{{Short description|British blockade running operation in World War II}} {{Use British English|date=February 2026}} thumb|right|The Norwegian ship {{MS|Elisabeth Bakke||2}}, one of the five ships which ran the blockade. '''Operation Rubble''' in January 1941, was a British blockade running operation during the Second World War, in which five Norwegian merchant ships escaped from neutral Sweden to Britain through a Nazi German blockade of the Skagerrak, carrying valuable cargoes of specialised steel products.
==Background== thumb|right|Map of the Skagerrak, showing the proximity of the Norwegian and Danish coasts which came under German control in 1940. The German invasion of Denmark and Norway, Operation Weserübung, in April 1940, closed the Baltic Sea to shipping and denied the British access to Swedish iron and steel products. Even before the war, some 20 per cent of roller and ball bearings used by British industry were imported from Sweden, together with high-quality tubing and other specialised products that were not available elsewhere. The most desperately needed resource was roller bearings for a strip mill which was nearing completion at Ebbw Vale. An additional factor was that the United Kingdom had negotiated the Anglo-Swedish War Trade Agreement in October 1939, which limited Swedish exports to their 1938 levels, with a similar agreement having been reached with the Germans; the fear was that if exports to Britain were allowed to lapse, the Germans would be able to pressure the Swedes into renouncing both the agreements and monopolise production. A considerable quantity of British-ordered materials accumulated in Sweden, together with large orders made by France which had been signed over to Britain before their surrender. These supplies were desperately needed in Britain and the Swedish government was anxious to be rid of them to avoid antagonising the Germans.<ref>Barker 2005, pp. 13, 18–19</ref>
The man tasked with shipping the steel to Britain was George Binney, the representative of the British Iron and Steel Federation in Sweden. His first efforts were a small shipment made by sea from the port of Petsamo (now Pechenga in Russia) on Finland's Arctic coast, followed by a second larger one which went by rail through Finland and across the USSR to the Caspian Sea and then through Iran to the Persian Gulf. After the Norwegian Campaign in June 1940, the Finns were pressured by the Germans into denying access. This left passage by sea through the Skagerrak, the narrows between occupied Denmark and Norway, as the only option.<ref>Barker 2005, pp. 12, 20–21</ref>
==Preparation== [[File:Vorpostenboot vokter D-S "Wuri" i Skagerrak (1942) (27479778312).jpg|thumb|right|A German ''Vorpostenboot'' or armed trawler, typical of the patrol vessels used to enforce the Skagarrak blockade.]] Laid-up in Swedish ports were more than twenty Norwegian merchant ships. Shortly before leaving the country, King Haakon VII of Norway approved legislation which requisitioned all Norwegian shipping under the control of a directorate called Nortraship based in London. Binney devised a plan in which these ships would be used to store British stockpiles and the most capable could be used for a break-out. The Germans were well aware of this possibility, the Skagerrak regularly patrolled by naval vessels and aircraft and an extensive minefield had been laid across the straight. Blinney suspected that the minefield was not as comprehensive as the Germans had claimed and with the encouragement of London, chartered a small Finnish tramp steamer, ''Lahti'', to attempt the run. Departing Gothenburg on 5 July 1940 carrying {{convert|300|LT|lk=on}} of steel products, ''Lahti'' traversed the Skagerrak but the short night allowed her to be spotted by German aircraft and her master obeyed their instruction to head for Kristiansand and internment, but the point had been proved.<ref>Barker 2005, pp. 30–31</ref>
Binney spent the following months selecting the fastest of the Norwegian ships, persuading their masters and crews to undertake the voyage and obtaining the necessary clearances from the Swedish authorities. Those Norwegians unwilling to take the risk were replaced by volunteers from the British Merchant and Royal Navy crews who had escaped from Norway and were held in an internment camp at Hälsingmo near Söderhamn in central Sweden.<ref>Barker 2005, pp. 31-36</ref>
==Escape== thumb|right|The Norwegian ship ''Tai Shan'', which Binney used as his "flagship". The ships involved were Norwegian steamships {{MS|Elisabeth Bakke||2}} ({{GRT|5450}}), ''John Bakke'' ({{GRT|4718|link=off}}), ''Tai Shan'' ({{GRT|6962|link=off}}), ''Taurus'' ({{GRT|4767|link=off}}) and {{ship|MT|Ranja||2}} ({{GRT|6355|link=off}}).<ref>Barker 2005, p. 34</ref> The ships left Gothenburg singly on 30 December and anchored in Brofjorden, which was further north up the coast and away from German surveillance. Binney sailed in ''Tai Shan''.<ref>Barker 2005, p. 56</ref> There they awaited a weather forecast of poor visibility, which was finally received for the night of 23 January 1941, when they began their run of the German blockade. They narrowly avoided being intercepted by the two German battleships {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} which were just starting Operation Berlin in the Kattegat.<ref>Barker 2005, pp. 62–73</ref><ref name="daybyday">[http://www.patriotfiles.com/archive/navalhistory/xDKWW2-4101-28JAN02.htm British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day by Don Kindell - Edited by Gordon Smith, Naval-History.Net] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235532/http://www.patriotfiles.com/archive/navalhistory/xDKWW2-4101-28JAN02.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}(Accessed July 2011)</ref>
The ships navigated the North Sea with aircraft from RAF Coastal Command and various warships being dispatched from Scapa Flow to act as escorts. These escorts included the cruisers {{HMS|Naiad|93|6}}, {{HMS|Aurora|12|2}}, {{HMS|Edinburgh|16|2}} and {{HMS|Birmingham|C19|2}} and the destroyers {{HMS|Escapade|H17|6}}, {{HMS|Echo|H23|2}} and {{HMS|Electra|H27|2}}. ''John Bakke'' and ''Ranja'' were being attacked by the {{lang|de|Luftwaffe}} when the cruisers found them. The ships reached Kirkwall in Orkney on 25 January 1941. The Swedish mate of ''Ranja'' later died from bullet wounds.<ref>Barker 2005, pp. 62–73</ref><ref name="daybyday">[http://www.patriotfiles.com/archive/navalhistory/xDKWW2-4101-28JAN02.htm British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day by Don Kindell - Edited by Gordon Smith, Naval-History.Net] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235532/http://www.patriotfiles.com/archive/navalhistory/xDKWW2-4101-28JAN02.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}(Accessed July 2011)</ref> The ships delivered approximately {{convert|18600|MT}} of materiel including ball bearings, machine tools, spare parts, iron, ingots, and steels of various qualities.<ref>[http://www.ehs.org.uk/ehs/conference2011/Assets/GolsonFullPaper.pdf NA BT60/68/2 "Appendix A: List of Materials Shipping from Gothenburg to England in January, 1941," from "Report by George Binney, H.M. Legation, Stockholm;" and CAC BINN/1, "Operation Rubble." ''cited in'' Golson, EricB.(2011) Did Swedish Ball Bearings Keep the Second World War Going? Re‐evaluating Neutral Sweden's Role] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926233215/http://www.ehs.org.uk/ehs/conference2011/Assets/GolsonFullPaper.pdf |date=2011-09-26 }} (Accessed July 2011)</ref>
==Aftermath== As a result of "Rubble", Binney received a knighthood in the 1941 Birthday Honours List "for special services in the supply of war material".<ref>Barker 2005, p. 80</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35184 |date=6 June 1941 |pages=3281–3302 |supp=y}}</ref>
===Operation Performance=== A second run, began on 31 March 1942, Operation Performance, involving six more Norwegian ships lacked surprise and optimal weather conditions, two ships were forced to return to Sweden, two were sunk and two reached Britain, carrying 27 per cent of the original cargo.<ref>Thorsheim p. 51</ref>
===Operations Bridford and Moonshine=== A change of tactics for Operation Bridford saw the use of converted motor gunboats, which made six return trips between October 1943 and March 1944 carrying some {{convert|25000|MT}} of cargo.<ref>Scherner & White, p. 290</ref> The same tactics were employed for Operation Moonshine starting in September 1944 which was largely frustrated by poor weather and mechanical defects; a single mission in January 1945 reached Sweden, although two of the three boats involved collided, resulting in the loss of one of them.<ref>Barker 2005, p. 209</ref><ref name="janus">{{Cite web |url=http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FBINN |title=The Papers of Sir George Binney, University of Cambridge (Accessed July 2011) |access-date=2011-07-25 |archive-date=2012-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419033648/http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FBINN |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{cite book |last=Barker |first=Ralph |date=2005 |title=The Blockade Busters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZACSAwAAQBAJ |location=Barnsley |publisher=Pen & Sword Maritime |isbn=978-1844152827}} * {{cite book |last1=Scherner |first1=Jonas |last2=White |first2=Eugene N. |date=2016 |title=Paying for Hitler's War: The Consequences of Nazi Hegemony for Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mq9CDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA290 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1844152827}} * {{cite book |last=Thorsheim |first=Peter |date=2015 |title=Waste into Weapons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uUlLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107099357}}
== Other sources == * UK National Archive: FO 371/29410 1941, Operation "Rubble" - FO 371/29425, 1941, Operations "Rubble" and "Performance": Includes "Discussions with the Swedes (including Swedish financier and wartime diplomat Marcus Wallenberg) about moving Norwegian ships from Gothenburg in the face of German opposition."<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2003/august22/list.htm UK National Archives] (Accessed July 2011)</ref> * [http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/elisabethbakke.html warsailors.com:M/T Elisabeth Bakke] (Accessed July 2011)
{{coord missing|North Sea}}
Rubble Category:Norway in World War II Category:Sweden in World War II Category:1941 in Norway Category:1941 in Sweden Category:1941 in the United Kingdom