31/08/2026
On August 31, to mark the 85th anniversary of the arrival in the port of Arkhangelsk of the first Allied convoy, codenamed Dervish, staff of the Embassy of Russia in Iceland laid flowers at the Reykjavík Fossvogur cemetery at the Hope monument created in commemoration of the Arctic convoys’ sailors and at the grave of Soviet sailor Aleksandr Malley (Maleev), a veteran of the convoys.
The Arctic convoy PQ-0, codenamed Dervish, opened a route for delivering strategic supplies to the northern ports of the Soviet Union during the World War II.
PQ-0 Dervish was formed in Liverpool on August 12 and set sail for the North Atlantic from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, on August 21, 1941. It consisted of seven vessels (six freighters and a tanker) as well as 15 es**rt vessels, including minesweepers and corvettes. On August 31, 1941, the first convoy successfully delivered 25,000 tonnes of supplies to Arkhangelsk.
Of all the possible options, the northern route – the most challenging yet the shortest (10-12 days) – became the main one; it was used to transport the most urgent and time-sensitive cargo, primarily weapons and military equipment. Between 1941 and 1942, all Arctic convoys, starting from the first one, PQ-0, to PQ-17, were formed in Iceland in Reykjavík and Hvalfjörður.
In total, between August 1941 and May 1945, 78 convoys consisting of 1,398 vessels travelled the entire Arctic route in both directions, with 87 vessels lost. Over the course of the war, Arctic convoys delivered between a third and a half of all Lend-Lease military supplies to the Soviet Union.
The Arctic convoys of 1941-1945 stand as a remarkable example of cooperation between the naval forces of the anti-Hitler coalition during the World War II.
🎙️ Excerpt from the briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, August 19, 2021:
“Their heroic crossing of the North Atlantic is forever inscribed in golden letters in the history of the liberation of Europe from Na**sm. The further course of the war confirmed the Arctic Convoy made a significant contribution to the success of the joint struggle against the common enemy, a contribution that cannot be overestimated”.