ABSTRACT
Northern Fleet The Northern Fleet had several tasks, an offensive one to interrupt the German supply traffic along the northern Norwegian coast, mainly with submarines, but also with aircraft, MTBs and in some cases destroyers. The next more defensive task was the support of the Allies in bringing in the Murmansk convoys and their return convoys against the German U-boats and aircraft. And the third purely defensive task was the defence of the Northern Sea Route, especially in the Kara Sea, against intrusions of German cruisers and submarines. During the submarine operations from mid-1942 to the end of the war the following submarines were lost, mainly on the German flanking mine barrages: M-173, K-2, M-121, K-22, K-3, M-122, M-106, Shch-422, M-172, Shch-403, M-174, S-55, M-108, S-54 and by errors of British or Soviet aircraft V-1 and Shch-402. And the losses of the MTBs, mainly Lend-Lease
vessels, have already been mentioned. Destroyers were mainly used in the escorting of convoys and two of these were lost, the Sokrushitel’nyi by heavy damage sustained during a storm, showing the weakness of the projekt 7 destroyers in heavy weather, and the Lend-Lease Deyatel’nyi (ex-Churchill) by a U-boat attack, as were some of the BO-sub-chasers from the Lend-Lease deliveries, as mentioned. And during the defence of the Northern Sea route the submarine K-1, waiting for German intruders, and some auxiliary patrol vessels and four of the Lend-Lease minesweepers, T-109 (in a storm), T-118, T-114 and T-120, became victims of the German U-boats.94
