Lieutenant Leo Gredwell was a lawyer by profession. The rest of the "thugs" from his team are fishermen.
Their ship was the weakest in the square. There were no professional naval sailors on it - pride did not allow such service on "Ayrshire". There is no weapon. There is no speed. There is no secrecy - calm, summer, polar day. But there are polar mirages showing what is happening over the horizon.
The sea is teeming with submarines and Luftwaffe aircraft. Abeam "Ayrshir" swaying three of the same unfortunate, with crews of merchant seamen. There are no nautical charts for high latitudes. The guards are gone. Help is nowhere to be found.
The lieutenant gritted his teeth and led his little convoy.
* * *
On the evening of July 4, 1942, the British Admiralty removed the security of the PQ-17 convoy, suggesting that the transports make their way to the Russian ports on their own. The navy went full speed ahead to the West.
Corvette "Ayrshir" from the immediate escort of the convoy remained with transports in the middle of the Barents Sea.
Looking after the departing destroyers, the corvette commander Lieutenant Gredwell realized that with 10 knots he could not keep up with the warships. Nobody was going to wait for him. The convoy had already reached 30 degrees by that time. vd, and it was too late to return. Armed trawlers, minesweepers and corvettes were ordered to independently travel to Arkhangelsk.
On this, communication with the command was interrupted. The once powerful convoy gradually melted into the horizon.
Most of the transports went to the northeast, hoping to hide in the bays of Novaya Zemlya and from there to reach Arkhangelsk.
Someone turned north in the hope of delaying a meeting with German submarines.
The armed "trifle" - the air defense corvette "Palomares", the minesweepers "Britomart", "Helsion" and "Salamander" - huddled together and, firing back, began to make their way to Novaya Zemlya. Heavy transports wishing to join the squadron were sent away, despite desperate pleas for protection. The decision was motivated by the order on the need to scatter the convoy, which, however, did not prevent the minesweepers themselves from sticking together.
Corvette "Ayrshire" under the command of Gredwell did more interesting. He moved northwest, almost in the opposite direction. Left to his own devices, he soon attached two transports "Ironclyde" and "Troubadour", and, declaring himself the commander of the detachment, went to the border of the pack ice. The place where you are least likely to run into trouble.
Along the way, their small squad met the transport Silver Sod, which had also joined Gredwell's convoy.
Further survival in dangerous waters depended entirely on the resourcefulness of the former lawyer, who was able to offer a number of ingenious, but very effective measures to protect ships.
The armed trawler "Ayrshir" with a displacement of 500 tons was of no military value. In the event of an enemy appearance, he would rather be sunk than be able to fire a shot from his only cannon. In an effort to somehow increase the firepower of his unit, Lieutenant Gredwell suggested using armored vehicles aboard the Troubadour transport.
The sailors, armed with tools, quickly tore off the seals.
Clanking tracks on the icy deck, the Sherman tanks lined up in a defensive line along the sides. Their towers were turned towards the sea, and their uncovered guns were loaded and ready to fire. The tanks were delivered immediately with a set of weapons, ammunition and all the necessary accessories, including an electric stove and crew uniforms.
In theory, Gredwell's efforts could have had a chance of success. An enemy destroyer flying out of the fog or a submarine going on the surface could get into an unpleasant position. And maritime history is replete with examples when only one successful hit, for example, in a TA, destroyed warships.
Having reached the Arctic ice, Gredwell did not stop and continued to follow in depth for 20 miles - as long as the ice conditions allowed. There, where they can be clamped by ice, but the German submarines will definitely not reach them.
Maneuvering among the ice floes, the ships stalled their progress and extinguished the boilers so as not to give themselves away with smoke. They had nowhere to run. According to Gredwell's plan, they were to spend several days in the area, waiting for the German submarines to close the "hunting season" and return to their bases. Then, his squad may get a chance to crawl along the ice border to Novaya Zemlya.
The last problem remained. At any moment, the transports standing idle could be detected from the air. A helpless squad would be an excellent target for bombers.
Gredwell ordered to collect all the whitewash in the workshops and paint the decks and sides from the side of the open sea in a dazzling white color. And where there was not enough paint - use white sheets.
On July 12, German reconnaissance aircraft surveyed the search area of the PQ-17 convoy, finding no surviving vessel. The German command announced the complete destruction of the convoy.
Three days later, the noise on the radio began to subside. The ships, which were not detected by the enemy, got out of the ice captivity and reached the Matochkin Shar Strait. On the way, they met and included in the detachment the transport "Benjamin Harrison", and "Ayrshire" picked up three boats with the crew of the sunken "Fairfield City".
There they were met by the ships of the Northern Fleet and safely escorted to Arkhangelsk.
Upon learning of Lieutenant Gredwell's convoy, the British command fell into a stupor. On the one hand, he violated the order. On the other hand, in that situation, everyone acted at random, and the order to leave the convoy itself could be regarded as a criminal mistake.
Fact is fact. Three of the eleven transports that survived the PQ-17 convoy were the personal credit of Lieutenant Gredwell. He was awarded the Cross for Valiant Service. And immediately upon their return they transferred to the anti-submarine corvette HMS Thirlmere - an even poorer launch than the previous Ayrshire.
So the hero met the end of the war and, having gone ashore, continued to practice law. In peacetime, such competent and decisive people in the navy have nothing to do.
