The ship sailed to Norway shortly after she finished working up on 1 November. The following month, she was one of the escorts for the battleship during Operation Ostfront on 25 December, an attempt to intercept the British Convoy JW 55B that was bound for the Soviet Union. All of the battleship's escorts were detached the following day to increase the likelihood of intercepting the convoy and thus did not participate in the ensuing Battle of North Cape. "Z34" remained in the Arctic throughout 1944 to defend the damaged battleship "Tirpitz". "Z34" was damaged during British airstrikes on 17 July and 29 August; her crew helped to put out a fire aboard the oil tanker during the latter attack. Beginning in October, the ship escorted convoys during Operation Nordlicht, the evacuation of northern Norway. On 1 December, she towed a damaged troopship into Hammerfest and then continued on to Tromsø where she began a refit on the 11th. On 22 January 1945, , "Z34" and , laid minefields in Magerøya, Laafjord, and Brei Sounds.