delivered almost four million tonnes of supplies to the Russians
0:57:07 > 0:57:13at a cost of 105 ships and nearly 3,000 lives.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19It was a good thing to do, wasn't it?
0:57:19 > 0:57:25Yes. Yes, it was our duty to do it and we didn't shirk from it.
0:57:27 > 0:57:32Since the war, Russia has been good at celebrating the Arctic convoys.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35There have been medals and ceremonies for those who lived,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39and the graves for those who died are well tended.
0:57:41 > 0:57:43But in Britain, things have been rather different
0:57:43 > 0:57:47for the men and boys who made what was unquestionably
0:57:47 > 0:57:50the worst journey in the world,
0:57:50 > 0:57:52because all they ever got was a lapel pin.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59Happily, though, in March 2013
0:57:59 > 0:58:04all those who served were finally awarded a proper campaign medal -
0:58:04 > 0:58:06the Arctic Star.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11I hate to have to say this, but about bloody time.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13Goodnight.