# Convoy QP 11

Convoy QP 11 was an Arctic Convoy of the Second World War, made up of merchant ships returning from the Soviet Union to Britain after delivering their cargo. The convoy consisted of 13 merchant ships, escorted by 18 warships. The convoy was attacked by German destroyers and submarines, suffering the loss of one merchant ship as well as the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh. The Germans lost the destroyer Z7 Hermann Schoemann.

## Ships

QP 11 consisted of 13 merchant ships, mostly British or American, including five ships that had been a part of Convoy PQ 13. The convoy sailed from the Soviet port of Murmansk on 28 April 1942. The convoy was escorted by the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh, the destroyers HMS Amazon, Beagle, Beverley, Bulldog, Foresight and HMS Forester, the Flower-class corvettes Campanula, Oxlip, Saxifrage and Snowflake, with the armed trawler HMS Lord Middleton. Edinburgh was an escort and carried $20 million in gold, a payment from the Soviet Union to the United States.

## Voyage

On 29 April, the convoy was spotted by a German Junkers Ju 88 reconnaissance aircraft and U-boats. On 30 April, two days out from Murmansk, U-88 and U-436 made attacks on the convoy to no effect. Later that day, U-456 hit Edinburgh twice. One torpedo hit the cruiser's forward boiler room while the other hit the cruiser's stern, destroying its rudder and two of its four propellers. Edinburgh was badly damaged but remained afloat; it left the convoy and turned towards Murmansk, escorted by Foresight and Forester. Several ships were sent from Murmansk to assist Edinburgh, among them the British Halcyon-class minesweepers HMS Gossamer, Harrier, Hussar and Niger, the Soviet destroyers Gremyashchy and Sokrushitelny, the Soviet guard ship Rubin and a tug.

### 1 May

The German command sent the three destroyers of Zerstörergruppe Arktis, Z7 Hermann Schoemann, Z24 and Z25 (Kapitän zur See Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs), to attack Convoy QP 11 and then sink HMS Edinburgh. The German ships reached the convoy in the afternoon on 1 May. The weather was cold; intermittent snow and rain limited visibility. Hermann Schoemann opened fire at 14:05. The four British destroyers formed up between the German destroyers and the convoy and engaged them at a range of about 10,000 yd (9,100 m). Amazon was hit twice and severely damaged. At 14:30 a German torpedo salvo hit and sank the Soviet freighter Tsiolkovski. At 17:50 the German destroyers turned to pursue Edinburgh.

### 2 May

The flotilla found Edinburgh 250 nmi (460 km; 290 mi) east of the convoy at 06:17 on 2 May, moving at 2 kn (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph). The Edinburgh was escorted by Foresight, Forester, the four British minesweepers and Rubin (Gremyaschi and Sokrushitelny having returned to Murmansk due to a lack of fuel). The three German destroyers engaged the British ships. Due to the damage caused by U-456, Edinburgh was unable to maneuver and could only steam in circles. A snow shower separated Herman Schoemann from the other German destroyers and it attacked the British ships alone. Edinburgh's targeting systems had been destroyed by the torpedo explosions but its gunners managed to hit and cripple Hermann Schoemann. At 18:45, Z24 and Z25 arrived. Z25 hit and disabled Forester and then badly damaged Foresight. At 18:52 a salvo of torpedoes from one of the German destroyers missed Foresight and Forester but one torpedo kept going and struck Edinburgh in the middle of its left side, opposite the hole made by U-456's torpedo. Shortly thereafter the German ships withdrew, possibly because they overestimated the strength of the British minesweepers. At 08:15, Z24 rescued most of the crew of Hermann Schoemann who were still on the deck and then scuttled it. More survivors from Hermann Schoemann who were in life rafts were later rescued by U-88. Harrier and Gossamer took survivors off of Edinburgh, which was later sunk by a torpedo from Foresight.

## Aftermath

The rest of the voyage of Convoy QP 11 saw unsuccessful attacks on the convoy by the submarines U-589 and U-251. The twelve remaining merchant ships of the convoy arrived in Iceland on 7 May.

## Allied order of battle

Merchant ships :
| Ship | Year | Flag | GRT | Notes |
| SS Atheltemplar | 1930 | United Kingdom | 8,992 | |
| SS Ballot | 1922 | Panama | 6,131 | |
| SS Briarwood | 1930 | United Kingdom | 4,019 | Convoy Commodore |
| SS Dan-Y-Bryn | 1940 | United Kingdom | 5,117 | Vice-Convoy Commodore |
| SS Dunboyne | 1919 | United States | 3,515 | |
| SS El Estero | 1920 | Panama | 4,219 | |
| SS Eldena | 1919 | United States | 6,900 | |
| SS Gallant Fox | 1918 | Panama | 5,473 | |
| SS Mormacmar | 1920 | United States | 5,453 | |
| SS Stone Street | 1922 | Panama | 6,131 | |
| SS Trehata | 1928 | United Kingdom | 4,817 | Damaged by ice |
| SS Tsiolkovsky | 1935 | Soviet Union | 2,847 | Sunk 1 May by Z24, Z25 |
| SS West Cheswald | 1919 | United States | 5,711 | |

### Local escort

Local escort :
| Ship | Flag | Class | Dates |
| Valerian Kyubishev | Soviet Navy | Novik-class destroyer | 28–29 April |
| Sokrushitelny | Soviet Navy | Gnevny-class destroyer | 28–29 April |
| HMS Gossamer | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 28–29 April |
| HMS Skipjack | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 28–29 April |
| HMS Hussar | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 28–29 April |
| HMS Niger | Royal Navy | Halcyon-class minesweeper | 28–29 April |

### Ocean escort

Ocean escort :
| Ship | Flag | Class | Dates |
| HMS Edinburgh | Royal Navy | Town-class cruiser | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Amazon | Royal Navy | Thornycroft type destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Beagle | Royal Navy | B-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Beverley | Royal Navy | Clemson-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Bulldog | Royal Navy | B-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Foresight | Royal Navy | F-class destroyer | 28 April – 30 April |
| HMS Forester | Royal Navy | F-class destroyer | 28 April – 30 April |
| HMS Campanula | Royal Navy | Flower-class corvette | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Oxlip | Royal Navy | Flower-class corvette | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Saxifrage | Royal Navy | Flower-class corvette | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Snowflake | Royal Navy | Flower-class corvette | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMT Lord Middleton | Royal Navy | Admiralty trawler | 28 April – 7 May |

### Distant cover

Home Fleet :
| Ship | Flag | Class | Dates |
| HMS King George V | Royal Navy | King George V-class battleship | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Duke of York | Royal Navy | King George V-class battleship | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Victorious | Royal Navy | Illustrious-class aircraft carrier | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Kenya | Royal Navy | Fiji-class cruiser | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Escapade | Royal Navy | E-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Faulknor | Royal Navy | F-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Belvoir | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Hursley | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Lamerton | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Middleton | Royal Navy | Hunt-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Inglefield | Royal Navy | I-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Marne | Royal Navy | M-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Martin | Royal Navy | M-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |
| HMS Oribi | Royal Navy | O-class destroyer | 28 April – 7 May |

### Submarine patrols
## German order of battle
### U-boats

U-boats :
| Boat | Name | Flag | Type |
| U-88 | Heino Bohmann | Kriegsmarine | Type VIIC submarine |
| U-251 | Heinrich Timm | Kriegsmarine | Type VIIC submarine |
| U-405 | Rolf-Heinrich Hopman | Kriegsmarine | Type VIIC submarine |
| U-436 | Günther Seibicke | Kriegsmarine | Type VIIC submarine |
| U-456 | Max-Martin Teichert | Kriegsmarine | Type VIIC submarine |
| U-589 | Hans-Joachim Horrer | Kriegsmarine | Type VIIC submarine |
| U-703 | Heinz Bielfeld | Kriegsmarine | Type VIIC submarine |

### Ships

German destroyers :
| Ship | Flag | Class | Notes |
| Z7 Hermann Schoemann | Kriegsmarine | Type 1934A-class destroyer | 1 May severely damaged by HMS Edinburgh, scuttled |
| Z24 | Kriegsmarine | Type 1936A-class destroyer | |
| Z25 | Kriegsmarine | Type 1936A-class destroyer | |

## Footnotes

* 1 2 3 4 Edwards 2002, pp. 95–98.
* 1 2 3 4 Jessop & Hanson 2002, pp. 258–266.
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rohwer & Hümmelchen 2005, p. 162.
* 1 2 3 4 O'Hara 2011, pp. 188–190.
* ↑ Ruegg & Hague 1993, pp. 35–36.
* 1 2 3 Ruegg & Hague 1993, p. 35.