Convoy history warns that cultural memory overweights spectacular disasters. PQ 17 is remembered readily, while many other convoy passages that reached their destinations without comparable trouble fade from the story. Some convoys suffered appalling losses after encountering wolf packs or German aircraft, while others crossed the North Atlantic largely unmolested because storms kept them away from submarines. That difference does not reduce the service or courage of their crews, because no sailor knew in advance which experience awaited a convoy. Historians therefore need to test vivid cases against the full pattern before turning them into a general rule.
Notable Point · 50:24-52:27
PQ 17 and the convoys cultural memory forgets
PQ 17 and less-remembered convoy passages show how spectacular losses can distort historical memory.