The Arctic Convoys were difficult, dangerous and exhausting. They faced attacks from German aircraft, submarines and warships, as well as bad weather and freezing cold.

The cold was one of the most pervasive problems faced by the crews of Royal Navy vessels on the Arctic route. British warships had poor standards of ventilation, heating and insulation. The only place on a ship that had air conditioning was the magazines. For the spaces where the men aboard lived and worked, ventilation was provided by trunks, fans and vents bringing in air from outside, unheated. This worked fine in the interwar period, when the RN tended to operate only in temperate areas. On the Arctic route, though, temperatures inside the living quarters could reach as low as -12^o C when at sea, or -30^o C in harbours like Murmansk. The crews might remedy this by running the fans at lower speeds or blocking up vents with whatever came to hand. While this might make the messdecks (the crew's quarters) warmer, it also meant that they weren't ventilated. Damp and condensation were rife as a result, and in the tight, poorly ventilated quarters, tuberculosis was endemic. Over the course of the war, this situation did improve. Steam heaters were fitted to ventilation trunks, and insulation was increased; these improvements would keep the temperature in the messdecks at a comfortable level at sea, but took time to filter through to the fleet, especially for the smaller ships. They also couldn't help men who had to work on deck, standing watch, doing maintenance or any of the other tasks that put men in exposed positions. Given the cold, the men tended to bundle up in whatever clothes they could find. All ranks ignored the strictures of uniform regulations, and wore whatever would keep them warm. The Navy issued some warm clothing, including thick sweaters, duffel coats and long johns, but these were generally insufficient. Balaclavas, gloves and scarves knitted by those at home became treasured possessions. Anything that could be used to keep warm was pressed into service. Captain Jack Broome described his experiences:

I was generally wearing two layers of silk underwear, socks and sawn-off socks as mittens... My next layer was a pair of silk pyjamas, with a jumper - not button-up - on top. Then, vintage grey flannel bags, a uniform jacket which could have belonged to anyone's navy, and stolen RAF flying boots... Once at sea, my jacket usually gave place to a treasured submarine sweater and sometimes a top layer of stolen RAF flying suit.

While Broome had access to a higher quality of clothing than your grandfather probably did, the lengths he went to avoid the cold are instructive.

The cold was not just a problem for the men, but for the ships as well. Rain, snow and spray would freeze as it struck the ship, creating a thick layer of ice. This was visually impressive, as can be seen in this picture of HMS Belfast, covered in ice, but posed a serious danger to the ship. The ice build-up could increase the topweight of the ship; if it got too heavy, it would capsize the ship. The build-up of ice around turrets, radars and other rotating fixings could jam them, rendering them useless when they were needed most. The crew had to be constantly chipping away at the ice, removing it from the ship, around the clock:

It was miserable watch-keeping in winter; our main occupation, day and night, was knocking ice from the gun breeches, the masts and the rigging. In a destroyer plunging around in high winds, that is not a passive duty. It snowed most of that trip, even more when the wind was down. The snowflakes fell like confetti at some hellish wedding. Doom cracked wide open in smoke and noise.

There were other issues. The guns on the smaller escorts were unprotected, or protected only by shields that were open to the elements. Ice on guns could jam them, either directly, or by entering the breech when it melted after the gun was fired. Care had to be taken to keep these clear and free of ice, with anti-freeze grease a great help. The complex mechanisms that kept torpedoes running properly could suffer from the cold too; in 1942, HMS Trinidad torpedoed herself after the gyro in a torpedo froze, causing it to turn back towards the ship. As ships had a lot of exposed metalwork, the crews had to be careful to wear gloves when outside. Otherwise, they might leave the skin on their palms frozen to the metal.

The cold was not the only natural enemy the RN had to face. Bad weather was common on the route. Heavy seas and driving rain or snow only made the cold worse to face. The cold and damp inside the ship meant that it was impossible to get fully dry after a watch being soaked by rain or spray. The wind and waves would cause ships to roll and corkscrew wildly. This was a particular problem for the smaller corvettes, never stable ships at the best of times, but was still an issue faced by larger cruisers and the like. Rolling could cause seasickness, and made domestic life all but impossible:

Apart from the noise it produces, rolling has a maddening rhythm that is one of the minor tortures of rough weather. It never stops or misses a beat, it cannot be escaped anywhere. If you go through a doorway, it hits you hard; if you sit down, you fall over; you get hurt, knocked about, continuously, and it makes for extreme and childish anger. When you drink, the liquid rises towards you and slops over; at meals, the food spills off your plate, the cutlery will not stay in place. Things roll about, and bang, and slide away crazily; and then come back and hurt you again.

Waves breaking over the ship could send water through open hatchways and doorways. As the crew frequently had more important things to do than clean this up, it would develop into a 'greasy soup' that washed over most decks below. Waves could even do real damage to ships. In February 1943, the convoy JW 53 encountered severe storms (with winds as high as hurricane force) east of Iceland. Two of the major ships of the escort suffered serious damage during these. First, the cruiser HMS Sheffield was struck by a wave which stripped away part of the roof of her forwardmost 'A' turret. The second ship to drop out was the escort carrier Dasher. Dasher was thrown about heavily by the waves, and there was severe chaos in her hangar. Worse was to come, though, as a vast crack opened up along her side. Both ships returned to the UK for repairs. In November 1942, the Soviet destroyer Sokrushitelnyi sank after being caught in a storm while returning from supporting convoy QP15. Fog, overcasts, and the long Arctic nights, could hide the convoys from German aircraft and submarines. However, they made navigation and stationkeeping difficult. In June 1942, the convoy QP13, lost in fog and cloud, accidentally steamed into a British minefield, with the loss of five ships and the minesweeper Niger.