JW 51B carried supplies to the Soviet Union in a relatively small group of merchant ships. The vessels included Panamanian, American and British ships, with First World War emergency construction still serving alongside ships completed in 1942. Small convoys with powerful escorts could become unattractive targets, but assigning so much protection to a few merchants limited the supplies that could be delivered. Larger convoys moved more cargo while becoming more attractive targets. Beyond a certain size, the escort had to be strong enough to fight an interception because simply deterring every attack was impractical.
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JW 51B's cargo and the cost of convoy protection
Small Arctic convoys carried valuable supplies, but escort allocation had to balance protection against the volume of cargo delivered.