| |  | © IWM: HMS Belfast during the Arctic Convoys (1942-44) |
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| In February 1943, HMS Belfast sailed with the Arctic Convoys to Russia, facing dark, freezing and difficult conditions. Her greatest enemy was not German weaponry, but extreme Arctic seas. | After Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, demanded help. Britain and its Allies provided supplies by sea - around northern Norway, to the Soviet ports of Murmansk and Archangel.
Supplies included tanks and aircraft, trucks, tractors, telephone wire, railway engines and boots.
The first convoy sailed in September 1941. It was very dangerous - especially in winter when the ice came further south. German submarines, aircraft and warships attacked many of the convoys.
By the following year, the Arctic Convoy route to Russia via Iceland had become one of the great naval battlegrounds of the Second World War.
On Christmas Day 1942, HMS Belfast arrived to join the 10th Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow. Almost three years after detonating a German magnetic mine, it was now repaired and modernised.
What followed was a punishing 18 months operating in support of the Arctic Convoys. Its role included convoy screening and endless duty on the Northern Patrol off Iceland, watching for attempts by enemy warships to break out into the Atlantic.
Surviving on board HMS Belfast during the Arctic Convoys was no easy task. Conditions in the Arctic were appalling. They were amongst the worst faced by any Allied sailors and the loss rate for ships was higher than any other Allied convoy route. |
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 | | | | FAMILY ACTIVITIES | This February, join us for family activities at HMS Belfast and IWM London.
On board HMS Belfast, join our interactive family activity ‘Sea Legs’ and travel back to D-Day in 1944 with ‘Family Mission: D-Day Edition’.
At IWM London, discover real artefacts and find moving and surprising stories from people who braved shark-infested waters to ingenious nurses. | |
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| It was so cold that metal and skin would freeze tight against each other in an instant. The winter was so dark, that dawn and dusk were only an hour or two apart. The seas were so mountainous that the force of a single wave could rip off a gun turret roof.
A build-up of ice could put guns and fire control systems out of action. It could also make the ship top-heavy and unstable. Just moving around the icy decks in rough seas and darkness could be lethal.
As well as facing extreme cold, gales and pack ice, the special Arctic clothing issued was barely adequate. Every day, the men of the merchant ships and their naval protectors knew that they were only a torpedo or shell away from a freezing death.
As well as the bitterly cold Arctic weather, veterans remember mess decks inches-deep in dirty sea water. Others recall going months without mail or leave, except for brief runs ashore to the tiny island of Flotta, the site of Scapa Flow’s Fleet Cinema.
While afloat, sailors made their own entertainment. Cards, and ‘uckers’, the Royal Navy’s version of Ludo, were popular, as were model-making, boxing competitions and embroidery. Mostly, Arctic service consisted of endless time at sea in foul weather with little to break up the monotony.
Today you can explore the Arctic Messdeck for yourself. Duck under tightly packed hammocks, see where the crew ate and slept, and get a sense of what it was like to live on board HMS Belfast during the perilous Arctic Convoy missions.
Plan your visit to HMS Belfast. |
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| | | | IWM FAMILY MEMBERSHIP | Be part of it. There's plenty for families to explore and discover across IWM branches.
With IWM family membership, you'll get unlimited free entry to all our charging sites – HMS Belfast, Churchill War Rooms and IWM Duxford – and a range of other benefits. | |
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| THE BLAVATNIK ART, FILM & PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERIES | |  | Thanks to generous support from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, IWM will open new art, film and photography galleries at IWM London in 2023.
They will be the UK’s first to explore how artists, photographers and filmmakers together bear witness to, document and tell the story of conflict. Spanning the First World War to the present day, displayed works will include ‘Gassed’ by John Singer Sargent, ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ by Peter Jackson and Steve McQueen’s ‘Queen and Country’.
Find out more. |
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