On 9 April, the ship was transferred to the 8th Destroyer Flotilla () in Kirkenes. Together with the destroyers "Z24" and "Z25", "Hermann Schoemann" sortied to intercept Convoy QP 14 two days later, but failed to locate any Allied ships in heavy snow and low visibility. The trio sortied again on 30 April to intercept the westbound Convoy QP 11 and the crippled light cruiser , torpedoed earlier by the . They found the convoy the next day, but they only managed to sink a Soviet 2,847-GRT freighter as the convoy's four escorting destroyers repeatedly rebuffed attempts to reach the convoy's ships. Despite a significant firepower advantage, the Germans only moderately damaged in the day's engagements. Captain () Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs, commander of the flotilla, broke off the battle in the late afternoon and decided to search for the cruiser, his original objective. They found "Edinburgh" and her escorts on the morning of 2 May and closed to attack with torpedoes. The cruiser opened fire first and disabled "Hermann Schoemann" with her second salvo with hits in both engine rooms. The destroyer turned away and dropped smoke floats to create a smoke screen behind which she could hide. The damage was too severe to return to base and, as the crew prepared to abandon ship, "Hermann Schoemann" was attacked by the British destroyers who hit her at least three more times. "Z24" and "Z25" took off about 223 survivors before the ship was scuttled by her crew at coordinates . Another 56 men were rescued by after the German destroyers broke off the engagement. During the battle 8 men were killed and another 45 wounded.