WW2 Arctic Convoy HQ
Pool House was a comfortable hunting and fishing lodge that had been a much sought after retreat for wealthy Victorian and Edwardian holiday makers. Soon after the outbreak of WW2, however, it played host to a very different clientele, as it was requisitioned for the war effort. Soon its corridors were full of Admiralty staff, and a few from the Air Ministry, and the building became the Royal Navy Command Headquarters for the Arctic Convoys to Russia. The house also controlled other convoys that gathered in Loch Ewe including North Atlantic, Icelandic, home supply, and several Gibraltar convoys.
There is now a permanent display in the house, which is open to the public, that has many rare artefacts relating to both Arctic and Atlantic convoys, such as an excellent example of a zig-zag clock used to confound the efforts of U-boats to accurately target ships. There are items from Operation Dervish, the first Arctic Convoy and a greatcoat belonging to Cdr. Cecil Wakeford-May, whose destroyer HMS Electra, was the lead ship for this convoy. There is a brass porthole window from the heavy county class cruiser, HMS Devonshire which provided distant cover. Also on display are important artefacts from Coastal Command and Bomber Command and a display of German items largely relating to the U-boats that threatened the convoys.
Around Loch Ewe, engineers worked tirelessly to build both light and heavy anti-aircraft batteries and an emergency coastal battery featuring two 6 inch guns from WW1 Dreadnought, HMS Iron Duke to protect the convoys that gathered here.
You can see excellent footage of Bofor guns being brought to Loch Ewe and fitted in place, with HMS Nelson moored below on this link or search “guns to Loch Ewe”.
Winston Churchill visited the house in September 1939 whilst he was First Lord of the Admiralty. He had arrived in Loch Ewe aboard HMS Nelson to meet the crew and pilots of HMS Ark Royal, who had succeeded in sinking the first U-boat of WW2, U-39. He then came ashore to the house and the household staff were charged with laundering his white boiler suit. He was subsequently collected by Captain Matheson RN and taken to Inverness for the train back to London,
Leaving Poolewe, he recalled a previous visit to Loch Ewe during WW1 when he had met with Sir John Jellicoe. He recalled how the Loch had been filled with battleships and cruisers. That scene would be repeated from February 1942 when the first of many WW2 Arctic Convoys departed for Russia. Looking through the windows of Pool House, the escorts would now include corvettes, sloops, and destroyers in addition to light and heavy cruisers and the mighty battleships “Nelson” and “Rodney”. These escorts would anchor near HMS Helicon as the Aultbea base was known. Across the Loch lay the Merchant Navy ships with their invaluable cargoes. Refrigerated food ships, oil tankers and large “Liberty” ships able to carry tanks, aircraft and munitions in addition to timber, grain and tobacco.
On the 4th of December 1939, whilst entering Loch Ewe, HMS Nelson passed over a magnetic mine activating it. The ship was lifted and shaken by the tremendous explosion. There were 73 casualties but no deaths. A young Lieutenant onboard was sent to Pool House to report the incident. Later he would be promoted to Lt. Commander Stevenson and post war, put in charge of the Loch Ewe boom defences. The local postmistress refused to transmit a telegram to the Admiralty advising them of the damage to Nelson because the Post Office had closed for the day. It is said she was advised, under threat of arrest, to transmit the missive.
Winston Churchill referred to Nelson as our “interesting invalid”. She spent eight months in dock being repaired and refitted. Kapitänleutnant Johannes Habekost of U-31 had laid the minefield on the 27th of October 1939. Habekost died aged 33, along with 58 crew when U-31 was sunk by bombs from a Bristol Blenheim bomber on the 11 March 1940. U-31 was the first U-boat of WW2 to be sunk by an aircraft.
From 1941 to 1945 there were 40 convoys to Russia, totalling 811 ships and 37 return Convoys from Russia totalling 715 ships. 100 ships were sunk of which 41 were lost to U-boats and 37 to aircraft. Others were lost to surface ships, mines and one foundered in extreme weather.
Equipment shipped to Russia from Britain:-
5,218 tanks
7,411 aircraft
4,932 anti-tank guns
4,005 rifles and machine guns
1,803 sets of radar equipment
4,338 sets of radio equipment
2,000 telephone sets
473,000,000 projectiles
9 motor torpedo boats
4 submarines
14 minesweepers
Total Value in 1946 £308,000,000
In addition raw materials, foodstuffs, machinery, industrial plant, medical supplies and hospital equipment to the value of £120,000,000 was shipped to Russia.
Prior to departure for Russia, the escort Captains would visit Pool House to be briefed on the route, speed and formation of the Convoy. They would be advised of potential U-boat activity or the presence of German surface raiders. This might require the convoy to zig-zag the route to their destination to confound the efforts of U-boat crews to calculate when to fire their torpedoes.
Meanwhile, the ship’s crew would enjoy a beer at the “jam jar bar” in Aultbea (so called because there were insufficient glasses to meet demand and jam jars were used out of necessity. They may also have watched a film at the near by entertainment hall, still in use to this day.
On departing Loch Ewe, two trawlers would open the boom defence anti-submarine nets to allow the ships to pass. Onboard, the crew would watch the buildings of the coastal battery at Rubha Nan Sasan gradually fade into the distance; the last sight of friendly shores until their return.