Arctic

The Second World War

Date

1941 - 1945

Geographical parameters

Within the Arctic Circle, except for the coastal waters of Norway to the southward of Tromsö.

Context

Eligible to all “ships, including the covering forces which were employed as escorts to or in support of the convoys running to and from North Russia; also those ships and submarines which operated in the area and took part in a successful action.” An area battle honour formally entitled “Arctic 1941-45” with year dates according to the service of the unit concerned ^{Footnote 1}

Description

An Arctic convoy between the United Kingdom and Russia took, on average, six to eight days. The climatic conditions in the Arctic were severe; gales were common, seas were rough. Clothes were perpetually damp and the sun was seldom seen during long hours of darkness or heavy fog. Ice covered and interfered with weapons and machinery. The convoy route itself was channelled between moving ice barriers to the north and an enemy-held coast to the south.

The Arctic convoys frequently faced enemy submarines, aircraft and surface ships. For these reasons they were heavily escorted by battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers. Destroyers, always in short supply, were a key component of these escort forces providing vital protection to both merchant ships and the larger escorts. Destroyers would prove to be the principal Canadian contribution to these dangerous operations valued for their anti-aircraft and anti-submarine armaments and their ability to lay smoke screens and carry out their own torpedo attacks on enemy surface vessels.

By the end of the war some 41 convoys, involving approximately 1,400 merchant ships, had delivered millions of tons of supplies, not least of which were 1,388 tanks manufactured in Canada at the Montreal Locomotive Works.

Awarded to:

Ships in commission

• HMCS Athabaskan - 1943-44 ^{Footnote 2}

Ships not currently in commission

• HMCS Algonquin - 1944-45 ^{Footnote 3}
• HMCS Cape Breton - 1944 ^{Footnote 4}
• HMCS Grou - 1944 ^{Footnote 5}
• HMCS Haida - 1943-45 ^{Footnote 6}
• HMCS Huron - 1943-45 ^{Footnote 7}
• HMCS Iroquois - 1943-45 ^{Footnote 8}
• HMCS Loch Alvie - 1944-45 ^{Footnote 9}
• HMCS Matane - 1945 ^{Footnote 10}
• HMCS Monnow - 1944-45 ^{Footnote 11}
• HMCS Nene - 1944-45 ^{Footnote 12}
• HMCS Outremont - 1944 ^{Footnote 13}
• HMCS Port Colborne - 1944 ^{Footnote 14}
• HMCS Saint John - 1944 ^{Footnote 15}
• HMCS St. Pierre - 1945 ^{Footnote 16}
• HMCS Sioux - 1944-45 ^{Footnote 17}
• HMCS Stormont - 1944 ^{Footnote 18}
• HMCS Waskesiu - 1944 ^{Footnote 19}